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Table of Contents:
A. Design Ideas (Links & Videos)
B. Generator Drive Design to make more electricity (Gears & Pulleys)
C. Link to Making Gears & Pulleys
D. Instructions for Determining RPM
A. Wind Turbine Design Ideas
Wind Turine Design ideas: https://www.alternative-energy-tutorials.com/wind-energy/wind-turbine-design.html
DIY building a "real" wind turbine: https://www.instructables.com/How-I-built-an-electricity-producing-wind-turbine/
Wind Turbine Design: https://yayscience.net/static/media/uploads/6th%20Grade/Energy/wind_turbines.pdf
B. Wind Generator Drive Design Support
Are your blades moving fast, but you're still producing a low amount of electrical energy? Read below on gear & pulley drives to see how these could help...
Pulley Drive vs. Direct Drive vs. Geared Drive
C. To design and 3-D print or wood carve your own gears or pulleys go to the subpage: Gears, Pulleys & Automata on this STEM website
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D. DIRECTIONS FOR RPM CALCULATION
How to Set up Your Turbine to Test RPM
1. Place a marker (large colored mark or different- colored blade) on your turbine.
2.Have someone hold a large piece of cardboard behind the tower (not too close) to make the blades easier to see.
3. Record your video for 4 seconds using PhotoBooth on your LAPTOP (your phone video recording doesn't work) to get a .mov file.
4. Share the video (airdrop or e-mail) with your partner.
Each partner will assess the data on their own to find the RPM average for Data Table 2.
How to Use Tracker Online to Determine RPM
Written Directions on How to Use Tracker Online to Determine RPM
4) Select Choose File (choose your video from your laptop) > Load.
5) Select Track > New > Measuring Tools > Protractor.
6) Run the movie clip to see which direction the blades turn (Forward green button on the bottom left of the window).
7) Drag the protractor to the center of the hub. Find the green sticker or the trailing edge of a blade profile. Move the green measuring line and the "0" degrees to the starting point and overlapping each other.
8) Find the time at that time frame in seconds. This is located in the bottom right data table window under t (s). This is the "initial time" of the still image. Enter this in Data Table 2.
[1st frame= 5.334 s for this example]
9) Select the advance frame button and skip ahead at least 2 frames.
10) Drag the green ray lines to line up new location of the sticker or trailing edge of the blade.
11) Find the 2nd time frame and angle from the 1st to the 2nd still image. In the lower right data window, enter the new time "t" in the 2nd frame time in your Data Table 2 and the angle in your Data table 2.
[2nd frame= 5.434 s ... for this example]
[angle= 117.8 degrees ... for this example]
12) Calculate the time difference.
[time difference= 5.434 s- 5.334 s= 0.110 s ... for this example]
13) Determine the rotations (angle divided by 360).
[rotations= 117.8 degrees/(360 degrees in 1 rotation) = 0. 33 rotations ... for this example]
14) Determine the rotations per second (rotation divided by the time difference between the 1st & 2nd frames) .
[0.33 rotations/0.110 s = 3.00 rotations/s ... for this example]
15) Determine the rotations per minute (rotation per second multiplied by 60) .
[(3.00 rotations/s) (60 s/min) = 180 rotations/ min ... for this example]
16) To do the next time segment drag the ray lines together or enter "0" in the angle box to reset the protractor and repeat steps #8-16.
17) Determine the average of all the calculated rotations per minute of your turbine.
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KIDWIND Challenge
Wind turbines will be tested in a 122 cm x 122 cm (48” × 48”) wind tunnel at a wind speed of approximately 3.5 m/s (7.8 mi/hr) at the KidWind challenge. The fan height in STEM class should be around 61 cm (24") from the base to the fan's center.
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