Prototype Evaluation

Flynn Kruchell and Sophie Flannery

Guiding Questions

● The prototype should be analyzed by reducing the power output slightly to offset the fact
that I have 3 times as many motors as the other designs.
● I can improve the aspects of my design that need refinement my identifying the areas in
which they are underperforming and fixing those.
● To further improve my prototype I need to know the relative performance of my turbine
compared to others so I can improve my prototype beyond just working
Prototype Measurements

● Blades
○ The surface of each of the turbine blades is 83.5 cm
○ The mass of each blade is 1.48g
○ There are a total of 3 of these motors in the turbine.
● Turbine
○ The total mass of the wind turbine is 405.98g.
○ It is 40 inches long in total
Blueprints/Design Draft

Prototype Power Output Graph

Wind Speed Volts Amps Watts Watts Per Watts Per

cm^2 Gram

40 1.5 .05 0.075 0.00090 0.051

45 2 .05 0.1 0.00120 0.068

50 2.5 .07 0.175 0.00210 0.118

55 3.25 .1 0.325 0.00389 0.220

This means the total watts per kilogram will be able to be isolated if I divide the largest amounts
of watts produced by the mass in kilograms, which I can approximate to 0.4 Kilograms.
At 0.325 watts my turbine can generate 1.23 watts per Kilogram.
 Rotation Response

At this point our turbine does not respond to wind direction and it will use a funnel system to
collect wind from every direction without need for a change in position. This system is not ready
as of this evaluation.

Response Questions
● The maximum power output was .325 watts at 3.25 volts with .1 amperes. I feel like this
could actually be greater, as part of my design was that it would work in high-speed
conditions. It has problems starting spinning at all wind speeds, especially in the front
motor which will cause issues for me in the future until it is rectified.
● I would like to have it output more power per motor, and ensure all of the motors are
spinning at an optimal speed.
● To improve the design I think I need to create superior blades. The blades that currently
being used in my design catch wind going both directions sometimes, so sometimes it
doesn’t catch as much wind as it could.
● I will implement those changes by creating a better blade design.
● I think right now the best conditions are high wind without much fluctuation in direction.
When the funnel piece is in place it should perform well in most or all conditions. It could
perform well at Animas with the necessary refinements.