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Coming Soon……….The Best Windmill Blade
Design!
Help! The Earth is in Trouble!
Sure; I will help by developing Clean Energy.
What is the Best Windmill Blade Design?
Research Paper
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Table of Contents
Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------page 3
Background----------------------------------------------------------------------page 4
Variables--------------------------------------------------------------------------page 6
Materials and the Procedure------------------------------------------------page 8
Hypothesis----------------------------------------------------------------------page 13
Results---------------------------------------------------------------------------page 13
Discussion-----------------------------------------------------------------------page 25
Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------page 27
Blade Description-------------------------------------------------------------page 27
Sources--------------------------------------------------------------------------page 28
Thank You Note---------------------------------------------------------------page 32
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Introduction
Global Warming! Pollution! Getting serious and dangerous, to every living thing! Someone has to do something about it! Quick!
In our daily lives we cause pollution from producing trash to turning on the lights. It would be extremely difficult to stop polluting the environment. However, we can reduce this pollution greatly, by not wasting resources and researching better ways to do the same activities with less pollution.
A big chunk of our pollution comes from electricity. Electricity is generally made using coal or oil. When burned to produce electricity, smoke with harmful chemicals is thrown in the air and the result is ugly.
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This experiment will be about wind power. Wind power is one of the few ways of getting electricity that is considered to be clean energy. However, clean energy isn’t even close to meeting out energy needs. We need to improve clean energy. Wind power is harnessed by a windmill, which is a very complicated machine. So, this experiment will only be on the blade shape. The experiment will be done by making a mini windmill in which the blades will be changed. The amount of energy generated will be measured by a multi-meter and recorded using the unit millivolts.
Background
Wind energy: a very small source of electricity taking only 2.5% of the total electricity generated worldwide in 2010, but its eco-friendly and worth developing. Wind energy could be the solution to global warming issue we face today. The windmill has been developed over time and engineering has allowed new materials/designs to be used in windmills.
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The windmill blade is a very important part of the windmill. They catch the wind to make the windmill spin. Without the blades, no electricity is generated. Changing the shape of the blade will definitely make a huge difference in how much electricity is generated.
Having better windmill blades would mean that more electricity would be generated with less money because less windmills would be needed to generate the same amount of electricity. This would increase the demand of wind power and decrease the demand of non-renewable resources that pollute the environment. In 2012 the amount of wind energy generated worldwide was only 65,000,000,000 kWh total or enough to power 6 million homes. More and better windmills would result in a healthier and cleaner environment.
To form a hypothesis you can’t just search the details of each of the blade shapes and get an idea of which one is better. The reason why this is true is because most of the blades tested in this experiment are blades that are made up designs instead of ones that are already built. The way to form a hypothesis in this experiment is to study how the blades will catch the wind and what part of the blade would cause resistance.
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Variables
All science experiments need to be controlled to make the experiment accurate. Otherwise the experiment could just be biased from something else that messes up the experiment. There can only be 2 variables that change. The two would be the dependent variable which is what you are measuring or your results in the experiment. The second variable that changes is the independent variable which is what you are testing.
This experiment, the dependent variable is the amount of electricity generated by the mini windmill. The independent variable in this experiment would the shape of the blade. This experiment will have 8 different blade shapes. There are many other variables in this experiment, but those will be kept the same to make it a good experiment.
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The variables are carefully controlled. The numbers of blades are kept the same and 3 blades were used of each design. A template has been used to make sure that the blades are evenly spaced. The set of blades were weighed. The weight of all of the set of blades is 6.7 grams. For all the blades a standard vertical windmill has been used. The distance from the blades to the ground is 10.56 inches. The distance from the blades to the fan is 3 feet. The same fan had been used throughout the entire experiment on the same setting, which is highest setting on the fan. The same generator has been used throughout the entire experiment. The directions of the wind of all the blades are using the same 3 directions for all the blades. The 3 directions of wind are 0 degrees (from the front), 45 degrees (from a diagonal direction) and 90 degrees (from the side). All of the blades have been painted red using the same liquid, which is permanent marker ink.
