Subject
Area
|
Environmental Science |
Age
or Grade
|
11th & 12th |
Estimated
Length
|
120 minutes |
Prerequisite
knowledge/skills
|
Before beginning this lesson, students know the differences between non-renewable and renewable energy sources. They understand that, currently, the majority of our energy needs our met using non-renewable sources of energy. |
Description
of New Content
|
- Wind energy is a renewable, clean source of energy.
- Blade design is one of the most complicated and important aspects of current wind turbine technology
- Blades are designed to extract as much energy as possible from the wind over a range of wind speeds
- Parameters that influence the energy efficiency of a blade are weight, length, shape, angle and material composition
|
Goals
|
- Students construct a PVC wind turbine
- Students design a set of blades to extract as much energy as possible from low and high wind conditions
- Students understand the factors that infleunce the efficiency of a blade to convert wind energy into electrical energy
|
Materials
Needed
|
- (6) 6” PVC pipe connectors
- (1) 2” PVC pipe connectors
- (1) 30” PVC pipe connectors
- (5) 90° pipe fittings
- (3) T-pipe fittings
- Tinkertoy Hub w/ adapter
- DC motor
- Sandpaper
- Saw/ Box Cutter
- Epoxy glue/Tape
- Fan
- Blade Construction materials: balsa waood sheets, cardboard, tissue paper, string, 3/8' dowels
- Multimeter
|
|
Procedure
|
1. If possible, motivate lesson with a class discussion/debate on the proposed Cape Wind Farm to be built in the Nantucket Sound.
2. In teams, students follow the procedure on the handout to construct a PVC wind turbine.
3. Each team design, tests and optimizes a set of blades for their wind turbine following the constraints specified in the challenge handout.
4. Blade Design Competition: Each groups tests their blades at high and low wind speed for 30 seconds, recording the highest ouput over that time. The team with the highest average output for high and low wind speeds WINS!
|
Evaluation
|
Winning team received a few extra credit points. Each team was evaluated based on their approach to the design problem (ie: proper documentation of developed protocol, following directions of handouts, all criteria of design satisfied...) |
| References |
www.kidwind.org
http://www.kidwind.org/materials/buildingwindmills/PVCpipe.htm
http://www.kidwind.org/materials/Lessons/bladedesign/bladedesign.html
|