1. Working With Wind Energy
Supavadee Aramvith Sohaib Qamer Sheikh
IEEE TISP Workshop Bangkok, Thailand 6 & 7 August 2016

2. Working with Wind Energy Lesson
Lesson Synopsis
Students work in teams of "engineers" to design and build their own windmill out of everyday items.
Learning Objectives
Learn about wind energy conversion
Design a wind turbine
Construct the wind turbine
Test the wind turbine
Evaluate Performance

3. A Wind Turbine The wind hits the blades…
Shaft leads to a gearbox whose output leads to a generator to make electricity
Usually has 2 or 3 blades

4. Thailand’s Wind Resources
Thailand’s total operating wind capacity is 223 megawatts, generating 305 gigawatt hours of energy as of 2014
46th in the world by installed capacity as of 2015
Thailand's Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP) in 2011 called for 25% of its energy to come from renewable sources by 2036
By June 2012, projects totaling over 1,600 MW had been proposed
11 operating wind farms, as of May 2015
Data from Global Wind Energy Council

5. Many blade designs

6. Your Challenge Design, construct and test your own wind turbine design
Lift weight – 15 cm as quickly as possible
Maximum 1 minute
No human interaction!
Blow dryer/fan at least 30cm away from turbine
> 1ft, 30cm

7. Turbine Requirements
Must have a rotor shaft around which to wind up given weight
Must be freestanding (no human interaction)
Must use only materials provided

8. Test Procedure Blow dryer/fan at least 30 cm away from turbine
Attach weight around rotor
Up to 1 minute to wind up weight for 15cm
Record time to wind up weight
> 1ft, 30cm

9. Materials Craft sticks Binder clips Bendable wire Paper fasteners
String
Clothespins
Paperclips
Teabag
Rubber bands
Toothpicks
Aluminum foil, Plastic sheets
Wood dowels
Cardboard

10. Procedure
Teams of 2 or 3
Develop and sketch your design
Construct initial design
Preliminary test
Modify design, if necessary
Final test

11. Evaluate Your Design Efficiency of design may depend on
Cost of materials
Speed (rotations per minute)
Power (time to wind weight)
Possible measure of efficiency:
Eff. = (Cost of materials) / (time [sec] to lift weight)
Are two designs that have the same rotational speed equally as “good”?