The Spring Spinner By: Evan Sutton, Natalie Edgar, Kiersten White, Brandon Bowman Team B2-2

The Team

The Deciding and Buying 1 st idea: only 2 cone cups, dowel rod, Styrofoam 2 nd idea: used Styrofoam cups, had 5 propellers Generator worked but fan did not spin quick enough

Final Idea Got a fan propeller & connected the fan propeller to dowel rod  spun a LOT quicker than the cups Cost roughly $32 with all materials (magnets, Styrofoam, spray paint, dowel rods, tape, propeller, coil)

The Designing Overview 1.Fan creates wind which turns the fan propeller. 2.Propeller connected to dowel rod spin the rod. 3.Rod spins the magnet. 4.Magnet spins inside wire coil. 5.Magnetic field created. 6.Wire connected from coil to light bulb powers the bulb!

Troubleshoots Needed more cups + more surface area in order to catch the air created by the fan Cups too heavy + too much drag = slow spinning Magnet got stuck in coil Wire too thick = hard to coil tight + not strong enough = hardly any power output

The “Finished” Spring Spinner!

The Energy in Our Windmill Kinetic Energy of Air to… Mechanical Energy Electrical Energy (Air of fan spins propeller causing it to rotate) (Spinning propeller  wooden rod rotates  magnet rotates  electric field) Electricity goes through wire to bulb  LIGHTS BULB! To

Efficiency Calculations Given/Measurements: – Wind speed of fan ~ 21 mph = 9.39 meters/second – Cross-sectional area of propeller = m 2 – Density of air = kg/m 3 Required: Theoretical power going into windmill generator Solution: – Kinetic energy = ½ mv 2 = ½ *ρVv 2 = ½*ρALv 2 – Power = energy/time = (½ *ρALv 2 )/t = ½ *ρAv 3 – Theoretical Power = 4.29 Watts m=mass; v=velocity; ρ=density; V=volume; A=cross-sectional area; L=length

Actual Tested Efficiency 30+ milliamps = 0.03 Amps 4.5 Volts Watts = Volts x Amps = 0.03 Amps x 4.5 Volts = Watts Theoretical Power = 4.29 Watts % efficiency = (useful energy produced/theoretical energy) x 100 = 3.15%

Final Conclusions Even though we had some troubleshoots, our group worked well. Our windmill is reliable and fairly inexpensive. With many trials, we got an output of almost 4.5 volts and 30 milliamps. Next time around we would add more to the windmill and try to have better efficiency.  Our group after finishing this project