Wind TurBine

Differences

• A bigger motor was used in an attempt to increase power generation
• A custom PVC stand was used in place off the provided stand due to the different motor

List of materials

• PLA Plastic
• PVC joints and pipe
• Electrical Tape
• Red and Black wires
• Motor
• Solder
• Shrink Wrap
• Nail
• Super Glue

Steps

1. Import the STL files of the turbine blade and hub into CURA and print.
   • There should be 3 blades and 1 hub.
2. Break off any scaffolding and sand down the mounting points of the blades until the blades fit into the hub
3. Glue the blades onto the hub
4. Cut equal lengths of red and black wires and strip both ends
5. Solder the red and black wires to the motor terminals and place shrink wrap over the terminals
6. Use a heat gun to shrink the shrink wrap
7. Nail a hammer into the small hole on the back of the turbine hub to widen the hole enough to fit the motor shaft
8. Push the turbine assembly onto the shaft of the motor
9. Use PVC joints and pipe to create a base and stand with a T joint at the top to contain the motor assembly.
10. Use electrical tape to secure the motor to the T joint.

Results

The turbine successful produces electricity, albeit a small amount of electricity. The turbine cannot light up an LED, but multimeter measures about 500 mV when in front of a fan.

Conclusion

The turbine works, but has some inefficiency. The blades were blocky due to the nature of 3D Printing and the turbine assembly was not mounted completely straight. The turbine hub needs to have some tolerances built into the model because some sanding and nailing was required in order to make pieces fill together. In addition, the fan needs to have a higher surface area in order to convert more wind energy.

Attribution

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1767153

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