User:Gulraize1/ENES100/Project 2

Project Preference
I would like to do the same project I worked on before, which is the Wind Turbine, my next two choices are the mobile robot and then biovest.

Problem Statement
To design and create different shrouds that improves the power level and wattage output on a wind turbine using CAD and a 3D printer.

Project Plan
What we are trying to ultimately do with this project is increasing the amount of power we can get from the turbine and stabilize the turbine.

Week 1 Narrative
This week we were given our new groups, but for me it was the same project that I did last project. My task this week was to do the testing of the wind turbine, but we had a couple of problems. The first is that the shrouds were not implemented on the wind turbine yet, so we could only do the testing of the data without the shrouds. Another problem was the only day I could have come in was on Wednesday, and when I did come in people were doing other projects and because of this we could not test with the leaf blower, since it makes too much noise. Also, because we need to computer to read the data I need the room to be empty. I Could not do any of the testing this week, but on monday I will talk to our professor and see if we can get a time to go in the room alone to get the testing done.

Week 2 Narrative
This week my task was to finalize the wiring and begin baseline testing. To solve the problem that we had last week of not being able to test due to the people in the room I talked to Mr. Edelen and found out that we could download arduino for free on my laptop. After, I downloaded the software I programmed the code into the arduino and did a test just to see if it was working right and it was. We found that the group that originally made the turbine made a huge error. They screwed in the front side of the fan with the side of the braces. So while we were testing we unscrewed the fan and corrected the issue and screwed it back into place.

To start testing I plugged everything in and I held the leaf blower, while Zach filmed and read the data because one person could not do both at once. We are focusing on the amount of power generated by the turbine which is Watts. The first test we did was 5 feet away from the turbine and then 10 feet. But, we found that you get very minimal amount of Watts at ten feet so I decided to test at 2 feet away to see how much power we can generate from an extremely close distance instead of getting close to 0.0 watts at 15 feet. The results of the testing is shown below. Here is the link to the video that Zach made of the testing. No Shroud Testing

We also found a minor problem with the fan while testing. While the leaf blower is on full speed and blowing into the fan, the blades of the fan barely hit something, which we are assuming is the plexiglass. While, this is not a huge deal, it could be improved. I am overall happy with the work our group put in this week because we finally got actual data from testing and we should have the shrouds printed next week and tested right when they are. If all goes right, we should be done one week early. If that is the case I will probably do multiple runs of the testing to verify we are getting the same outputs each time.

Week 3 Narrative
This week our team was focusing on getting more in depth testing in. We decided that just in case the shroud could not be 3D printed that Zach will make a back up shroud made of paper mache. Unfortunately, we started the printing process, but did not get to print all the pieces out for the shroud yet, so next week we will put the 3D printed shroud on the turbine. However the back up shroud was made and on Friday Zach and I came in to do some testing.

Last week I alluded to a problem where the blade of the shroud was making a noise and hitting something on the turbine when it spins. I found that the fan was getting stuck on the plexiglass, so Zach and I took apart the fan once more and found that the outline of the plexiglass was drawn on it, but where they actually cut was way off. So, Zach used a file to correct the cut while I held the turbine in place for him. We then reassembled the wind turbine and it worked fine. We decided to start testing with the paper mache shroud on first. To make it easier to measure the distance away from the turbine I decided to use each tile, which was found to be 16 inches apart, and we could use 13 tiles until we ran out of space. The data from this is found below, along with a comparison without the shroud.

We found that after 144 inches or 12 feet the wind turbine without the shroud does not read any more data and the fan stops spinning.

While testing we found YET ANOTHER design flaw in the Wind Turbine designed by the group last semester. The back of the middle piece of the fan has no way of staying in place, therefore the fan starts to spin off the axis when the leaf blower is blowing on it. I believe this is why the readings we got were so off once we got closer. This explains why as we get closer the data is all over the place.

Week 4 Narrative
This week my task was to test the 3D printed shroud and make a new shroud to test. The early part of the week Edelen told our group that the only way we can get to design a new wind turbine is for us to have multiple shrouds tested, so our group all decided to make another shroud each because we really are interested in this project, but want to design a more effective turbine.

Like Anthony, I made my shroud out of a cone, but I put nothing in the inside the cone to see how the material works without any interference, such as spirals or walls. We decided to all come in on Friday with a shroud and we will test all the different types we made. My job while testing was to do the wiring and read the data on the laptop screen. The data is shown below along with the data from last weeks testing.



I understand that the graph might be difficult to read because of the multitude of amazing test we did this week. So I will briefly analyze the graph. For really close readings the metal shroud was best because it was a cylinder shape and likely traps the wind in it, but as it gets further out it gets less wind stuck inside of it and it stopped reading at 208 inches. The paper mache data I personally would like to throw out the window because we had to test it using the backside of the shroud so it will stay in place and that caused the back of the fan to spin out of place. The shroud I made out of the cone stopped working at 208 inches. Surprisingly the spiral and wall shrouds were the two most consistent shrouds and are too close to tell a significant difference



We printed out half of the shroud on Monday and on Wednesday we started printing the second half of the shroud and it looked like it was being made fine. So on Friday when we came in to test we could not find where the half of the shroud was and we looked everywhere for it. We decided that we will reprint the half of the shroud and come back on Saturday to test it. Joe came in on Saturday and got the shroud, but no teacher was in the room and 159 was locked with our turbine in it. A teacher was scheduled to be in the room and was not so we could not open the room and test the shroud. This may have been a huge problem, but thanks to the group anticipating a problem with the 3D printed shroud we had six back ups and got all the testing we needed and more done.