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Materials and the Procedure
To do any science experiment you need the equipment and a step by step procedure on how to do the experiment.
The materials used are listed below.
Aluminum flashing (to make the blades) A mini generator (to turn the rotational force into electricity) Corks (to connect the blades to the motor) Glue (to make the blades stick to the cork) Hot glue gun (to apply the glue onto the cork) Multi meter (to measure the amount of electricity generated) Wires (to connect the multi meter to the motor)
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Scale (to make sure that the weight of the all the sets of blades with the cork are equal)
Stand (to hold the motor) Tape (to mark where to put the fan and the motor) (optional) Tape measure (to measure the distance of the blades to the
ground and the distance from the fan to the blades) Scissors (to cut out the blades) Permanent marker (to mark where to cut out the blades and to
paint the blades for beauty/making the blades smoother) (painting the blades is optional)
Hammer (to shape the blades) Clamps (Also to shape blades) Fan (to create wind to make the blades move) Outlet (to give electricity to power the fan) (might have used non-
renewable energy) Extension cord (to connect the fan to the outlet over a long
distance) Sheet (to record the results of your experiment) Compass (to make the template that allows the blades to be
evenly spaced) Protractor( also to make the template that allows the blades to be
evenly spaced) Ruler/Straightedge (to make sure the straight lines in the
template are straight) Pencil (to draw the template) Eraser (to get rid of the mistakes made by the pencil)
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The 8 different blade designs are listed below here.
The Fin blade
The Pepper blade*
The Ocean Waves Blade*
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The Curved Blade
The Smiley Blade*
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The Airplane Wing Blade
The Expanding Blade
The Triangular Blade *
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*Please note that the starred blade designs are not made up designs, they were found online.
To do this experiment the first thing to be done is to buy/borrow all the materials listed earlier this section. If you already have all the materials you are ready for the next step. The next step is to design/find the blade designs you want to use in the experiment. Step #3 is to build the blades. Step #4 is to glue the blades onto the cork. Step #5 is to get the windmill/accessories set up and ready to do the experiment. Step #6 is to do the experiment. The final step is to record the amount of electricity generated.
Hypothesis
I think that the Fin Blade would do the best because it has a smooth twist to it so, it can catch the wind well and causes improved use of surface area to the blade. The blade makes the wind force itself to move causing a lot of electricity to be generated.
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Results
The results of the experiment are shown by the tables and graphs below.
The number of millivolts generated in the 1st attempt of the experiment
Attempt1
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
Wind from 0 Deg 144 39 42 104 38 62 55 59Wind from 45 Deg 103 24 30 65 22 43 37 42Wind from 90 Deg 0 0 0 0 11 13 16 0Average 82.33 21.00 24.00 56.33 23.67 39.33 36.00 33.67
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160144
39 42
104
38
6255 59
103
2430
65
22
4337
42
0 0 0 0
11 13 16
0
82.3333333333333
21 24
56.3333333333333
23.6666666666667
39.3333333333333 36 33.6666666666667
Attempt 1
Wind from 0 Deg Wind from 45 Deg Wind from 90 Deg Average
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
The number of millivolts generated in the 2nd attempt of the experiment
Attempt2
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
Wind from 0 Deg 146 37 43 86 33 57 53 55Wind from 45 Deg 106 24 30 56 21 42 39 38Wind from 90 Deg 0 0 0 0 13 14 15 9Average 84.00 20.33 24.33 47.33 22.33 37.67 35.67 34.00
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160 146
3743
86
33
57 53 55
106
2430
56
21
42 39 38
0 0 0 0
13 14 159
84
20.333333333333324.3333333333333
47.3333333333333
22.3333333333333
37.666666666666735.6666666666667 34
Attempt 2
Wind from 0 Deg Wind from 45 Deg Wind from 90 Deg Average
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
The number of millivolts generated in the 3rd attempt of the experiment
Attempt3
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
Wind from 0 Deg 158 33 48 88 37 60 50 55Wind from 45 Deg 107 23 32 60 22 40 34 26Wind from 90 Deg 0 0 0 0 12 10 0 0Average 88.33 18.67 26.67 49.33 23.67 36.67 28.00 27.00
