Alternative Energy Wind and Bicycle Power Choluteca, Honduras Group Members: Robbie Schram, Justin Letts, Ben Weekes May 23, 2013

Table of Contents Wind Generator Overview Project Goals Bicycle Generator Overview Project Goals Implementation in Country Project Summaries Recommendations for Future Acknowledgements

Wind Generator

Overview Why? Supply green sustainable energy to the vocational school Supply electricity to storage container Charge tools Power fluorescent lights Serve as a learning opportunity for students Produce systems independently Capabilities of “green” technology Avoid expensive power grid in Honduras

Overview Last year’s team built a mostly working system Completely wired to storage box BUT the blades did not spin quick enough to reach 12V Tried a gearing system out of motorcycle parts to fix Not enough time to perfect Once back in Columbus, new gearing system and motor sent Some internal parts broke Gearing system “persnickety” Wind blade broke

Scope of Work Purchase new motor Design and construct new wind blades Be able to connect blades to motor Fully operational Wind Generator

Bicycle Generator

Overview Why? Multi-Purpose Generator: Exercise Educate school patrons and people at clinic of maintenance/health and fitness Alternative Energy Human Powered Environmentally Friendly Charges phone batteries Bicycles are easily accessible Replicable and Portable

Overview 2012 initially built fully functional system Alternator 1 – Burned out Alternator 2 – Malfunctioned Connection between bicycle wheel and alternator did not work as intended Drum-driven system

Scope of Work Improve connection between bicycle and alternator Deliver two working bicycle systems Both using new alternators acquired and tested during class time Belt driven system Build prototype in Columbus to test alternators Safely secure electrical components Design and construct project with extreme user in mind

Implementation in Country

Work Schedule Wind: Tear down old windmill: 1 day Install new motor and blades: 1 day Trouble shooting: 2 days Testing/Calculations/Instructions: 1 day Bike: Modify and wire old bike stand: 1 day Fabricate and wire second bike stand: 1 day Trouble shooting: ½ day Testing/Calculations/Instructions: ½ day

Monday May 6, 2013 Toured vocational school Inspected old windmill motor and electrical components Inspected second bike stand Took down old motor and motor plate Drilled new holes to mount bracket for new motor

Tuesday May 7 th, 2013 Mounted new motor to wind armature Assembled new blades to fly wheel and fit to motor Raised pole, but it did not turn to face wind

The new motor is quite heavier than old Needed to push with pole to face wind Countermeasure idea: to balance armature by adding weight to tale, regrease pole

Wednesday May 8 th, 2013 Modified old bike stand to accommodate new alternator and belt design Wired bike stand and alternator and wrote directions for use Showed students at school how it worked and tested with clock radio from one of the offices of the vocational school

Thursday May 9 th, 2013 Balanced wind armature with scrap metal rails from the school Regreased pole Raised pole again, but windmill did not turn to face wind and only produced 9V even in highest winds Countermeasure proposal: bigger tail, cut out sections of fly wheel to reduce drag as well as weight on shaft of motor

Friday May 10 th, 2013 Fabricated second bike stand Needed to accommodate for different wheel and belt size and different model of alternator Wired second bike stand and tested again with clock radio Began cutting out large sections of fly wheel

Monday May 13 th, 2013 Finished cutting out flywheel Clamped on longer tail cut from sheet metal found at vocational school There was a break-in at the school and the 220V extension chord was taken so we couldn’t weld the tail Raised pole to test new fly wheel and tail Turned to face wind easily and produced a top voltage of 17.5V

Tuesday May 14 th, 2013 When arrived at school, windmill was turning to face wind just fine without extra tail Decided to add tail anyway to ensure windmill will turn in even light winds Instead, made tail smaller and rebalanced the armature Painted tail and raised pole for last time

Wednesday May 15 th, 2013 Spent day rewiring and soldering circuit board for windmill Found diode was fried and searched for replacements in Choluteca and had staff member search for one while he was in Tegucigalpa for the day, but could find no suitable diode While testing second bike setup, ran into problems with the belt wobbling and coming off Added pond liner to wheel to prevent wobbling Bike Channel

Wind Summary With modifications to fly wheel and tail, the wind generator works perfect mechanically While in Columbus, did not anticipate the need of a replacement diode Could not find an adequate diode in Choluteca or in Tegucigalpa Ordered a diode online and sent to next mission group going to Choluteca (Leaving today, May 23 rd ) Once installed, wind generator will be able to power electronics in the storage container at the vocational school

Wind Cost Analysis WindPriceLocation Pre-TripPVCFree ($200)Speer Mechanical Pre-TripAluminum Plate$19Stargate Metals Pre-TripPulley$21.80eBay Pre-TripMotor$198eBay Pre-TripHardware$16.51Lowe's Pre-TripRope$9.97Lowe's Post-TripDiodes$49.34Solaire's/Coleman Air HondurasLocktite$6.23Lowe's Pre-TripPaint$11.98ACE Total Cost: With Free PVC$ Including Price of PVC$532.83

Bike Summary Finished project with two working bicycle stands Adequately charge battery and power electronics as effectively as plugging them into the wall Larry decided to send one of the bike generators to a family in Siete de Mayo to observe how the Hondurans use and take care of it Second bike is currently at the vocational school, but we are unsure of future location

Bike Cost Analysis BikePriceLocation Pre-TripAlternators$ All City Auto Wrecking Inc./Woody's Auto Salvage Pre-TripThreaded Rod/Hardware$20.51Lowe's Pre-TripWoodFree/ScrapOSU Lab Pre-Trip1st BikeFreeRoger Dzwonczyk Pre-TripRechargeable Battery$19.95Batteries Plus Pre-TripInverter$32.01Harbor Freight Pre-TripToolboxes$12.76Lowe's HondurasDecking screws, hookup wire, hardware$83.28Lowe's Honduras2nd Bike$35 Casa de Empenos la Union HondurasBattery$25WGM HondurasBike and general$10.90WGM Total Cost:$441.84

Recommendations Wind: Research new blade material Send wind speed sensor to vocational school Wire up new diode Exchange current wind battery for old solar panel battery Bike: Move one of the bike stands to the clinic Design and construct stand for front wheel of bikes When buying bikes for futures stands using same design, ensure rear wheel channel is wide

Acknowledgements We would like to thank first and foremost Dr. Roger Dzwonczyk and Miriam Cater, without whose wisdom and expertise we could not have completed our projects so successfully Special thanks to: Larry and Angie Overhault Vocational School Staff Dr. John Merryl Patrick Bosch Professor Jeffrey Huston World Gospel Mission