WEEK 1: Environmental and Civil Engineering 🌬️

In our first week we quickly learned about environmental and civil engineering. Our first project was to build a windmill that generates electricity from wind. First we started by learning about windmills and how to make the most optimal blades and then we started to create!

Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Building Science

Civil Engineering focuses on designing, constructing, and operating the infrastructure we use daily: roads, bridges, buildings, and water systems. Civil Engineers meet many challenges such as pollution and urban redevelopment. Environmental Engineering is centered around developing sustainable solutions to protect humans and the ecology. Environmental Engineers seek solutions to environmental challenges such as water and air pollution, waste disposal, and energy consumption. Building Science is the study of how buildings are built, designed, and maintained. It focuses on how buildings interact with the environment and to optimize building performance it includes energy efficiency, durability, and comfort.

Design Process

The design requirements for this project were that the windmill had to contain at least 4 blades and be able to rotate to capture wind to maximize electricity production. Ultimately the end goal was to maximize and measure current production and magnetic field from the windmill and light an LED with said current.

Before our team started prototyping we learned more about windmills and electromagnetic fields. Using a Windmill Kit we created a simple windmill to test the most efficient blade angles, how many blades worked best, and what blade shape is the most productive. Next our team worked on our Paper Cup Motor. Using a paper cup, paper clips, a magnet, and some coiled wire this project mimics a DC motor by making a magnetic field and electric current to cause the coiled wire to rotate. For our 3rd activity we created a Battery Tester by wrapping wire around a cup, adding aluminum foil to the ends of the wire, and attaching magnets over the mouth of the cup---next we tested the batteries by touching the wire to the ends of the battery. Using principles of electromagnetism, when the foil touches the battery current should flow through the batteries if they are charged. Finally, we used a circuit building kit to create smaller versions of windmills with a motor.

Our design using the Windmill Kit

Paper Cup Motor.MOV

Paper Cup Motor Video

Battery Tester.mov

Our teams Battery Tester spinning

Green Energy Circuit Board Project

After learning the skills from all 4 of our activities we logged into KidWind to make windmill designs. Using the online platform our team was able to see which blade shape, length, and angle would produce the most power. Once we had finished the simulation some of our team started to build our windmill out of the balsa wood while Hancheng worked on making a 3D model of a windmill on TinkerCad.

3D modeling & Printing

When the 3D printer printing our model there was a printing error and the pieces did not come out correctly. This is what our 3D model looks like on TinkerCad.

Part 1: The Base

Our team started by making the base of our windmill in a cross shape. This was the sturdiest option for our base and would help prevent it from knocking over in the wind.

Part 2: The Blades

While half of our team worked on finalizing the structure of our windmill, we also started to design our windmill blades. Our original design was using two widths of wood for more surface area, and a dowel across the whole length of the blade.

Part 3: Failure and Trying Again

Unfortunately after we had drawn, taped, and cut our blades, we tested them on the base of our windmill. When wind was angled at our windmill, the blades did not spin because they were too heavy. Our team realized that adding the dowels along the whole length of the blade had added too much extra weight. With too much weight, there was too much stress on the rest of the windmill thus leading to failure. Rather than cutting the dowels to a shorter size, our team decided to remake our blades out of only one width of wood--instead of doubling it---and only putting 2 1/2 inches of a dowel at the bottom of the blade.

Part 4: Putting the Pieces Together

Once our team had finished constructing all of our blades we put together our windmill. Inserting the blades into a wooden box drilled with inserting holes that's connected to a dowel, when the wind is facing towards the windmill, the dowel should spin thus causing the blades to rotate with it. At this point, our team had not added our motor to the back of the windmill so the weight was very unbalanced.

Part 5: The Motor

This was the most complex part for our team, we went over multiple designs (making different shaped magnet holders, determining the optimal coil turns/placement, and etc.) to try and generate a large enough amount of power. At first, we tried to use the exact coil and magnet from the battery tester project, but due to the round shape of the magnet, we could not find a optimal position for the magnet to attach to the shaft. For this reason, we switched to the thin and rectangular shaped magnet, which we were able to attach and balance the shaft. Then, we tested the output of the windmill using the provided fan, but no output was measured. We figured to recreate the component layout of a DC motor by having the coil sit perpendicular to the rotating magnets. However, we were still not measuring enough amperage required for the LED to glow. Our team believes the solution lies within the orientation/number of magnets.

Windmill Video

IMG_4964.mov

Links to Research Papers:

Research Paper: Pros and Cons of Alternative Energy Forms

Research Paper: The Design Process of a Windmill

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse