Planning: We have been looking at the designs of wind turbines and have decided to make one that will be made out of PVC pipe and will have a fan connected to the motor that will spin the motor and generate electricity.
Identify the Problem:
-To create a Wind Turbine that will generate electricity by wind power
Generate Ideas:
-A fan that has plastic propellers
-A fan that has paper propellers
-A fan that has aluminum propellers
Constraints:
-Can only bring in recycled materials
-Limited materials provided by Mr.Westhafer (such as the 3 balsa wood sticks)
-Only a week in time to complete the assignment
Identify the Problem:
-To create a Wind Turbine that will generate electricity by wind power
Generate Ideas:
-A fan that has plastic propellers
-A fan that has paper propellers
-A fan that has aluminum propellers
Constraints:
-Can only bring in recycled materials
-Limited materials provided by Mr.Westhafer (such as the 3 balsa wood sticks)
-Only a week in time to complete the assignment
Criteria:
Research:
- We tested multiple fans. One was made out of cardboard and worked very well producing .6V
- Another Fan we tried was a paper fan but it was not catching the wind and was just being blown away and not spinning.
Possible Solutions:
-The cardboard propellers would be the best choice not only for statistical reasons from other sources but we have noticed that it is the sturdiest and most efficient propeller.
- We tested multiple fans. One was made out of cardboard and worked very well producing .6V
- Another Fan we tried was a paper fan but it was not catching the wind and was just being blown away and not spinning.
Possible Solutions:
-The cardboard propellers would be the best choice not only for statistical reasons from other sources but we have noticed that it is the sturdiest and most efficient propeller.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/9/3/45934307/2818419.jpg?250)
Idea Matrix:
Summary: We have chosen to make a cardboard fan connected to the pvc by a bottle cap and hot glue. We have chosen this because it was the fastest of all our fans and sturdiest.
Graphical model:
Mathematical Model:
The two things that I compared on this graph was the power generated (measured in volts) on the x-axis. While the other thing I was comparing was the weight of the spinning parts on the y-axis.