Our Team Joshua Brown, Matthew Harrell, Matthew Watson, Jack Whitehead

Our Windmill

Mechanical and Electrical Aspects of the Windmill The windmill, using the blades, captures wind energy causing the blades and the shaft to spin. This mechanical energy spins the magnet attached to the shaft so that the magnetic field is spinning perpendicular to the coil. This shifting of the magnetic field causes the electrons in the coil to flow, creating a current.

Calculations Theoretical Power of Windmill P=power in watts(calculated W) = air density(1.255 kg/m^3) A=area swept by blades(measured 5.88^2*π) v=wind speed(measured 8.9 m/s)

Calculations Power Generated P=I*V P=power generated(calculated 1.5 W) I=current in amps(measured 1.5A) V=volts(measured 1 V)

Calculations Efficiency Estimated Efficiency = %

Design Issues The major design flaw in the beginning was that we did not know that the magnetic field had to be spinning perpendicular to the coil. After we learned this the next difficult task was to design a blade that would spin the shaft and magnets.

Conclusions Direction in which the magnet is spinning with respect to the coil is very important With the amount of wire used our windmill is very inefficient