Sunday, May 17, 2015

Wind Turbine

Wind turbines rely on...
   Electromagnetic induction: electromagnetic induction happens when a magnet moves through coils of wire. This changes the magnetic field of the wire which induces voltage which makes current which results in electrical energy. We used this concept to create a generator.
   Newtons first law: objects in motion stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force. This concept was useful because the blades stayed at rest until turned by the wind and would keep going if there was minimal friction. Because of this we tried to make as little friction as possible.
   Newtons second law: a=f/m. The acceleration of the wings equals the force divided by the mass. The more wind, the faster the blades spun. The more mass the wings had, the slower the blades would spin. It was important to have light blades because of this.
 
The materials we used were...
   cut up water bottles for blades to catch the wind and spin.
   dowels to hold the blades onto the machine.
   a metal rod to connect to the blades and spin the generator.
   magnets to attach to the metal rod so they can spin and create electromagnetic induction.
   coils of wire so when the magnets spin they create electromagnetic induction by changing the magnetic field of the wires which induces voltage which induces current.
   cardboard to keep the generator together and to use as a base to hold up the turbine.

Blades held on with dowels.
Machine held up by cardboard base.


Metal dowel to connect to blades and magnet.
Cardboard box containing generator. 
Coils of wire to make electromagnetic induction. 

Generator.
Coils of wire
Magnet spins when metal dowel is spun by blades.  


Our turbine.

Results...
   we generated .008 volts and .005 amps but were not able to light a lightbulb because we did not make enough because our blades didn't spin fast enough because there was too much friction. 

   Overall, our design worked very well. Our blades caught wind, our base was sturdy, and we had a good generator design. Our main problem was having too much friction. If we had more time, we would make the box big enough so that the magnets didn't scrape the sides of the box. 
   Our group worked very well together and I think the best thing that we did was making a very thorough plan instead of jumping right into building. 


 

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