| Which Angle of Pitch will Produce the Greatest Amount of Electricity? | |
Researched by Joel F.
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The first purpose of this experiment was to determine which degree of turbine blade pitch produced the most electricity.
I became interested in this idea when I saw wind turbines on a hill. I wondered if a different degree of turbine blade pitch would produce more electricity.
The information gained from this experiment would help society by coming up with a more efficient way of producing electricity from a non-polluting source.
My hypothesis was that the 60º of pitch would produce the most electricity.
My second hypothesis was that the 20º of pitch would produce the least amount of electricity.
The constants in this study were:
- The tower structure.
- The height of the tower.
- The width of the tower.
- The materials used to create the tower.
- The amount of wind.
- The type of shop-vac.
- The distance of the leaf blower from the wind turbine.
- The type of wood used to create the blades.
- The amount of wood I started out with to make each blade.
- The materials used to create the blades.
- The length of the blades.
- The place I conduct the experiment.
- The thickness of blades.
The manipulated variable was the angle of pitch of the turbine blade.
The responding variable was the electrical output.
To measure the responding variable I used a millivolt-meter.
| QUANTITY | ITEM DESCRIPTION |
| 1 | Shop-vac |
| 6 slats | Balsa wood |
| 5 sheets | Scratch paper |
| 1 | A pencil |
| 1 | A magnifying glass |
| 1 | An Allen wench |
| 1 sheet | Sand paper |
| 1 roll | Electrical tape |
| 1 bottle | Glue |
| 1 | Motor: CerMag AR1FA130 Rpm 8600 (no load) |
| 1 | Vise |
| 1 | Needle nose pliers |
| 1 | Hexagonal head wrench |
| 1 | 3/32 Plated Brass Dura Collar |
| 1 roll | Shrink tape |
| 1 | Wooden wheel |
| 1 | Saw |
| 2 | Set screws |
| 1 | Carving knife |
| 1 | Draftman’s compass |
1. Create the motor mount (generator mount).
A. Sketch out the shape of the mount onto scratch paper.
B. Transfer the outline of the tower on to the Balsa wood.
C. Using the saw cut the outline of the tower.
D. Next sand off excess wood pieces.
2. Creating the turbine blades.
A. Measure 10cm. on the balsawood and mark with the pencil.
B. Making sure that the marks are exact, cut the blades to length from
the balsawood with the saw.
C. Sand to the exact length.
D. Repeat steps “A” through “C” eight more times to make the other
turbine blades.
4. Preparing the motors.
A. Wrap electrical tape around the drive shaft of the CerMag AR1FA130
motor.
B. Set the drive collar onto the electrical tape.
C. Use the hexagonal head wrench to tighten the duracollar onto the
electrical tape.
D. Screw a setscrew into the dura collar, to make sure to not move
it.
5. Prepare the wooden wheel to attach the blades.
A. Set the protractor at 20º.
B. Place the horizontal line of the protractor parallel with the side
of the wheel that has the smaller hole, which will be facing the motor.
C. Starting the leading right edge of the blade measure 20º toward
vertical.
D. Use a pencil to mark this angle on the wheel.
E. Set the compass at 20º using the protractor, check the line
drawn on the wheel to be sure it is 20º.
F. Repeat steps “A” through “E” two more times to create the other
two 20º lines
6. Prepare the 40º wheel.
A. Repeat steps “A” through “F” in step set “5”, but replace the 20º
with 40º.
7. Prepare the 60º wheel.
A. Repeat steps “A” through “F” in step set “5”, but replace the 20º
with 60º.
8. Cut the lines for the 20º blades.
A. Set the 20º wheel in the vice and tighten it to make sure it
doesn’t move.
B. Using the saw cut the lines 7mm. down.
9. Cut the lines for the 40º blades.
A. Repeat steps “A” through “B” in step set “8”, but replace 20º
with 40º.
10. Cut the lines for the 60º blades.
A. Repeat steps “A” through “B” in step set “8”, but replace 20º
with 60º.
11. Glue the blades into the 20º cuts.
A. Set the wheel in the vice to make one of the cuts in the wheel perpendicular.
B. Glue the blade into cut with the inst-cure glue.
C. Repeat steps “A” through “B” twice more to glue in the other two
blades.
12. Glue the blades into the 40º cuts.
A. Repeat steps “A” through “C” in step set “11” to glue the blades
into the 40º wheel.
13. Glue the blades into the 60º cuts.
A. Repeat steps “A” trough “C” in step set “11” to glue the blades
into the 60º wheel.
14. Attach the motor to the 20º wooden wheel.
A. Wrap electrical tape around the dura collar until it fits snugly
into the smaller hole in the wooden wheel.
B. Cut off any excess tape from the wheel and dura collar.
15. Testing.
A. Screw in the motor onto the edge of the mount.
B. Set the mount on a tabletop or high workbench.
C. Set the nozzle of shop-vac into the vice. Tighten until it can’t
move.
D. Make sure that the center of the nozzle is level to the axle (wheel)
of the 20º turbine, and off set 7cm to the left.
E. Attach the volti-meter to the engine make sure that the meter is
set to Direct Current Volts.
F. Turn on the shop-vac.
G. Make sure that wind is blowing directly onto to the side of the
turbine, the amount of electricity that the turbine produced will appear
on the volti-meter.
H. After testing look at the volti-meter to see results.
I. Record results.
J. Repeat steps “A” through “I” for the 40º and 60º
angles.
