User:Medelen8/ENES100/Wind Turbine Design B

Problem Statement
The goal of this project is to design as well as modify an already existing components of the wind turbine to work efficiently, to convert kinetic energy from the wind into a source of electricity that can be used to supply electricity to other devices as well as developing a code that will enable Power produced to be displayed accurately on a digital display.

Requirements for each element or component derived from system level goals and requirements
The system requirement we have is a modification from the previous group's documentation. The requirements constitute the individual requirements of all the components. Some of the requirements will apply to the Wind Turbine as a complete design, while others will apply to specific components.
 * 1) Ability to measure power(in Watt) generation in real time
 * 2)  All major components must offer a 5-year parts warranty
 * 3) Shroud should be of a cone shape to absorb enough wind
 * 4) Wind Turbine should be light (< 1 pound)
 * 5) Ability to generate maximum watt ( > 1 watt, due to the capacity of the fan)
 * 6) Wind Turbine blade has to be safe and secure
 * 7) The design should be able to sit outside on a steady position while rotating its turbine for at least 10 years without damage by rain and sun (excluding natural disasters)

Concept 1: Fan Modification
The first concept of this design is a modification of the original fan to generate DC power. For a wind turbine to work at its best, the fan has to be able to generate enough kinetic energy that will be converted to electricity. In this concept, the fan is opened to get to the circuit. The supply pins is removed from its original pin by using a soldering iron and replacing it directly on the coil pins. This enables the fan to directly produce current (DC, current flowing in a steady direction) from the coil rather than produce AC current, which can switch directions. After that, all the electronic components of the fan is taken off so that it would not interfere with the flow of current. This is a video example of how the fan was modified

Concept 2: Square Shroud shape
The shroud is an important part of out design because if capture kinetic energy that in turn turns to electricity. With the help of SolidEdge, we designed a prototype of a shroud that we think will capture wind and also be light weight to fit out specification. This design can be modified to meet different specification based on the design preference. Our final goal is to make the shroud adjustable and to have different shapes; thus, during testing, the best shroud can be decided. The best shroud will be the one that encases the most kinetic energy that will in turn, produce the most power on the LCD screen.

Concept 3: Jet-Engine Design
This concept was born from an already existing concept, however, modified to fit our design. The design enable kinetic energy from a large area of approaching wind to be extracted by a small, faster blade. The original design was designed in such a way that it will overcome betz limit and that part of the design will be kept for this concept. With this design, the fast air from the outside deflects in, and slow air on the inside flares out. The two flows meet at a different angles, which creates a vortex. A fin that automatically aligns the wind turbine to the air flow can be implemented. Betz law states that no turbine can capture more than 16/27 (59.3 percent) of the kinetic energy in wind.

The initial design
The initial design has already been put together by the previous group. This includes the Shroud connected to the fan and the power generated from the wind turbine read through the screen monitor. We modified this design because it wasn't portable and doesn't go with out requirement of making a portable wind turbine.
 * Fig 1.1 taken from Wind Turbine/Howard Community College/Fall2012/p1 501 LPT page.

Experimental prototypes and testing conducted during design
Test was run with the initial design that we had to determine the power generated by the fan and see if it displays well on the serial monitor. The testing included the using a TORO Power Sweep ( generates an air speed of 160mph (257.5 kph)) as a source of kinetic energy. We position the TORO Power Sweep in different positions and took readings. This was a pseudo test because the kinetic energy used to power a wind turbine usually goes at a slower pace; however, for the purposes of this experiment, we used the TORO Power Sweep. Our reading were as follows, With the detachable component attached as seen on Fig. 1.3 With the detachable component off

Appropriate optimization in the presence of constraints
There were two main design changes that were optimised while abiding to the constraints of the application.
 * 1) The reading of the power on an output monitor had to be optimized to abide to the constraints of the design. The display monitor was initially used to display power generated by the wind turbine and that would mean the wind turbine weight as a whole will be over our requirement of <1 pound. An LCD screen was initiated to display the reading on the screen, which eliminated the weight but also enabled us to have a portable screen that can be carried around for easier testing and simulation.
 * 2) The shroud was connected to the fan with duct tape and that made the design look less worthy than it should be. So, the duct tape was removed as seen in Fig 2.1. We designed a new shroud on SolidEdge and the plan is to connect the fan directly on the shroud to look more presentable. This process will also help reduce the weight of the wind turbine even further.

