Wind Power! Designing a Wind Turbine
Students learn how engineers transform wind energy into electrical energy by building their own miniature wind turbines and measuring the electrical current they produce. They explore how design and position affect the electrical energy production.
How do wind turbines work?Copyright 2013 Winchell Joshua, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_close_shot_of_wind_turbines_wind_farm.jpg
Engineers design wind turbines to capitalize on wind as a clean, renewable and reliable source of power generation. Wind energy offers a viable, economical alternative to conventional power plants in many areas of the country. The concept of wind can also produce power in other applications, such as a turbocharger, for example, which is a compressor used in auto or jet internal-combustion engines to increase power output. A compressor increases the amount of air and fuel entering the engine because the more air a car is able intake and burn, the more power it can put out. This increased airflow (wind) can be equivocated to wind turbine generators. In fact, a turbocharger includes a turbine that powers the compressor using waste energy from the exhaust gases.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Describe the transformations of energy that occur in a wind turbine.
- Describe how engineers construct a wind turbine.
- Explain how the design and position of a wind turbine affects the electrical energy produced by it.