Wind Turbine Design

Team Gryffindor: Nathan Durfee, Kyle Delahanty, Mason McAtte, and Jonathan Falke

STLCC Meramec December 4, 2014

Executive Summary

Being tasked to design and build a cost-effective, functioning wind turbine is defined as

our objective. To accomplish the given objective, we must design our turbine to be of minimal

cost, function at or above the expectations given, and be within the legal requirements for the

project. In addition, each of our group members must put in enough work that is essential to

complete the project.

Upon completing the project, we planned out possible designs until settling on a final,

found and bought the supplies that we needed for our design, used our final design to construct

our wind turbine, and recorded any research, data, and difficulties that we had in the process.

With some of the research collected from testing we utilized it to make any adjustments that we

deemed necessary. Once, the build was finished we then used the time to create visual

representations for our presentation.

The biggest result that we had come across was the voltage that we were able to produce

at different wind speeds.

For example:

Wind Speed (mph) Amount of Energy Produced (Volts)

5 mph 0.8v

10 mph 1.5v

15 mph 2.0v

20 mph 2.3v

Introduction

After researching ideas and familiarizing ourselves with what options we had for building

our turbine, we decided to use a drill motor as our generator in a PVC tube were it held snugly.

For our blades we used cut out sheet metal and then attached them to a metal disc that we had

attached to the gear on our motor. Metal glue was also bought to connect the blades to metal disc

that we would use on top of the motor. Our group member, Mason, bought most of the supplies

and assembled the turbine at his house, where we all had access to more tools and equipment that

his father owned there. Luckily, Mason’s dad owned most, if not all the tools and equipment that

we needed to complete our turbine, which proved to be very beneficial cost-wise. In addition, we

all met at Mason’s house during free time on scheduled days that we decided to meet, in order to

exchange ideas and help assemble the turbine. The value that we received out of the voltage

results helped us get a better idea on what our turbine was capable of, and it also allowed us to

plan ahead by making any adjustments that we deemed fit.

Background

Wind power, form of energy conversion in which turbines convert the kinetic energy of

wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be used for power. Wind power is considered

a renewable energy source. Historically, wind power in the form of windmills has been used for

centuries for such tasks as grinding grain and pumping water. Modern commercial wind turbines

produce electricity by using rotational energy to drive a generator. They are made up of a blade

or rotor and an enclosure called a nacelle that contains a drive train atop a tall tower. Large wind

turbines (producing up to 1.8 megawatts of power) can have a blade length of over 40 meters

(about 130 feet) and be placed on towers 80 meters (about 260 feet) tall. Smaller turbines can be

used to provide power to individual homes. Wind farms are areas where a number of wind

turbines are grouped together, providing a larger total energy source.

You can find wind plants in windy places- areas near the water or valleys. Most people

think that turbines block out and conceal the natural beauty of the places they are in, but I

personally think that seeing the imposing, lean towers topped off with two or three long, swift

blades is breathtaking. Since most wind power plants have many windmills, they look like giants

lined up together.

The fossil fuels we depend on today should be rationed. It is limited and pollutes

the environment. Using renewable energy sources like wind power means that we can conserve

oil, natural gas, and coal and instead use something environment friendly. I think that people

should think of tomorrow and invest in wind energy.

Statement of Problem

To redefine the problem, it is given that each team must design and build their wind

turbine. Each turbine is required to function properly within the given 22” x 22” internal

dimensions of the wind tunnel provided. As for the budget, each member should not exceed the

$75-$120 range when building the turbine. The biggest tasks given in the definition, is that we

must find the best use economically for our resources, and that we must build within the given

parameters.

To stay within the parameters we had to research for cost-effective designs, such as

lightweight plastic blades, and prefabricated generators.

During testing the wind turbine shook continuously, in order

to prevent the shaking we added on a larger base and rubber

stoppers to diminish the vibrations. For attaching the turbine

blades, we inserted a 3/8th chuck that had been ground down

to fit, and after the grinding of the chuck it fit more smoothly.

