26 ~ 30 March 2012 (Week 10)

Title of Activity:

Project Progress.

ü  Development of Windmill as Electricity Generator (The stator and base part)

Objective:

• Construct the base part for wind turbine.
• Attach the coils at the base part.
• Construct the stator part for wind turbine.

Content/Procedure:

• There have to make 4 coils that will be attached on the base board. This requires using a sketched dimension with a circle section.
• Arrange the coils on the base board according to the template scheme (their windings have to alternate between clockwise and counter clockwise). It must be sure that an electron would follow the path shown by the arrows in the template, beginning from the left counter clockwise coil.
• Connect the ends of coils and use insulation tape to prevent any errors.

Picture of the base part materials

Picture of the measured the stator placement space

Picture of the Drilling the center point for the Wind Turbine placement

Result and Analysis:

     As a result, choosing the suitable material for the base part are really important. The parts for the base should be the insulator material to make sure the coils that attach on it are not affected by the material. And make sure the arrangement of the coils on the base board should be that winding alternate between clockwise and counter clockwise.

     For the stator part, if we didn't follow the basic stator path (beginning from the left counter clockwise coil), it will be gained as a small output result. That why it important for make sure the arrangement of the coils are followed the basic theory of the wind turbine stator parts.

Conclusions:
     As a conclusion, for this week the result for the wind turbine is not successful as the expectation. From the result, the outputs that are gained from the wind turbine are very small. That why it very important to arrange the coils very carefully and make sure the coils are follow the path to make sure that an electron would follow the path and gained the output.

19 ~ 23 March 2012 (Week 9)

Title of Activity:

Project Progress.

ü  Development of Windmill as Electricity Generator (The rotor part)

Objective:

• Construct the rotor part for windmill.
• Combine the rotor with the turbine part.
• Tested rotor part as a wind turbine.

Content/Procedure:

• Using the compact disc, make it as a base part of the rotor. Use the plastic tap washer as a holder and glue it at the centre of the compact disc.
• Take a ruler and mark one side of the rotor disk with perpendicular dot marking. Be sure the two lines are 90 degrees apart. Use geometry square or the corner of a piece of paper to help locate the second line.
• Hot glue the 4 fender washers to the disk, centre them over the dot mark and bringing their edges up to the edge of the disk. And be sure the washers are clean and free of all grease and dirt.
• Carefully separate the magnets by sliding them off the stack, one at a time. And place a magnet on each washer with the same pole facing up (north or south). To unsure the polarity of the magnets, we can use a magnetic compass to confirm that all the magnets are either north or south.

Result and Analysis:

Tools and Materials are used to make this turbine part are:

• Scissors & Utility knife
• Hot glue gun
• Compact disc
• Washer
• Magnets (1” diam. Rare earth, 4)

            When finishing this rotor part, this part has been tested together with the turbine and the coil parts. As a result, the wind turbine has generated some voltage. But there have some problem, the output voltage are too small. For improvement, I should re-check coil orientation. Following the wire through the circuit, it should spiral through the first coil in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, and should go the same direction in each of the other coils. I also should re-check the gap between magnets and coils is not too large and the rotor is stable.

Conclusions:

            As a conclusion, the rotor part is the important part because the magnet that is used should be more powerful and the rotor also should be rotate in a stable rotation. And this rotor part also should be able to combine with the other part and can generate the electricity. And for the problems that occur for this part also have been resolved with some discussion and research.

12 ~ 16 March 2012 (Week 8)

Title of Activity:

Project Progress.

ü  Development of Windmill as Electricity Generator (The Turbine part)

Objective:

• Construct the turbine part for windmill.
• Choose the suitable magnet for turbine.

Content/Procedure:

• Using scissors or a utility knife, cut the top and bottom off the water bottle, and then cut the cylinder into two equal halves.
• Use the sand paper to buff the inside edges of each bottle half where they will attach to the end pieces. Sanding allows the hot glue to adhere better.
• Apply hot glue to one of the curved edges of one of the turbine end pieces. Quickly position a plastic bottle half on this edge, holding it steady for about 20 seconds while the glue cools and hardens.

Picture of bottle that are used for the turbine part

Picture of the turbine part that are insulated with the PVA glue

Picture of designed end pieces for turbine

Picture of end pieces for turbine 

Picture of Cardboard that are using with end pieces for turbine 

Picture of completely turbine 

Picture of designed turbine 

Result and Analysis:

Tools and Materials are used to make this turbine part are:

• Scissors & Utility knife
• Hot glue gun
• Nail & Sand paper
• 1.5L water bottle

            As a result, the turbine part has been completely made. This turbine will be combined together with the other part of the windmill. And there also have some type of the magnet that should be choose for the turbine. The type of this magnet should be suitable for the turbine.

Picture of a small donut or ring ceramic magnet

Picture of a medium donut or ring magnet

Picture of a medium disk NIB magnet

Picture of Neodymium magnet, disc type

Picture of all the type of the magnet

Conclusions:

            As a conclusion, the turbine part is constructed using light and elastic materials. This material should be light for make sure the turbine can easily rotate. And it also should be elastic for make sure it can stand for a fast wind force. And video below show the finished wind turbine movement.