PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT LAB

MAKING A MODEL OF WIND TURBINE

Submitted By:

VISHAL KUMAR (215ME3213)

ASHISH TOPNO (215ME3220)

BUDDHADEV JOSHI (215ME3404)

DEEPIKA NAYAK (215ME3407)

PRAVIN SINGH (215ME3408)

M.TECH. (THERMAL ENGINEERING)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

National Institute of Technology Rourkela
Rourkela-769008, Orissa, India
 Introduction
What is wind power?
Wind power is extracted from air flow using wind turbines or sails to produce mechanical or
electrical power. Windmills are used for their mechanical power, wind pumps for water
pumping, and sails to propel ships.

History & Wind Energy in India

The first windmill used for the production of electricity was built in Scotland in July 1887 by
Prof James Blyth of Anderson's College, Glasgow (the precursor of Strathclyde University).
The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased
in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with
Denmark or the United States, India has the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the
world. In 2009-10 India's growth rate was highest among the other top four countries. As of
30 June 2015 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 23,763 MW, mainly spread
across South, West and North regions. East and North east regions have no grid connected
wind power plant as of March, 2015 end. No offshore wind power farm utilizing traditional
fixed-bottom wind turbine technologies in shallow sea areas or floating wind turbine
technologies in deep sea areas is under implementation.
 Monthly Wind Electricity generation in India

There is a growing number of wind energy installations in states

across India. The state wise wind energy installation is given below:
 Advantages of Wind Energy
 The wind is free and with modern technology it can be captured efficiently.
 Once the wind turbine is built the energy it produces does not cause greenhouse gases or
other pollutants. It can help avoid the emission of over 250,000 metric tons of air
pollutants, which include sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate
matter, as well as 12.3 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases by 2050.
 Although wind turbines can be very tall each takes up only a small plot of land. This means
that the land below can still be used. This is especially the case in agricultural areas as
farming can still continue.
 Many people find wind farms an interesting feature of the landscape.
 Remote areas that are not connected to the electricity power grid can use wind turbines
to produce their own supply.
 Wind turbines have a role to play in both the developed and third world.
 Wind turbines are available in a range of sizes which means a vast range of people and
businesses can use them. Single households to small towns and villages can make good
use of range of wind turbines available today.
 Wind energy preserves water resources. By 2050, wind energy can save 260 billion gallons
of water—the equivalent to roughly 400,000 Olympic-size swimming pools—that would
have been used by the electric power sector.

Disadvantages of Wind Energy

 Initial cost for wind turbines is greater than that of conventional fossil fuel generators and
capacity expansion of existing hydro power plants with pumped storage hydro units.
 Noise is produced by the rotor blades. This is not normally an issue in the locations chosen
for most wind farms.
 The production of wind power is unpredictable as the generation power is mainly
dependent on air flow rate which is not uniform on daily basis.
 Due to large scale construction of wind turbines on remote location, it could be a threat
to wild life nearby. Few studies have been done by wind turbines to determine the effect
of wind turbines on birds and animals and the evidence is clear that animals see wind
turbines as a threat to their life.
 Wind turbines are suited to the coastal regions which receive wind throughout the year
to generate power. So, countries that do not have any coastal or hilly areas may not be
able to take any advantage of wind power.
 Working of Wind Turbine

Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. Energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-
like blades around a rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a generator
to create electricity. Wind turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At
100 feet (30 meters) or more above ground, they can take advantage of faster and less
turbulent wind. Wind turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building,
or they can be connected to an electricity grid for more widespread electricity distribution.

The Tower: Towers are mostly cylindrical, made of steel, painted light grey, and from 25 to
75 meters in height.

Rotor Blades: Wind turbines can have from one to three rotor blades, made of fiberglass-
reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy. The blades are usually between 30 and 80 meters in
diameter. The longer the blades, the greater the energy output. They rotate at 10-30
revolutions per minute at constant speed, although an increasing number of machines operate
at a variable speed. The blades can be rotated to change the pitch angle and modify power
output.

The Yaw Mechanism: The yaw mechanism turns the turbine to face the wind.

Shaft: The hub is mounted on the shaft. When the atmospheric wind blows over the fan blades
they start rotating, due to this the shaft also starts rotating. If the wind blows very fast the
brakes are applied to control the speed of rotation of fan blades and the shaft.
Wind Speed & Direction Monitor: Sensors are used to monitor wind direction and the
tower head is turned to line up with the wind. Power is controlled automatically as wind speed
varies and machines are stopped at very high wind speeds to protect them from damage.

Transmission gearbox: The speed of rotation of the shaft is very slow and it is not sufficient
to produce the electricity. To increase the output speed the shaft is connected to the gear
box.

Output from the gearbox: The input is given to large gear of the gearbox rotating at slow
speed and output is obtained from the small gear hence the speed of the output shaft
increases.

Electricity from the generator: The high speed output shaft from the gearbox is connected
to the generator and it rotates inside the generator. It is here that the electricity is produced.
The inside view of a Wind Turbine
 Material Required

 Clear plastic water bottle, 1.5L size,

 Base 14cm by 25cm, 2cm thick, plywood, particle board, or lumber (1x6),

 28 gage enamelled magnet wire,

 Rare earth disk magnets (2-2.5cm dia.),

 Square dowels: 2 pcs. 30cm long, and 1 piece 20cm long,

 Round wooden dowel (6mm or ¼”) 30 cm long,

 Light emitting diode (LED 5mm size,

 Fender washers (3cm diameter),

 Wood screw (#8, 5/8ths inch, square recess),

 Screw eye (25mm or 7/8”),

 Corrugated cardboard or foam board, 60 cm by 20 cm (approximately),

 Braces (3cm pieces of square dowel, both ends cut at 45 degrees),

 White glue (small bottle).

