The Power of the Perfect Blade

Hi, My name is Ayush Patro and I am a grade 7 student from Macdonald Drive Junior High. My project is Power of the Perfect Blade.

Climate change is a major problem in today’s world, and one of the main causes is the burning of fossil fuels. We use energy every day for transportation, homes, and industry, and much of this energy still comes from non-renewable sources. Even small devices like cell phones use a significant amount of energy. With over eight billion phones worldwide, they consume 1% of energy each year. If this energy came from renewable sources, nearly 19 million metric tons of carbon dioxide could be reduced.

One clean and effective renewable energy source is wind energy. My project looked at which wind turbine size and shape produces the most power. I found that the small fan-style propeller turbine generated the highest amount of power. These results are important for optimizing wind energy harvesting and pave the way for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change has become a major global issue, with the primary contributor being the burning of fossil fuels. Approximately 70–80% of the world’s energy is produced from fossil fuels [1]. This heavy reliance leads to serious health impacts [2]. Burning fossil fuels increases greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂). Canada alone produces over 762 megatons of CO₂ annually, while Newfoundland and Labrador produce approximately 8.6 megatons per year [3,4]. Climate change also causes significant environmental effects, including increased wildfires, heavier rainfall, stronger hurricanes, and rising global temperatures (Figure 1).

Small devices such as mobile phones also contribute to global energy consumption. A single phone user consumes approximately 31.3 kWh of energy per year [5]. With an estimated 8.6 billion active mobile phone users worldwide [6], total annual energy consumption is approximately 22.5 TWH. If this energy were supplied using renewable sources, up to 19M of CO₂ could be reduced, lowering environmental impact (Figure 4, [10]).

Wind energy is clean, renewable resource that does not release greenhouse gases during electricity production. The Atlantic region of Canada experiences strong and consistent winds that can be effectively harnessed for power generation (Figure 2). However, wind energy currently produces less electricity than fossil fuels due to limitations in turbine efficiency and design (Figure 3).

The purpose of this project is to identify which size and shape of a micro wind turbine produces the most power for charging small electronic devices efficiently.

As wind from the fan blew toward the turbine, the blades rotated. This rotation turned the connected DC generator, which converted kinetic energy into electrical energy and was measured using a multimeter in volts (Figure 5).

The materials used in this experiment included a fan, ruler, metal stand, handheld anemometer, calculator, clamps, 3D printer, multimeter, and turbine blades (Figure 6).

To ensure a fair test, control variables such as fan direction, distance between the fan and the turbine, and fan settings were kept constant throughout all trials. The independent variable was wind speed, while the dependent variable was the voltage produced by different turbine blade types and sizes.

Three turbine designs were selected: Savonius, fan propeller, and five-blade propeller (Figure 7). These designs were expected to produce higher voltage outputs. Using Onshape software, each turbine design was modeled in three sizes: small, medium, and large (Figure 7). To control mass, all large turbines weighed approximately 38 g, medium turbines weighed 16 g, and small turbines weighed 5 g. All turbines were printed using PETG filament with 100% infill and a rectilinear infill pattern.

Wind speed was measured using a handheld anemometer at each fan setting (Table 1). A fan was placed 18 cm from the turbine and set to one of 12 adjustable wind speed settings. For testing, the DC generator was attached to a 36 cm tall metal stand using a clamp. Each turbine was secured to the generator, and the generator wires were connected to a multimeter (Figure 8). Voltage output was measured using the multimeter. This process was repeated for all turbine types and sizes across three trials to ensure consistent results. The resistance was measure at 18.7 Ω.

Using Ohm’s Law, the current and power output were calculated for each turbine configuration (Figure 9).

As wind turned the turbine blades, magnets rotated within wire coils inside the DC generator, creating a changing magnetic field. This induced a voltage and current, converting the mechanical energy into electrical energy (Figure 10).

Nine turbine configurations were tested, consisting of three turbine designs: Fan-Style Propeller, Five-blade propeller, and Savonius turbine, each 3D printed in small (5 g), medium (16 g), and large (38 g) sizes. Voltage and power were both measured at 12 wind speeds and compared at a maximum wind speed of 5.91 m/s. The Fan Style Propeller generated maximum voltage and power (Figure 11A and Figure 11B).

Among the small-sized turbines, the Fan-Style propeller produced the highest peak voltage at 2.12 V (Figure 12A). The Five-blade propeller generated a lower peak voltage of 1.06 V, while the Savonius turbine produced the least voltage at 0.45 V. This indicates that the Fan-Style propeller was significantly more efficient at converting wind energy into electrical energy at smaller scales. The Savonius turbine performed notably worse, with voltage outputs 0.61 V lower than the Five-blade propeller and 1.67 V lower than the Fan-Style propeller (Figure 12A).