Approach

In tackling the problem given to us, we planned out our design, and did research to aid us

in deciding on a particular design. When we had decided on our design, we then proceeded to

buy what materials we needed to build our turbine. For our process in building our turbine, we

first disassembled a Craftsman drill given to us free of cost using the motor from the drill in our

design. We then took apart and attached a 3/8th chuck to the gear on top of the drill motor, after

that we attached our turbine blades to the end of the chuck. To fully secure our turbine, we

placed the motor into a PVC repair connector tube, and used plastic PVC glue to glue it to

another PVC tube attached by a PVC cap that is bolted to a wood base that we had constructed.

In order to further balance the turbine on the base, we placed rubber feet under the base so that it

would not sway back and forth.

Results

Our most significant findings were measured by a voltmeter provided by Mason’s father,

which we received the following results that were provided in the Introduction:

Pictures of our final design

Problems Encountered (Further elaborated on the “Challenges

Page”

Finding a way to make the turbine balance and be freestanding, so we used screws to fasten the turbine in place on the stand. Also, we used rubber stoppers under the stand so it would stay still.

The chuck did not fit right, so we had to grind the gear down so that the chuck would fit properly

The first chuck that we bought was half-inch chuck and was too big for what we needed, so we bought a smaller 3/8th chuck.

Wind Speed (mph) Amount of Energy

Produced (Volts)

5 mph 0.8v

10 mph 1.5v

15 mph 2.0v

20 mph 2.3v

Results Continued

5 10 15 200

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Volts

Wind Speed (mph)

Amount of Voltage Produced

As the input in wind speed increases, the output in voltage also increases.

Finding a cheap and efficient design. To do this we

researched efficient wind turbine designs and generators.

Finding a way to make the turbine balance and be

freestanding, so we used screws to fasten the turbine in

place on the stand. Also, we used rubber stoppers under the

stand so it would stay still.

The chuck did not fit right, so we had to grind the gear

down so that the chuck would fit properly

The first chuck that we bought was half-inch chuck and was

too big for what we needed, so we bought a smaller 3/8th

chuck.

ChallengesDifficulties in the process

Cost Analysis The Design was very cost efficient, for the entire project we only had to spend about $60.

The most expensive parts were the PVC pipes.

We used a drill motor as a generator which was given to us for free so that saved what

would’ve been the majority of the cost.

Mason Jon Nathan Kyle13

13.5

14

14.5

15

15.5

16

Money Spent

Money Spent

Man Hours

MasonNathanJonKyle

Alternatives

Some alternatives we looked at were to

deconstruct a fan and reverse the wires and

alter the wing pattern for increased

performance.

Another one we considered was vertical

fan design like in the picture to the right.

But this was impractical because you

needed to put the fan blades in a special

contour. To do that we would need to heat

up the material and bend it, none of us had

the experience or equipment necessary so

we had to scrap that idea.

Decisions

Summary and Conclusions

Each group was tasked with the project of designing and building a cost-effective wind

turbine that would operate within the given requirements. Every turbine build was to be

budgetary and have economical utilization of all resources. For the approach, we first planned

and researched designs, bought the materials needed for the build, disassembled a drill to use the

motor, and attached a 3/8th chuck to the motor with fan blades attached it all to our base. Our

results showed us that with 5mph wind speed, our turbine could produce a minimum of 0.8 volts,

and a max of 2.3 volts at 20mph wind speed. Some conclusions we drew were that not many

volts are created from a wind turbine on a small scale, this maybe changes when you upscale it

because of moments.

The results helped us understand to complexity of building wind turbines on an industrial

scale. They also showed us that our turbine was indeed functioning and creating electricity.

Some areas that deserve some further study are the scale of turbine compared to the output pf

electricity and wind speed compared to electrical output. Another area would be generator and

gear ratios compared to electrical output. These would tell us what changes we could make to

improve our efficiency.

Recommendations for anyone trying to build this wind turbine too would be; if you are

unexperienced with electronics and generators, like we were, buy a prefabricated generator or

dismantle a drill and use the motor in the reverse direction like we did.

References

"a renewable energy source:wind power." 123HelpMe.com. 10 Dec 2014

<http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=50012>.

"wind power". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/645063/wind-power>.

Appendix A