User:MundaneUser/enes100/My Work 2nd 4 week cycle

Wind Turbine II

Write problem/project Goal
To design and construct a full scale functioning wind turbine capable of articulating its movement to maximize efficiency

My First Task
Continuing my previous work on the Wind Turbine, I am going to gather data about my LED Voltage Detector circuit in order to maximize its efficiency. The problem, as it stands, is that R2 is getting hot and both LED1 and LED2 are having too much voltage applied. To solve this problem, I have to test voltage drops within my circuit and determine the relationships between the parallel resistors and the amount of voltage dropped. If I am able, I also want to solder a hard-wired LED voltage detector on to a wire harness and connect it to the wind turbine generator (a radiator fan motor).

Summary of actual work over first weekend
I had originally planned on gathering data from my circuit and understanding the electrical movement and use that information to change resistance values to reduce heat and wear on the Resistors and LEDs. I encountered a very interesting problem using a breadboard to build my circuit, which I will go into detail about below. Additionally, this complication also prevented me from hard wiring my circuit before it is optimized.

Week1 Narrative
During my initial test, when I turned on the variable power supply it caused the LEDs to burn out. A word of advice to anyone trying to replicate this process, always check that your power supply is not on max and if it is, make sure to turn the voltage and current to minimum.
 * Next, I measured the total circuit current by connecting the positive Ammeter lead directly to the positive lead coming off the power supply. Then I attached the negative lead off of my ammeter to the incoming lead on the resistor. Following these steps, I measured: 155.5mA Max Current.


 * Following my Max Current measurement, I measured maximum circuit voltage. To do this, I attached the positive lead of the Voltmeter to a pin in the breadboard before the resistor in the circuit and the negative lead in the pin next to the positive lead. The distinction that must be made is that to measure Amps you must break the circuit and measure through, to measure the Voltage you measure across the circuit (or components).

Next, I attempted to measure the voltage drop across R1. During the measurement, the voltmeter did not display any voltage passing through the resistor. I did not understand why I was not getting a voltage readout and so I figured that the Resistor must be getting bypassed (if the circuit is functioning but the resistor has not current passing through it). Another indication that the resistor was getting bypassed is when I measured the total circuit current it equaled 155.5mA but when the circuit was not being measured through the Ammeter the power supply was allowing 141mA to flow. Because I am using a breadboard, the components in series are all sharing a trace, as a result the resistor was in parallel with the circuit and electricity follows the path of least resistance and thus, bypassing R1. I spent a long time analyzing the situation to conclude that the resistor was being bypassed, leaving me with little time to hard-wire the circuit or experiment with resistance values. Despite the complication during the test phase, I pressed on and measured the drops across each component, following the same process as I did to measure R1.
 * Results (All measurements taken while R1 is bypassed):


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Component !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! R5 !! LED1 !! LED2 !! LED3 !! LED4
 * Voltage Drop (Volts) || 7.05v || 4.48v || 2.08v || .19v || 3.02v || 2.55v || 2.4v || 1.89v
 * }
 * }

After a quick analysis of the results I noticed a very interesting relationship between each parallel leg and its preceding Resistor.


 * Voltage dropped across R2 = 7.05V equaled the Voltage dropped across R3 + LED2 (~4.48v + ~2.55v = 7.03)
 * Voltage dropped across R3 = 4.48V equaled the Voltage dropped across R4 + LED3 (~2.08v + 2.4v = 4.48v)
 * Voltage dropped across R4 = 2.08V equaled the Voltage dropped across R5 + LED4 (~0.19v + 1.89v = 2.08v)

I also must add that the Voltage dropped across R2 and LED1 (7.05 + 3.02 = 10.07) was equivalent to the total circuit voltage.

My Second Task
My next goal is to rewire the circuit, now that I understand how to correctly wire R1 so that it is not bypassed. Next, to re-take all test measurements, including Voltage dropped across R1 and total circuit current. Thirdly, to determine relationships between Resistance and Voltage drops and use that information to optimize my circuit as not to over-current the LEDs. Lastly, to hard-wire the Voltage Detector and mount it on the turbine.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
Spent the whole week testing and optimizing the LED Voltage Detector. I was not able to hard-wire the circuit or mount it on the turbine.

