Wind Turbines By: Brandon K. Fedeler

Goals for this project Give background information of the history of wind turbines. Explain the components of the turbine. Explain the process of building the turbine and maintaining the turbine to keep it in working condition.

Job Shadow For my job shadow experience I shadowed the workers at Broadwind Energy. During my experience I did many different things such as: Building a level table for projects Drilling holes Welding Grinding Metal cutting Assembling parts Assist in machining parts

The reason I chose this topic is I thought they were very interesting and thought how these were simple machines, yet they can contribute to so much to America’s economy and it pursuit to be a more energy efficient nation.

What is a wind turbine and how does it work? Wind turbines use the kinetic energy from the wind to produce electricity that can be spread throughout the power grid and used to power homes, farms, and communities such as Chester. There are two (2) basic setups and they are Vertical Axis Wind turbines (“Egg beater” style) Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (propeller style)

History

Source: Wind 101

Source: Wind Energy 101

Jacobs Turbine Source: Wind Energy 101

Smith-Putnam Turbine Source: Wind Energy ’s

Modern Wind Turbines

Components of Today’s Turbines

Gear box

What keeps the blades pointed into the wind? The YAW motor uses information that is gathered on the back of the nacelle by an anemometer that determines wind direction and speed. The nacelle is then directed into the wind by a motor that drives the another set of gears on top of a large tabletop gear.

From the Turbine to your Home Source: Wind Energy 101

Wind Potential Source: Wind Energy 101

What Does it Take to go from this

To This! Source: Wind Energy 101

Roads Source: Dale Bartels

Circuits Source: Dale Bartels

The Base (hole) Source: Dale Bartels

The Base (filled) Source: Dale Bartels

The Base (backfilled) Source: Dale Bartels

Crane Pad Source: Dale Bartels

Beginning phase Source: Dale Bartels

Inside of the first two sections Source: Dale Bartels

Placement of the Nacelle Source: Dale Bartels

Assembling the Hub Source: Dale Bartels

How many blades? The number of blades is determined by the customer. The number of blades can range from several to only one (1). Which number of blades is the best?

Assembling and bolting on the Blades Source: Dale Bartels

Finished Product Source: Dale Bartels

How small do turbines get? Source: Dale Bartels

Where do we get most of our energy? Source: Wind Energy 101

$Price$? Depending on the size of the turbine to be constructed they can range from a couple thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many turbines will pay for themselves in as little as 3 years The cost of maintaining the turbine is relatively low.

Leaders in the wind industry.

Where we started

Wind power growth in the U.S.

What is next?

Reflection

What did I learn from this experience of working with other people? I learned that the anything that could be needed to build a wind turbine can be built in the machine shop There is always going to be a need for people to travel with the teams to sites to change oil, parts, etc.

What did the Experience teach me about myself? The experience showed me that there are some jobs that may seem to be fun but there are some aspects of the job that wouldn’t fit me. (Like being away from home for months at a time) That I need to be careful about what decisions I want to make about school and how long I really want to go to school for to get where I want to be in life.

What would I do differently now that I am finished? I would definitely manage my time better. Picked my product a lot sooner Did a lot more research about the wind patterns in South Dakota.

How were my original plans different? My original plan was to build a functioning turbine using an alternator from a vehicle and PVC pipe for the blades and determine how much electricity could be gathered by how simple my designs (such as differing the number of blades used) could get.

Success of my product? I think that my product was very successful because I was able to inform my judges on how much a wind turbine would cost approximately, what all is done to build a wind turbine and keep it functioning to it’s full potential.

Risks? There wasn’t very much of a risk in my project besides not being able to finish it by the deadline because of the varying of information. If I had to point out one risk though it would be… Finding all of my information and getting it all into order.

Questions?

Works Cited Wind Energy 101 by Joe Rand, The KidWind Project Mr. Dale Bartels, Chester Area School Broadwind Energy Services Howard, South Dakota