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DESIGN PROBLEM:
DESIGN PROBLEM:
Design and construct a windmill that will generate enough electricity to light an LED.
Criteria:
Criteria:
Must be built to scale of 1:10 ( 8 to 16 feet)
Must produce an output voltage that can power an LED
Voltage should be tested using a multi-meter.
Constraints:
Constraints:
Small electric motors
Wire
LED light bulb
1/2 inch plywood
multi-meter
wood, plastic, metal, cardboard
3-D printer
Design Process (Brainstorming & Technical CAD Drawing):
Design Process (Brainstorming & Technical CAD Drawing):
After choosing a design, we made a CAD model using Onshape. We used this CAD model to print our air fowl using a 3-D printer. While entering our design into the system, we discovered the blades were too long to fit into the printer tray. To solve this, we scalded it down by 30%. We lost time having to print our foil 3 times. The first 2 were unsuccessful because the first did not have the updated design and the second broke. After testing our air fowl, we decided to attach cardboard to our blades to increase RPM. Our base was built with wood and screws, which we drilled in.
Evaluation:
Evaluation:
We put are wind power generator in front of a fan with a wind tunnel. We attached an LED to the DC motor to test our design. We also used a multi-meter to measure the voltage that was produced. Our design scale fit the scale. If you scale up you multiply of a scale factor of 10, the height of the actual windmill would be a little over 8 feet, just fitting the requirement. The air foil did not create enough voltage to light the 1.7 volt LED light.
216 RPM
.26 Voltage
Size: 8 inch by 8 inch base, 10 inches tall, 4 inch blade propellers
Our base was very successful. Our design worked with all the air fowls and could be easily changed.
Improvements:
Improvements:
To improve our wind generator, we would need to completely redesign our air foil.
We could make the blades of are air fowl larger. This would allow it to better catch the wind produced by the fan.
We could change the material of air fowl. 3-D printed plastic by itself proved to be less effective because of size constraints and its light weight. Using cardboard or other plastic supported with wood could have possibly increase RPM.
Adding more blades could have potentially helped us reach the necessary voltage needed.
Angling or curving the blades of our air foil more would have increased the speed at which our air fowl spun.
It would be beneficial to change the style of are air fowl. Instead of the modern windmill style, the fan-like design proved to be effective in this situation.
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