 Construction of Turbine

Part A. Frame and Base

 Use a pencil, ruler, and compass to mark the base board according to the dimensions in
the diagram below:

 Drive the screw into the centre point of the base board,
 Using hot glue, fasten the 30 cm long square dowels to the frame. Use a ruler or square
to ensure they are perpendicular,
 Add braces to support the frame and make a fully braced upright,
 Using the ruler, find and mark the centre of the cross bar,
 Test the dowel in the screw eye for fit. It should be loose, but with little play. Resize the
screw eye as necessary,
 Turn the screw eye into the cross bar at the centre point,
 Sharpen the end of the dowel using the pencil sharpener,
 Place marks on the uprights 28 cm above the baseboard,
 Slip the dowel through the screw eye on the crossbar, and hold the crossbar in position
on the uprights so that the dowel is perpendicular to the base. Mark its location with the
pencil,
 Secure the cross bar with generous amounts of hot glue and finish the frame construction .

Part B. The Coils

 Make a winding jig by folding a small piece of corrugated cardboard over itself 3 times.
The jig should be 3 cm wide by about 20 cm long. Secure with tape,
 Cut 8 pieces of electrical tape, 4cm long each, and have these ready for the next steps,
 Wind the wire onto the jig. Make 4 coils each with 200 turns of wire, making sure there is
a wide gap between each coil, and leaving about 40 cm of wire before the first coil, and
after the last coil. This should use up about 20 meters of wire per coil,
 Slide the first coil off the jig and secure it tightly with 2 of the 8 pieces of electrical tape,
 Slide the next off the jig and secure both sides with tape. Repeat for the remaining 2 coils,
 Carefully sand or scrape off 15mm of the enamel insulation from the free ends of the wire,
 Test the coils to ensure electricity can get through all of them: set the voltmeter for ohms
(the 200 ohm range) and connect the test leads to the free ends of the coils,
 Finished coils should look like circle.

Part C. The Stator

 Loosely position all 4 coils on the base such they are diagonally opposite to each other. Be
sure the turns of wire can carry electrons in a clockwise direction in each coil,
 Once we are confident that the coils are properly positioned, glue them down on the
stator disk. They should just touch the circle we drew on the base. Use a generous blob of
hot glue under each coil,
 Connect the free ends of the coil wires to the light emitting diode,
 Finally tape or glue any loose wire to the base or frame to keep it from catching on the
turbine.

Part D. The Rotor

 Using the geometry compass, mark 2 circles 12cm in diameter on the cardboard or foam board,
 Cut these circles to make disks from the cardboard using the utility knife,
 Use the white glue to laminate the two larger disks together,
 Using a ruler, mark one side of the rotor disk with perpendicular lines,
 Use a nail to punch a hole through the centre of the rotor disk,
 Hot glue the 4 fender washers to the disk, centring them over the lines and bringing their
edges up to the edge of the disk,
 Carefully separate the magnets by sliding them off the stack, one at a time,
 Carefully place a magnet on each washer with the same pole facing up (north or south).
Part E. The Turbine

 Glue the templates for the turbine end pieces onto corrugated cardboard or foam board,
 When the glue is dry, cut the two turbine end pieces free from the cardboard using the
utility knife,
 Using a nail, punch a small hole in,
 Using scissors or a utility knife, cut the top and bottom off the water bottle, then cut the
cylinder into two equal halves,
 Use the sand paper to buff the inside edges of each bottle half where they will attach to
the end pieces. Sanding allows the hot glue to adhere better,
 Apply hot glue to one of the curved edges of one of the turbine end pieces. Quickly
position a plastic bottle half on this edge, holding it steady for about 20 seconds while the
glue cools and hardens,
 After checking for fit, apply glue to the edge of a second turbine end piece and fasten it
to the first bottle half,
 Squeeze hot glue onto the remaining edges of the end pieces, and quickly apply the
second bottle half to complete the turbine,
 Push the sharpened round dowel through the centre of the turbine, leaving about 6 cm
projecting from the top,
 Check the turbine for fit inside the frame. Spin it or blow on it to ensure it turns freely.

Part F. Final Assembly

 Carefully push the pointed end of the turbine shaft through the top of the rotor disk at its
exact centre. The magnet side should face down. Slide the disk so that about 2.5 cm of
the dowel projects from the cardboard,
 Test fit the turbine/rotor assembly in the frame: slide the top of the shaft through the
screw eye and locate its sharpened point in the screw. Spin the rotor and ensure that: a)
The turbine turns freely without striking the frame; b) The rotor disk does not wobble as
it turns; c) The gap between the magnets and the coils is about 3 millimetres or less,
 Hot glue the rotor disk in to position so that it does not move on the dowel,
 Final adjustments: We can “micro-adjust” the clearance by turning the screw in or out as
needed.
Part G. Test It!

 Connect the leads from the volt meter to the two wires where they connect to the LED,
 Set the volt meter for AC (alternating current) volts,
 Blow on the turbine to cause it to spin. We should be able to get at least 1 volt, and as
high as 4 volts,
 We should see the LED light up. It should flash rapidly (a consequence of alternating
current).