Running head: PROGRESS REPORT IX 1

EMWiT- Progress Report IX

Lauren Warner, Paulina Hall, and Shannon Woolfolk

March 9, 2017

Dr. Psaker

The Governors School at Innovation Park

Objectives: Finish construction of wind turbine. Start testing the electric motor to ensure it

works. Continue updating the website.

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Abstract

Progress:

The wind turbine was completely constructed. Two aluminum circles were cut out,

aligned, and then glued to the hub of the wind turbine with epoxy. Two hole were then drilled

through the middle for the metal axle to go through. The axle was also glued in place with epoxy.

Vex parts and gears were used to build the base and main structure of the wind turbine. The

metal axle in the wind turbine was connected to a gear that was then connected to another gear

by a chain. This gear was attached to another gear, which was then placed so it would be in

connect with another gear. This gear was connected to the axle of an electric motor. When all

these components were put together, the wind turbine was then able to convert mechanical

energy into electrical energy. Testing was then done on the wind turbine to endure that it worked

properly. The testing was successful and showed that there was an output voltage from the motor

that was connect to the wind turbine. In order to have data for science fair, a store-bought electric

motor was used as for preliminary testing, since the motor that was being constructed was not

completed due to complications. Multiple trials of testing were done on this motor to see what

the voltage drop was after 15 minutes of run time. These values were recorded, and then the

same testing was done, but with the wind turbine in parallel with the battery and motor. The

voltage drop during these trials were also recorded. At the end, the average voltage drop for the

battery alone connected to the wind turbine was 0.773 volts. The average voltage decrease for

the wind turbine in parallel for the battery was 0.45 volts. This was a 52.9 percent difference,

which helped prove our hypothesis that putting a wind turbine in parallel with a battery and

electric motor would help lessen the load on the battery and help the motor run longer. This

project was taken to science fair, which was overall an okay experience. The judges really liked
PROGRESS REPORT IX 3

the project, and were interested to see where it would go in the future. The only problem they

had with it was the fact that it did not fit very well in the environmental sciences category. They

believed it should have been in physics or engineering. Many organizational judges also visited,

and two judges even returned to get a phot of the board and the project. One judge even came

back a second time with some of his partners because he thought they would really enjoy to look

at EMWiT. The organizational judges reaction to the project was overwhelming at times

because they were so interested in it, which was unexpected. This helped show that EMWiT was

a success and is interesting an innovative.

Images: See science fair tab.

Work Planned for the Next Two Weeks:

The electric motor that is being constructed by hand will hopefully be completed and

some testing will be done. The wind turbines will be altered to create a more stable structure, to

prevent any damage during testing in the future. Some testing may be done with the wind turbine

in parallel with a 12-volt battery and the constructed motor.

PROGRESS REPORT IX 4

Data and Results

Data was collected to measure the voltage of a 9-volt battery before and after carrying the

load of powering the motor on its own and also after carrying the load of powering the motor

while connected in a parallel circuit with the wind turbine. In the first trial with just the battery

connect to the motor, there was a 0.94 voltage drop, in the second trial there was a 0.77 voltage

drop, and in the third trial there was a 0.61 voltage drop. The average voltage drop was 0.773-

volts for the battery as a stand-alone power source for the motor. In the first trial with the battery

and wind turbine connected in a parallel circuit to the motor, there was a 0.42 voltage drop, in the

second trial there was a 0.42 voltage drop, and in the third trial there was a 0.51 voltage drop.

The average voltage drop was significantly lower than the average voltage decrease when the

battery was carrying the load of powering the motor by itself. The average drop in voltage was

0.45-volts when the battery and wind turbine were connected in parallel to power the motor. The

percent difference of the two average voltage decreases was 52.9 percent. This supports our

hypothesis because there was a substantial difference between the average drops in voltage, with

the wind turbine in parallel with the battery to power the motor being the smaller average.
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Potential VS Time

This graph shows the output voltage of the wind turbine during testing. This was done to ensure

that the wind turbine was operating correctly and was giving a substantial output to sustain the

electric motor along with the battery.

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References

No references at this time.