Similar trends were observed for medium-sized turbines. The Fan-Style propeller again produced the highest voltage at 1.93 V (Figure 12B), followed by the Five-blade propeller at 0.91 V and the Savonius turbine at 0.61 V. In the large turbine category, the Fan-Style propeller maintained the highest voltage output at 1.32 V (Figure 12C). The Five-blade propeller produced 0.72 V, while the Savonius turbine generated the lowest voltage, averaging 0.33 V (Figure 13C).

Power output followed the same pattern as voltage. Among the small turbines, the Fan-Style propeller generated the highest average peak power at 0.23 W (Figure 13A). The Five-blade propeller produced 0.0596 W, while the Savonius turbine generated only 0.0108 W. For medium-sized turbines, the Fan-Style propeller produced 0.198 W (Figure 13B), compared to 0.044 W for the Five-blade propeller and 0.020 W for the Savonius turbine. In the large turbine category, the Fan-style propeller again generated the highest power output of 0.094 W (Figure 13C).

Results show that the small Fan-style propeller generated the highest voltage across all turbines tested. Additionally, the Fan-style propeller consistently produced the most voltage and power in the medium and large size categories. The superior performance of the small Fan-style propeller is attributed to its optimized blade geometry. The proportional blade length-to-width ratio provided an effective balance between rotational speed and aerodynamic torque [8] (Figure 14).Turbines with four or more blades sweep a larger surface area, increasing drag and reducing voltage generation. The Five-blade propeller and Savonius turbines across all sizes failed to produce maximum voltage due to increased air resistance under low wind-speed conditions. Excessive aerodynamic drag slowed rotation, reducing torque and electrical output. The small fan-style propeller avoided these limitations, making it the most effective design for maximizing voltage and power generation.

The results show that the small Fan-style propeller generated the highest voltage across all turbines tested at wind speed from 1.83 m/s to 5.91 m/s. Additionally, the Fan-style propeller consistently produced the greatest voltage and power in both the medium and large size categories (Figure 15A, 15B, 15C). This demonstrates that turbine design had a greater impact on electrical output than turbine size alone. As a result, my original hypothesis was proven incorrect, as I initially believed that the large-sized propeller blade would generate the highest voltage.

From these results, I learned that propeller turbines have distinct aerodynamic advantages that significantly affect performance (Figure 16). The curved and wider blade shape of propeller turbines increases torque and creates a larger effective swept area, allowing more energy to be captured from the wind and converted into electrical output [9]. The small Fan Style propeller turbine produced the greatest voltage because of its lightweight construction and compact design. This reduced inertia, allowing the turbine to rotate more easily at lower wind speeds.

Smaller propeller blades require less force to begin rotating compared to larger turbine blades, which are designed for higher wind speeds. As a result, the small fan-style propeller was able to achieve higher rotational speeds and greater voltage generation under the controlled conditions of this experiment [14], (Figure 17). Overall, the results highlight the importance of optimizing blade design rather than increasing turbine size when aiming to maximize voltage generation in low-wind or small-scale systems.

This project could be improved by testing wider ranges of materials and blade shapes to increase accuracy and efficiency (Figure 18). In future investigations, I would improve the design by refining the turbine structure and reducing energy losses. A next step would be developing portable device capable of harnessing wind energy to charge a phone, providing a sustainable power source for activities such as camping or hiking (Figure 19). I also plan to experiment with larger turbines of varying sizes and shapes that could generate enough electricity for domestic use, further expanding the real-world applications of this project.

I sincerely thank Mr. Kelly, a research intern at CNA, for 3D printing the turbine models, which made it possible for me to conduct my experiment. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Smith of Memorial University’s Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering program, Ms. Beresford of Macdonald Drive Junior High, and Mr. Sharpe of Macdonald Drive Junior High for their guidance and support.

I am especially thankful to the NL Science Fair committee members who assisted me throughout this project, including Ms. Dawe, Ms. Kavanagh, and Ms. Sandrelli. I greatly appreciate the time, encouragement, and expertise provided by everyone who contributed to the success of this project. Lastly, I would like to thank my sister and parents for their constant support and encouragement.

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Quora. (n.d.). Why don’t wind turbines have more than 3 blades? Aren’t more blades better to capture more wind energy?  Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-wind-turbines-have-more-than-3-blades-Aren-t-more-blades-better-to-capture-more-wind-energy

Patro, Ayush. (2026). Illustration of a wind turbine using Bernoulli’s principle and aerodynamic torque [AI-generated image]. Created using OpenAI image generation.

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OpenAI. (2026). Portable device capable of harnessing wind energy to charge small devices (fan-style turbine) [AI-generated image]. Created using ChatGPT (DALL·E), April 20, 2026.

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