A clean energy revolution is taking place globally and currently many scientists and engineers are working to harness renewable energy sources to meet our growing needs for electricity to power our homes & businesses, our electronic devices, and in some cases even our vehicles. Renewable energy is created from natural sources that are constantly replenished, such as solar energy, wind, or geothermal sources. Renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the United States.
Wind energy to power vehicles is not a new concept. Imagine where civilization might be if humans had not figured out how to make a simple sailboat, much less giant, wooden ships powered by little more than an array of sails to carry people and goods all around the globe. But if that's the case then why don't we also see "sailcars?" In order to sail directly into the wind a sailboat must constantly zig-zag back and forth. That's easy enough to do in a boat on the wide, open ocean but would you feel very safe in a car that constantly has to zig-zag along the road to maintain progress? Even though a directly wind-powered car on our roads may not be a reasonable reality building a model to harness wind energy to create mechanical movement can be a fun and engaging engineering challenge.
In the first phase of the wind power project students will harness wind energy from a fan source and turn it into mechanical energy to move a vehicle. They will also be expected to analyze the efficiency of their system by reporting the kinematic outputs of displacement, velocity and acceleration by using tools such as an Android accelerometer or simple, video analysis application tools.
Students will be challenged to create and prototype a vehicle that is entirely powered by a wind source (plug-in box fan or similar) and has the capability of traveling upstream into the wind.
Myriad solutions exist but all of them require at least one energy transformation to create mechanical motion.
Physics concepts such as kinematics, force and motion, and energy transformations will be utilized to identify variables that will be used to test the prototypes.
3D modeling skills can be developed and extended by generating unique parts for their design solution
You can decide the context for this project. It can be as simple as stating the goal which is to create a wind-powered vehicle that can travel both downwind and into the wind. Or you can create a narrative where the quirky CEO of an alternative energy company has challenged his R&D team to develop a wind car just because he can. Perhaps this is a specific use project such as a mine transport in a windy canyon on Mars.
In any case the objective should be to create a design that can travel both downwind and upwind. Metrics can be based on measurable quantities such as velocity, minimum wind speed for travel, acceleration, load capacity, among other variables.
For a constant wind source it is recommended that simple, cheap box fans be used.
For measuring variables such as velocity and acceleration we recommend using traditional timers or photogate timers and distance measurements for average velocity/acceleration calculations. For more instantaneous data collection consider using apps that capture smartphone sensor data and video analysis tools. Other special equipment for measurement is not required but it is recommended that at least one handheld anemometer be provided for wind speed measurement. Reliable anemometers can be had for reasonable prices from outlets such as Amazon.com, such as this example, as well as from other suppliers.
It's easy enough to consider a wind vehicle on Earth. But what if we were designing a wind-powered vehicle for use in a windy canyon on Mars? The quirky CEO of our company has tweeted that we're taking our tech to Mars. Now it's our job to consider the changing requirements that will impact the design and to determine theoretical efficiency on another planet.
Another follow-up idea is to modify these wind capture devices to generate electricity using a motor as a generator to study electricity, battery storage, and power distribution. Some groups may have even already integrated an electrical system as a part of their solution. The challenge for those groups will obviously be to figure out a way to increase their efficiency.
Understand
1. Students are introduced to and research the challenge
Define
2. Students frame research insights into an actionable problem statement
Ideate
3. Students brainstorm ideas to cluster them into design concepts
Prototype
4. Students build low fidelity prototypes and identify test variables
Test
5. Students test prototypes and iterate based on testing feedback
Refine
6. Students build a higher fidelity prototype and prepare a brief presentation for the client
Reflect
7. Students document the engineering design process and submit an Engineering Design Process Log using edpl.io
Extend
8. Students adapt their design to changing requirements from the client
Video Resources
Wind powered car that goes faster than the wind (a bit dry but explains the physics of wind power)
Directly Downwind Faster than the Wind (Discovery Channel excerpt)
Physics Data Collection and Analysis
Google Science Journal: Android, iOS (Google site for app: teacher/student resources available)
VidAnalysis: Android
Tracker (desktop application)
Additional Physics Content Resources
Additional Context Resources
NASA Insight (Mars weather station)