Wind Tunnel/Howard Community College/Spring 2012/BJ560

Problem Statement
To create a usable desktop Wind Tunnel to be used in an engineering lab to test object's aerodynamics.

Team Members

 * Michael Walker
 * Justin Jones

Summary
The project advanced in creating the wind tunnel. The Basic wooden structure was fabricated and put together. The main wooden components being the floor of the test chamber, the motor and fan housing, and the box that is responsible for lamination of the airflow. The Motor was hooked up to a reliable power supply, and runs effectively with the Arduino and potentiometer setup. The major wooden components have been assembled using wood screws and Goop glue. Plexiglass was cut and shaped for the test section.

Story
The project started with a working motor on an unstable mount, a square box for holding the straws to create laminar flow,and the control components for the motor running off of a separate power supply.

The first project push was getting the arduino to run off the power from the ESC. This eliminated many issued with powering the arduino and fixed many problems associated with power supplies using different grounding methods, such as one having a floating ground and the other having an earth ground. The latter differences can cause "dirty" or "noisy" signals, causing improper operation possibly damaging components.

Next a square motor shroud was created to encase the fan motor and propeller. During this phase the laminar box and the motor shroud were sealed. The wooden base for the major wind tunnel component was cut. A bar to mount the motor in the shroud was screwed into place.

Next the Motor was removed from it's unstable mount and mounted in the fan shroud. The ESC and wires were connected, placed, and mounted in the fan shroud. A hot wire anemometer component was created by removing the glass from a regular light bulb.

The three pieces of the wind tunnel, the laminar box, the tunnel base, and the fan shroud were connected together with sealant glue. a reliable power supply was also located and is used to run the motor/ESC through 12v and ground, and the hot wire anemometer through 5v and ground.

Decision List
No formally recorded Decisions were made.

Material List

 * Adruino Uno
 * Potentiometer and Wires
 * Hextronik HXT 80 Electronic Speed Controller
 * Brushless Motor
 * Converted computer power supply
 * 1/2" 4'x3' plywood for construction
 * 1/8" Plexiglass
 * Wood Screws
 * Goop sealant glue
 * Wood Glue
 * 2"x2" 10" wooden bar

Software List

 * Arduino Uno Compiler Software
 * Google Chrome
 * Microsoft Office Word

Time
Approximately 45 Hours of work were preformed on the project.

Tutorials
No Tutorials were made, but some were useful:
 * Arduino ESC Programming

Next Steps

 * Complete the Plexiglass Part of the wind tunnel
 * Fill Rear section with straws to create laminar flow
 * Tweak Arduino control to user preferences
 * Configure and calibrate hot wire anemometer
 * Inside rectangular ran shroud, use sheet metal to create a circular fan shrowd