Does It Cut It? Understanding Wind Turbine Blade Performance
Students gain an understanding of the factors that affect wind turbine operation. Following the steps of the engineering design process, engineering teams use simple materials (cardboard and wooden dowels) to build and test their own turbine blade prototypes with the objective of maximizing electrical power output for a hypothetical situation—helping scientists power their electrical devices while doing research on a remote island. Teams explore how blade size, shape, weight and rotation interact to achieve maximal performance, and relate the power generated to energy consumed on a scale that is relevant to them in daily life. A PowerPoint® presentation, worksheet and post-activity test are provided.
Students are blown away by how much power they create from their wind turbine.Copyright 2016 Alexander Kon, RESOURCE GK-12 Program, College of Engineering, University of California Davis
Mechanical engineers follow the steps of the engineering design process as they invent and evolve renewable wind energy technologies. They use their knowledge of aerodynamics, mechanics, mathematics and electricity to design and evaluate wind turbine blades and configurations. For example, engineers need to understand the mechanics of wind acting on the blades to determine the optimum blade angle. Students experience the engineering design process as they design, build, test, evaluate, redesign, re-test and re-evaluate wind turbine blades.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Use the steps of the engineering design process to design a model wind turbine that produces energy.
- Calculate the number of wind turbines needed to power various devices.
- Identify factors that affect wind turbine performance.
- Describe how different blade configurations enhance or hinder wind turbine performance.