Iteration until convergence
There were two main area where the iterative design was needed.
 * 1) In the initial project, the fan was producing AC power and that meant that power wasn't direct. Modification was made on the fan to enable the power from the fan to be direct from the coil, which in turn will produce DC power. After opening the fan and re-soldering the fan supply pins directly to the coil pins, and the electrical components taken off, the fan was meant to produce direct current.
 * 2) The shroud was modified, however this was done as a SolidEdge design. This way, it can be modified further to meet any other requirement that would be suitable for the project. A shroud with a square shape was designed and we predict it will retain more kinetic energy and convert it to power, which will be displayed on the LCD screen.

The final design
In our final design of the circuit, our group changed the basics of the circuit so the output is not limited by the arduino itself. We originally had the arduino reading a part of the circuit that went straight to ground, so it didn't provide ample resistance for the arduio to accurately measure. One of our newest additions to this design was the addition of a second resistor, to provide a good testing site for the arduio to measure wattage. This fixed the problem of the wind turbine only being able to top out at .10 watts.

Also, the code was modified slightly to clean up whats actually displayed on the LCD screen. Before our modification, the LCD screen was crowded with useless readings such as wattage, amperage, and "sensor value"

Technical and scientific knowledge
In order to determine the voltage, current, wattage, and resistance we needed to find the right formulas to use that will yield out intended result. Ohm's Law helped us calculate the current since we only had the values of the voltage and resistance. With this formula, we were able to input them into the coding shown above and also simulate the LCD to display each result accordingly. The program used for the design was
 * $$I = \frac{V}{R} \quad \text{or}\quad V = IR \quad \text{or} \quad R = \frac{V}{I}. $$
 * $$P = \frac{V^2}{R},$$
 * All of the electrical components of the PC's fan was removed in order to convert AC power to DC power so the fan could produce enough current.

Creativity, problem solving, and group decision-making
Creativity is very useful in this part of the design phase. The last group did an amazing job creating a wind turbine prototype but it has a few problems like being secured with a duct tape. After brain storming, we decided to design a shroud that will accommodate the fan by bolting it together. This will make the wind turbine more portable and also reduced the weight. This shroud design is not completely design because they next group might want to make some adjustments to the design to suit their idea, and that is the reason why it is a 3D model on SolidEdge. This gives the next group rom for improvement and modification. Also, we needed a new way to work with the circuit that would accurately display the wattage output of the turbine. This involved having a LCD that is portable enough so that the whole weight of the wind turbine will not >1 pound.

One example of problem solving was changing the fan from an AC power to a DC power generator. This problem was crucial to solve because it is the heart of a wind turbine. Without the fan generating current, there won't be a functional wind turbine. It took research and weeks of works to finally convert the fan to DC power and rightfully so. Testing was done to confirm it worked well and further testing is suggesting to solidify this fact.

We had to make a few decisions based on the existing wind turbine but none of them was major. We decided to modify the circuit from the last group. Design a new shroud that could possibly be adjustable. All the concepts we had were concept we came up with and we made decisions on which one to carry through for this project.

Prior work in the field, standardization and reuse of designs (including reverse engineering and redesign)
I worked on building an FM radio in radio from scratch and that required a lot of careful soldering. That gave me invaluable experience when working on the fan. One of my team member's has an expertise on code programming so he was able to modify it.

Because this design was a continuation of a previous group's wind turbine, some of the design was kept and some modifications were made. The shroud was joined to the fan with duct tape, which we took the tape off to find the measurement of the existing fan. The measurements of the fan were used to design a 3D cad model of a shroud which had a diameter of 12 cm. We also reused the older group's designs of the circuit to base off the concept of our new circuit.

