Outdoor Science Fair Projects
Picoturbine Windmill Science Experiments

See the beginning of the Science Fair Projects with Wind Turbines.

Look at the PicoTurbine Windmill Experiments Kit that Lucas used.

Also available is a money-saving kit 10-Pack Case for renewable energy education in the classroom that is perfect for Schools, organizations & clubs!

Some of the variables that might have affected the performance of the Picoturbine blades during these science fair projects would be:
• Gap between the copper wires and the magnets
• Tight connection of all the copper wires to each other
• Yoke could be too tight.
• Wobble effect – if the platform is wiggling too much, the magnets cannot spin as fast.

Problems:

• My first try at operating the Picoturbine failed. I discovered that the copper wires had not been stripped of their coating properly therefore creating a bad connection.
• The other problem I had was that when I tried to move the disc that held the magnets down the wooden dowel, the metal clips that held the dowel on the disc would get sucked off the dowel by the magnets. This provided me with plenty of frustration.
• Finally, when I made the largest blade, I forgot to measure the diameter of the blade. It barely fit under the wire frame. I had to bend the frame out a bit for the blade to rotate freely.
• Picoturbine is not overly sturdy. If you were to perform more experiments, you would have to re-build some of the components as they wear out. i.e. the holes in the cardboard get bigger and the tip of the dowel starts to wear out.

CONCLUSIONS

The 1 ½” blade worked the best overall. The only exception to this was that the 2” blade worked better than the 1 ½” blade when the air source was 6” away. I think this is because the 2” blade has a bigger surface area and therefore catches more air. But the 2” blade did not work well at 3” probably because it was too heavy and not as efficient as the lighter blade.

The 1” blade only produced .5 volts – not enough to light up the LED. I found out that you need at least 1.2 volts to light up the LED (2” blade – at 3” cold air).

With a real wind turbine, a lot of experimenting has to be done to make sure you get the right blade that produces the most electricity, because each windmill costs millions of dollars.

ON AN INTERESTING NOTE

We have real-life wind turbines operating in Kincardine right now. The Enbridge plan is to build 110 - 120 wind turbines. This would provide 200 megawatts of power. This would be enough power to run 70,000 homes in a year.

Benefits of Wind Energy:

• 100% pollution free – wind energy reduces smog, acid rain and air pollution.
• It is abundant and renewable.
• It benefits communities by bringing jobs there, and it makes our community an environmental leader.

Germany is currently the number one producer of wind powered electricity in the world. Germany has 4,000 megawatts of installed wind capacity – as much as two large nuclear power plants.

Canada hopes to have 10,000 megawatts of wind generated electricity in use by 2010.

Sources Michelle Lamont at Enbridge Services in Kincardine
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4944046.stm
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/
http://usasearch.gov/search?affiliate=uspto.gov&v%3Aproject=firstgov&query=savonius
http://www.canwea.ca/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine