Transcript Styro.ppt
EF 152 Windmill Project Kaara Anderson Tiffany Blevins Jake Philpott Kevin Stilwell Device Design Generator – Rare earth magnets attached to paint rollers free to rotate, coil of wire surrounding Styrofoam windmill wheel much larger in circumfrence, sturdy wooden blades to catch wind Fabric “belt” to rotate with blades and spin magnets within wire coil Mounted on wooden platform Electrical Aspects Rare earth magnets ordered online, $8.99 Chose to increase the number of coils to increase magnetic flux; sacrificed increased resistance from smaller wire Magnets rotate on paint roller to create electricity Mechanical Aspects Larger wheel for windmill allows many more rotations of smaller generator wheel per turn of windmill blades Chose to connect device using fabric Does not strain device Has good grip Efficiency Calculations 10 inch radius = 0.254 m P = 0.5 x rho x A x V3 Pi*(.254^2) m^2 * 1.225 kg/m3 * 1.7 m/s * .5 = 0.211043665 watts theoretical (.029 volts)^2 / 260 ohms = 3.23461538 × 10-5 watts actual 0.0153267589% efficent Design Process and Problems Not much previous knowledge of generators, but needed to incorporate wire and magnets. Problem arose when first magnets broke. Had to determine lightweight, stiff material for wings, and how to attach to an easily rotating object. Had to connect generator to windmill blades well enough to rotate but not so tightly that they created a strain on the windmill rotator. Design completely constructed and functioning, then after a period of storage had a couple minor failures. Repaired cable strip and began taking it off the windmill when not in use. Conclusions Wind power efficiency Materials may be can be increased by decreasing problems not only in each component, but how they connect Storage of devices can cause strain on them and decrease performance (fabric strand) available more cheaply online Although the useful energy from coalburning steam plants is much greater, more “green” oriented power options are not necessarily useless