Modeling and/or Simulation
The previous group had included a model of the wind turbine attached to the shroud done in a CAD software. We created a model of a possible design of a shroud with another shape using Solid Edge that can be attached to the fan. A previous group created a CAD prototype using Solid Edge. Our Design of the Shroud comes from the same strategy but it will be attached directly to the fan and the stand, making it all one big circuit.

Performance, life cycle cost and value
The performance will be based on the purpose of the wind turbine. With an improved motor it can generate more power and due to the shroud design, it is safer also unlike the traditional wind turbine, which can be harmful to birds. The shroud design is a more cost effective approach because it generates more power so companies can presumable save more energy to disperse to consumers. The design is also cost efficient because it doesn't require the conventional huge blades that the regular wind turbine uses.

There is room for improvement in the design ranging from a better shroud, to fan, which will generate more power during the later stages of the product development. To maintain the best performance, a lot of testing has to be done to determine the best performance before it is mounted because once it is mounted, optimal performance will be expected thats why it has to be proven to be working normally under different conditions like rough wind, storm and some natural environmental changes.

The regular wind turbines have long blades and this makes them go really slow. When wind speed goes over 20mph, the blades stops otherwise they will go too fast and break but with the shroud protecting the blades, it allows it more room to spin, producing more power that would be saved and distributed to consumers.

Aesthetics and human factors
In order to replace a shroud with a different shape we came up with a concept that allows a person to place the shroud and tighten it with two bolt around the fan. It was more elegant than using duct tape to connect the fan and other shrouds. The color of the shroud will sill be black as it will less attracting animal (insects etc) that could presumable be attracted to bright colors.

Implementation, verification, test and environmental sustainability
The goal of the wind turbine project was to help sustain renewable energy to help supplement the power consumption of a house. The plan for implementation is to verify the performance of the wind turbine by running test based on all the new modifications made on the design and be sure than the circuit works effectively. After the testing is made, all necessary design changes is then made before the design can them go ahead to the printed. The design should be able to sit outside on a steady position while rotating its turbine for at least 10 years without damage by rain and sun (excluding natural disasters)

Maintainability, reliability, and safety
The wind turbine thats we are building is much smaller than the traditional wind turbines; thus, maintaining it would be easier and cost efficient. The cost of transporting a long blade (40-60 meters) is much but with the shroud design, it can be transported in segments and made to fit in one ride.Due to the the open nature of the wind turbine, visual blade inspections should be carried out regularly (5 times in year) and in some cases regular surface cleaning may be necessary to maintain optimal performance; however, this will be an easier and cost effective process.

The reliability of a wind turbine is important for investor who have invested in this type of shroud because it will increase the cost per unit of electricity generated. However, it will count for nothing if the wind turbine break. Before the wind turbine is mounted out, a lot of testing has to be done with all the essential components to make sure they can withstand all the main requirements listed at the start of this reports.

Safety is an important factor behind the shroud design. Conventional wind turbines are known to be unsafe for birds and due to the size and lack of shield of their huge blades, they are deemed unsafe for the bird species; this, have to go slow. With the shroud design, the fan will be secure and wouldn't have to spin slow; thus, producing more energy.

Robustness, evolution, product improvement and retirement
Wind energy has been with us for a while but the modifications made to the hardware side of the wind turbine is propelling it to new height. More energy is being produced and massive changes are being implemented for example, this design overcame betz law, which states that no turbine can capture more than 16/27 (59.3 percent) of the kinetic energy in wind.

The shrouded wind turbine could be adjusted using modern wind technologies to decrease its size to power big cities as well as just a small household device such as a TV's, computer, lamp, etc. With new technologies being generated, it is possible that the shroud design might one day become obsolete but judging by the retention of the current long blade wind turbines, it will be some time before they are no more because new technology has to go through testing and requirements before fully implemented.