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160158
33
48
88
37
6050
55
107
2332
60
22
4034
26
0 0 0 0
12 100 0
88.3333333333333
18.666666666666726.6666666666667
49.3333333333333
23.6666666666667
36.666666666666728 27
Attempt 3
Wind from 0 Deg Wind from 45 Deg Wind from 90 Deg Average
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
The comparison of different attempts
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
Attempt 1 82.33 21.00 24.00 56.33 23.67 39.33 36.00 33.67Attempt 2 84.00 20.33 24.33 47.33 22.33 37.67 35.67 34.00Attempt 3 88.33 18.67 26.67 49.33 23.67 36.67 28.00 27.00Final Results 84.89 20.00 25.00 51.00 23.22 37.89 33.22 31.56
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
The Results of Different Attempts
Attempt 1 Attempt 2 Attempt 3 Final Results
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
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Fin blad
e
Pepper
blade
Ocean W
aves b
lade
Curved blad
e
Smile
y blad
e
Airplan
e Wing b
lade
Expan
ding blad
e
Trian
gular
blade
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
82.33
21.00 24.00
56.33
23.67
39.3336.00
33.67
84.00
20.33 24.33
47.33
22.33
37.6735.67
34.00
88.33
18.6726.67
49.33
23.67
36.67
28.00 27.00
Different Attempts as a Line Graph
Attempt 1 Attempt 2 Attempt 3
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
The Blades Under Different Directions
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0 deg wind 149.33 36.33 44.33 92.67 36.00 59.67 52.67 56.33
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
45 deg wind 105.33 23.67 30.67 60.33 21.67 41.67 36.67 35.33
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
90 deg wind 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.00 12.33 10.33 3.00
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Fin blad
e
Pepper
blade
Ocean W
aves b
lade
Curved blad
e
Smile
y blad
e
Airplan
e Wing b
lade
Expan
ding blad
e
Trian
gular
blade
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
144
39 42
104
38
6255 59
103
2430
65
22
4337
42
0 0 0 011 13 16
0
82.3333333333333
21 24
56.3333333333333
23.6666666666667
39.33333333333333633.6666666666667
Blades under different directions
Wind from 0 DegWind from 45 DegWind from 90 DegAverage
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
160.00 149.33
36.3344.33
92.67
36.00
59.6752.67 56.33
Zero deg wind
Zero deg wind
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00105.33
23.6730.67
60.33
21.67
41.6736.67 35.33
45 deg wind
45 deg wind
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
12.00 12.33
10.33
3.00
90 deg wind
90 deg wind
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
The Final results of the Best Windmill
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
Final Results 84.89 20.00 25.00 51.00 23.22 37.89 33.22 31.56
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00 84.89
20.0025.00
51.00
23.22
37.8933.22 31.56
The Final Results
Final ResultsThe
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
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Fin blad
e
Pepper
blade
Ocean W
aves b
lade
Curved blad
e
Smile
y blad
e
Airplan
e Wing b
lade
Expan
ding blad
e
Trian
gular
blade
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Final Results
Series2
84.89
20.0025.00
51.00
23.22
37.8933.22
31.56
The Final Results as a Line Graph
Final Results
The
num
ber o
f mill
ivol
ts g
ener
ated
The Comparison of different Blades to Fin Blade
Fin blade
Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
100 23.56 29.45 60.08 27.35 44.63 39.13 37.18
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Fin blade Pepper blade
Ocean Waves blade
Curved blade
Smiley blade
Airplane Wing blade
Expanding blade
Triangular blade
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100100
23.5629.45
60.08
27.35
44.6339.13 37.18
Comparison of different Blades to Fin Blade
Series1
Mea
sure
d in
per
cent
age
Discussion
As you can see at the final results the Fin Blade did the best overall. However, if the wind is coming at 90 degrees (the side) the fin blade doesn’t generate any electricity. The second best blade design is the Curved Blade and it was only 51 millivolts instead of 84.89 millivolts. The Curved Blade generates 33.89 millivolts less than the Fin Blade or 60.08% of the electricity generated by the Fin Blade which is a huge difference. The best online design would be the Triangular blade. However the Triangular Blade didn’t even generate half the electricity of the Fin Blade. The Triangular Blade generated only 31.56 millivolts and got 5th place with 37.18% of the electricity of the Fin blade, but
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generated a little bit of electricity when the wind was at a 90 degree angle with 3 millivolts generated.