Week2 Narrative
During this week, I've continued trying to optimize my circuit so that the voltage drops across each LED are not greater than the optimal range. I've utilized the same testing process as the previous week, I am measure voltage drops across the components of my circuit and changing resistor values. This weeks data:
 * Test #1 (Original Circuit):
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Component !! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! R5 !! LED1 !! LED2 !! LED3 !! LED4 Test #2 (Changed R2 value from 100 Ohm to 1K Ohm):
 * Voltage Dropped (Volts) || 2.02v || 6.92v || 4.34v || 1.96v || 0.10v || 3.01v || 2.54v || 2.38v || 1.87v
 * }
 * }
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Component !! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! R5 !! LED1 !! LED2 !! LED3 !! LED4
 * Voltage Dropped (Volts) || 1.4v || 7.99v || 5.15v || 2.57v || 0.59v || 2.65v || 2.74v || 2.55v || 2.01v
 * }
 * }
 * Test #3 (Changed R2 and R3 values to 1K Ohm):
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Component !! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! R5 !! LED1 !! LED2 !! LED3 !! LED4
 * Voltage Dropped (Volts) || 0.95v || 8.7v || 6.24v || 3.48v || 1.3v || 2.43v || 2.43v || 2.74v || 2.17v
 * }
 * }
 * Test #4 (Changed R2,3,4 vlaues to 1K Ohm):
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Component !! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! R5 !! LED1 !! LED2 !! LED3 !! LED4
 * Voltage Dropped (Volts) || 0.63v || 9.2v || 6.97v || 4.51v || 2.13v || 2.26v || 2.22v || 2.46v || 2.35v
 * }
 * }
 * Test #5 (Changed R2,3,4,5 vlaues to 1K Ohm):
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Component !! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! R5 !! LED1 !! LED2 !! LED3 !! LED4 Now I have all my LEDs operating in their optimal voltage range (between ~1.8V and 2.2V).
 * Voltage Dropped (Volts) || 0.39v || 9.57v || 7.48v || 5.38v || 3.42v || 2.14v || 2.05v || 2.10v || 1.95v
 * }
 * }

My Third task
Download and utilize CircuitMaker to simulate my circuit, gather data on resistance changes, and fully understand the theory behind my circuit. I will also design the circuit and how I will mount it on to the wind turbine.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

Week3 Narrative
Tell a detailed story describing what you did for your team over the weekend.

My Fourth task
Hard wire LED Voltage Detector (Voltage Divider Circuit) and mount on to Wind Turbine.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
Completed planned task with minor difficulty. I had not planned on testing components after each connection and additional parallel leg.

Week4 Narrative
First, I had to reuse the wire harness from the previous turbine prototype. I removed the previous circuit that was attached to the wire harness using wire cutters. I made two cuts just after the solder that was on the harness leads.

Before connecting the positive and negative leads of my LED Voltage Detector, I had to test the polarity of the wire harness leads. I plugged the harness back in to the motor, attached my positive voltmeter clip to the left lead (when looking at the harness from behind) then attached the negative clip to the right lead. I mounted the fan blades onto the motor and spun them in the direction corresponding to the shape of the blades. When turning the fan blades clockwise with the clips attached in the order specified earlier, the motor produces a positive voltage.

I began hard wiring my circuit so that I may mount it inside of the turbine shaft: I used a 3 inch wire (Red, to indicate the positive terminal of my circuit) stripped the insulation one half inch on both sides and soldered it directly to R1. Next, I used a 7 inch black wire, same gauge as the positive lead, stripped it in five places. I stripped a half inch off the end where it will be soldered to the harness and removed four small areas corresponding to the spacing of the parallel resistors. Step 1) Soldered LED1 directly to the lead off of R1 and attached R2 directly to LED1's cathode. Step 2) Soldered R2 to the exposed part of the return wire.

Step 3) Solder LED2 directly to R2

Step 4) Solder R3 to LED2 and return wire

Step 5) Solder LED3 directly to R3

Step 6) Solder R4 to LED3 and return wire

Step 7) Solder LED4 directly to R4

Step 8) Solder R5 to LED4 and return wire

Following the completion of the circuit, I attached the positive and negative leads to a variable power supply and tested the circuit to ensure that all connections are correct. During the test, I realized that I had wired LEDs 3 and 4 backwards and so I had to break the connections at R2, R3, R4, and R5, and re-solder the diodes in the correct arrangement. After the correction was made, the circuit functioned as it had on the breadboard. I conclude that the circuit is not malfunctioning in any way and moved on to mounting

Next, I soldered the positive and negative leads of my circuit on to the corresponding leads of the wire harness and attached it to the motor. After attempting to mount the circuit inside of the turbine, I realized that the exposed wire may cause the circuit to short. I decided to coat the circuit in epoxy to insulate the exposed wire. To test that the circuit was entirely insulated, I attached the harness to the motor and set the circuit inside of the hollow turbine shaft. I used a leaf blower to spin the turbine blades and power my circuit. The circuit functions inside of the turbine and does not short. Although I had doubted the effectiveness of the epoxy as an insulator, it seems to have been the easiest solution. Another solution I had devised was to use duct tape to line the inside of the shaft.



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Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).