The original purpose of this experiment was to see which degree of blade pitch produced the most electricity.
The results of the experiment were that the 20º angle produced an average of 9 millivolts of electricity. The 40ºangle produced an average of 7 millivolts of electricity. Also the 60º angle produced an average of 5 millivolts of electricity.
See the table and graph below.
My first hypothesis was that the 60° angle of pitch would produce the most electricity.
The results indicate that my first hypothesis should be rejected because the 60° angle of pitch produced the least amount of electricity
My second hypothesis was that the 20° angle of pitch would produce the least amount of electricity.
The results also indicated that my second hypothesis should be rejected because the 20° angle of pitch produced the greatest amount of electricity.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder what would happen if I were to use a 0° pitch. I do not think that it would produce any electricity. Because the 60º angle produced the least amount of electricity and then the 40º and then the 20º angle. As the degrees got smaller the amounts of electricity grew, so I wonder if a 0º angle would produce more electricity than the 20º angle. I also wonder what would happen if I were to try the experiment over again using greater amounts of wind.
If I were to conduct this project again I would build a larger wind turbine. I would also use more than one turbine. I would use more than three different amounts of degrees of pitch. I would also use metal to construct my turbines. I would conduct my experiment with real wind and outside.
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Introduction Today’s world practically revolves around electricity. The problem is producing all we need. Wind turbines are a non-polluting way to produce some of that needed energy. Wind turbines Wind turbines are machines that can produce large amounts of electricity. Modern turbines are propelled by lift. They are classified as vertical turbines. Vertical turbines have blades vertical to the ground. A wind turbine usually has three to six blades on the rotor. They are also mounted on a tower. All large wind turbines that are used on wind farms have a nacelle. A nacelle is the large oval or circular box that the rotor fits onto. Usually, the generator and the circuits that take the electricity into the power lines are inside the nacelle. Wind turbines are a valuable source of creating electricity. Wind turbines were adapted from the windmill. A wind turbine can sometimes be confused for a windmill, but windmills are different from turbines. Windmills
Some windmills have sails instead of blades. Most windmills have four to six blades. Those blades are different from turbine blades because they are not covered. Instead they are perpendicular slats that form a rectangle. A windmill is mounted on a mill or a pump. A mill is a small structure that you grind grain in. Unlike wind turbines windmills have a fin that turns the blades into the wind. The fin is mounted on the tower. The blades are turned by the wind, which gives power to the generator, pump, or mill. The first windmills were created in 600 A. D. in Persia. Those windmills were only used to grind grain. In the 1800’s to the 1900’s many windmills were created in America. These were used to pump water and they had a vane on the back to turn them into the wind. These were also mounted on a tower. Still today windmills are used on farms or as mills in other countries. Windmills and wind turbines wouldn’t be able to operate without wind. Wind Wind is air in motion. Wind is a very important resource. It can power wind turbines and windmills. Wind is created when high pressure air moves under low pressure air. High pressure air is cool and dense. Low pressure air is heated up by the sun. The greater the difference of temperature between the two pressures the greater amount of wind. Wind also helps to generate electricity. Electricity Electricity is a flow of electrons created when atoms gain or lose electrons.
This produced an electric charge, which is electricity. Electricity was
discovered by Benjamin Franklin.
Electric energy powers most of the appliances in homes. It also powers all of our communication devices, from the television to telephones. Electricity powers subways to trains, to trolleys that transport millions of people daily. Electric energy also powers most medical tools, from the dentists drill to an x-ray. All things are made up of atoms and electricity comes from the electrons in those atoms. Atoms Atoms are incredibly small units of matter. They make up everything in the universe. There are currently 115 different types of atoms. Each type is made up of different amounts of protons, electrons and neutrons. All matter is made up of different combinations of atoms. Atoms have a nucleus in the middle. The nucleus is orbited by electrons. Summary Electricity is an extremely valuable resource. Wind turbines could help
produce that electricity. Wind is another extremely valuable resource.
Wind turbines produce quite a lot of electricity. Wind power is largely
non-polluting and very renewable. Wind turbines may become very important
in the future as technology improves their efficiency and fuel depletion
makes other electricity generating methods more expensive.
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Craddock, Tony. “Windmills the Netherlands,” Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2001 Ghandakly, Adel A. “Wind Power,” World Book Encyclopedia. 2002 “How Does a Wind Turbine Work?” November 10, 2003 http://www. eere. energy. gov/wind/feature.html#a Llyin, Mary Alexander. “Windmill,” World Book Encyclopedia, 2002. Manwell, James F. “Electricity Generator” November 26, 2003 http://encarta. msn. com/encyclopedia_761556536_//Blade:Turbine_blades.html#p9 Manwell, James F. “Modern Wind Turbines,” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia D/eluxe 2001 “Wind. ” Schlessingger. 1998. “Windmills,” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2001 Wolfson, Richard “Electricity,” World Book Encyclopedia
2001 2001
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I would like to thank the following people for helping make my project possible:
- My parents for giving me encouragement and helping think of a topic. They also helped me find facts for my report. They took the pictures of me with my project. My parents also helped me with the cutting of the blades and nacelle.
- My teacher Mr. Newkirk. He showed me how do everything. He showed me what my board should look like. Mr. Newkirk also helped me find a topic.
- I also want thank my teacher Mrs. Helms. She helped me with my errors that I made. She also helped me with my graphs.
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