When the experiment was done the Fin Blade was spinning incredibly fast and it was making the motor shake. I found this very amazing that it was spinning much faster than any of the other windmill designs. It was the only one that beat 100 millivolts when put at 0 degrees or 45 degrees. I also noticed that when the wind was at a 90 degree angle little or no electricity is generated. This experiment made me realize the importance of the shape of the blade. I also learned the aerodynamics involved in making blades and how to make good blade designs.
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Conclusion
Finally, I conclude that the best windmill blade design is the Fin Blade with 84.89 millivolts generated on average. On 0 degrees it does even better with 149.33 millivolts generated. This proves that my hypothesis about the Fin Blade being the best is supported.
Blade Description
The shape of the Fin Blade is pointy at the end like many other blades, but looks a lot different because one of the sides of the blade is twisted 90 degrees and the other side is bent forward creating sort of like a cup catching the air and moving in a different direction than the air is moving allowing the force to be put in the generator. This is causing this blade to catch a lot of air without a lot resistance being created.
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Sources
Pictures and informational
http://www.mywindpowersystem.com/2009/05/23/the-most-amazing-wind-turbines-designs/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/solar-wind/4324331
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/wind-power/wind-turbines/
http://gcaptain.com/the-most-interesting-wind-turbine-designs/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jmkxT83_2U
http://www.bing.com/images?FORM=Z9LH
http://samapan.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/windmill.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uGHw7byA-JE/TdhfF2QQMRI/AAAAAAAAALM/tk4Bb9oQnWw/s1600/Save+the+Earth.png
http://www.getcleanenergynow.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Banner-CEC-1.png
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http://www.ecoinstitution.com/green-news/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/polluted-air.jpg
http://www.pawindenergynow.org/wind/facts.html
http://designpublic.in/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/renewable-energy1.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-45444-600W-Wind-Turbine/dp/B003YVNG7G/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&qid=1361562959&sr=8-29&keywords=windmill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
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http://www.andyhanselman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/question-mark.jpg
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http://www.environmental-information.com/Pollution/images/index_05.gif
http://freepostermaker.com/uploads/saved_posters/free-poster-j4vhyoefi5-HELP-REDUCE-POLLUTION.jpg
http://saferenvironment.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/pollution.jpg
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http://volumatrixgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Failure-to-harness-our-wind-energy-potential.jpg
http://www.bu.edu/cees/files/2009/10/windmill2.jpg
http://www.caspercollege.edu/renewable_energy/pics/retk_rollinghills_turbine.jpg
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http://whatsbreakingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Clean-Environment.jpg
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http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OoPlHUs-hpc/SwQmZkUealI/AAAAAAAAACQ/A28Zd09vAeo/s1600/electricity_orig.gif
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http://media.ventmaster.com/product/imgage/Manufacturing&ProcessingMachinery/2010101822/3eb669f9fa0eb02649a6673276a73d79.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Protractor_Rapporteur_Degrees_V3.jpg
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http://www.permeative.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Marketing-Analysis2.jpg
http://skylineinfra.com/Images/Data_Analysis.JPG
http://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/ethnomed_images/summary-icon.gif
http://www.iconshock.com/img_jpg/CLEAN/business/jpg/256/summary_icon.jpg
http://www.iconshock.com/img_jpg/SUPERVISTA/business/jpg/256/summary_icon.jpg
http://www.mysmartschools.ph/web/cocook/Conclusion.png
http://informaticaeducativaportfolio.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/conclusion1.jpg
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt185/xrlsky/conclusion.png
Microsoft Clipart
http://www.bionomicfuel.com/top-10-countries-where-wind-turbines-are-used-most-efficiently/
http://wwindea.org/home/index.php
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Helpers
My mom
My Dad
My Grandparents
Thank You Note
Thank You for reading my project!
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