How Efficient Is Your Wind Turbine?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to determine the most efficient design of a wind turbine (based on the amount of voltage produced) using a combination of different blade materials, a different number of blades, and different speeds of the wind. My hypothesis is that the most efficient wind turbine will have three triangular balsawood blades at a pitch of 45° and a wind speed of 8 miles per hour (mph). Methods/Materials A model wind turbine was assembled using a KidWind Energy Kit. Triangular blades (8# long and 3# wide) were cut from balsawood, coroplast, plexiglass, and zinc metal. A 20# oscillating fan with three speed settings (high, medium, and low) was used as a source of wind. A homemade anemometer was used to measure the approximate speed of the wind in mph. The first portion of the experiment was conducted by installing two blades at a pitch of 45° at various wind speeds. The second portion of the experiment was conducted by installing three blades at a pitch of 45° at various wind speeds. The voltage produced by the wind turbine was recorded using a simple Multimeter. Results My hypothesis partially matched with the results. A wind turbine with three blades produced more voltage than a wind turbine with two blades when the blade material and wind speeds were identical. A wind turbine with three plexiglass blades at a pitch of 45° and at the high wind speed setting of 8 mph produced the most voltage of 3.4 volts, followed by balsawood, coroplast and zinc metal. The most voltage produced by a two-bladed plexiglass wind turbine was 3.01 volts at a speed of 8 mph. Conclusions/Discussion A wind turbine with three plexiglass blades at a pitch of 45° and a wind speed of 8 mph was the most efficient. For a wind turbine with two blades, the best combination was the same as a turbine with three blades. Overall, plexiglass performed the best for all experiments.

Competition history

• CSEF 2009 Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0108

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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