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Physics Project - Wind Turbine

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Flip_Willie:
Hello everyone,

I just thought I would show this off here. For my Physics semester project, my group decided to build a wind turbine. We built it for the specific purpose of demonstration, so using it for more practical applications would require modification. However, I think it turned out pretty well.

We got the basic plans for the wind turbine from this website. Although our final design doesn't look too much like his, we did take a good deal of information from the website. For example, the one thing that we did copy is the design for the blades.

Overall, we only worked on it for a couple of months. The design was pretty easy/clever. We constructed it primarily from 6" PVC pipe.

Anyway, here are some pictures and a video. It wasn't quite completed in the video; however, that is the only video I have uploaded.


EDIT: The video doesn't appear to load every time. You can click on the link if that is the case.

Flip_Willie

JONTHEBOMB:
Cool Project!

How much did it cost to build the wind turbine?

Flip_Willie:

--- Quote from: JONTHEBOMB on November 10, 2009, 10:01:26 pm ---Cool Project!

How much did it cost to build the wind turbine?

--- End quote ---

We spent around $80 on the project. However, we spent a lot of money on electronics that we didn't end up using. Also, we bought 10 ft of 6" PVC, and we only used 5 ft. In this regard, I am sure we could have saved some money if we better laid out what we would need.

That being said, we also saved a great deal of money. The motor was donated by our physics instructor. We also had machining done for the turbine. This would have cost us if we didn't know someone who could do it for us for free.

Flip_Willie

RayB:
So how much power does it generate?

Flip_Willie:

--- Quote from: RayB on November 11, 2009, 11:54:16 am ---So how much power does it generate?


--- End quote ---

First off, I need to explain that a bit. We had hoped that we had a DC motor, but it turned out that the motor we got was actually AC. What we ended up doing was installing an AC to DC transformer in the turbine. This gave us an AC and a DC portion in the wind turbine.

Finding the power on the DC circuit is pretty easy. We installed 3 gauges on the wind turbine (AC volt Gauge, DC volt Gauge, and an DC Amp gauge). For the DC portion, you can simply multiply the values on the DC volt gauge and Amp gauge. When we conducted tests, we averaged around 20 mA and 8 V, so the power was around .16W (In fact, you can calculate this from the picture above).

Unfortunately, we never tested for power on the AC portion of the circuit. We wanted to install an AC amp gauge, but we couldn't find one locally, and because we worked on the project right up until it was due, we never got around to calculating the power. I am disappointed at this. I still have the turbine, so I may try and test for this later down the road. Really, all I would need to do is place a resistor in-line.

For additional information, I have included the wiring diagram we used and two graphs of some stats from the unit.

Flip_Willie

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