Wind Turbine

In creating my wind turbine I knew that I simply needed a base that could prop up a fan connected to a DC motor. I knew that we had plenty of PVC readily available in the Fab Lab and decided to make use of this material to create my base. I very roughly followed https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/how-to/g118/make-your-own-miniature-wind-turbine/ for inspiration, yet made some fundamental changes.

Materials:

To create this project I used PVC pipe, a DC motor, duct tape, male-female wires, and 3D printed blades of my turbine. I used hot glue to attach the blades and PVC cutters to create the correct lengths of PVC. Lastly, I used a multimeter to test the voltage from my completed wind turbine.

Gathering the materials was a simple process as they were readily available in the Fab Lab.

Procedure:

Once I had the necessary materials gathered I first assembled by PVC base. I had a slightly different PVC base set up due to the certain pieces we had available, yet the final outcome was similar. I had to use PVC cutters to shorten the piece that the DC motor fit into. I also used a drill to create a small hole in the bottom of the PVC for the wire to come out of. Next, I began my 3D print of a file called WINDTURBINE.stl. The print took roughly 2 hours to complete.

Next I retrived a DC motor and began to connect male to female wires to the wires already soldered onto the motor. However, when I tested the motor on a multimeter I was unable to generate any voltage. I then examined the soldering more closely and found that the wire was actually not connected to the DC motor itself. I then resoldered both of the wires to the motor and tested the motor on an Arduino board to ensure that it functioned. Once the motor was confirmed to be running I connected male-female wires from the DC motor down through the PVC pipe out the hole I had drilled in the bottom. I used hot glue to connect my blades to the DC motor. I then tested my wind turbine by spinning the blades and connecting the wires to a multimeter.

Video:

Conclusion:

My wind turbine was a success as it managed to generate more than half a volt when the blades were spun just by a human for roughly 10 seconds. On a windy day even my small turbine would be able to generate a small amount of consistent power. Other than just making the turbine larger I would implement 2 changes to increase the amount of energy generated. I would design or research a better design for the blades that could catch more wind and turn the DC motor faster. This may simply include more blades, or an entirely new design for each blade. Additionally, I would use a more efficient and powerful piece of technology than a DC motor in order to transform the circular motion of the blades into energy.

In general this project was a successful proof of concept as my wind turbine managed to consistently generate a useable quantity of voltage.