Kid Wind Challenge goes to 2018 MREA Energy Fair

All packed up and ready to go to Custer, Wisconsin for three days of serious fun, and was it ever!

I had the opportunity to take the Kid Wind Challenge program to the 2018 Midwest Renewable Energy Associations (MREA) Energy Fair and spend three days in the Educators Tent there letting visitors design, build and test their blades in a wind tunnel.

This post is going to take you through the process and let you see a part of what I experienced. As a retired educator I can tell you how it feels when you see kids, parents and grandparents engaged in a hands on learning activity to design, build and test their designs. Then analyze the results, consider multiple options, make decisions of how to redesign then re-test and go through the process several times to achieve higher and higher performance. I will tell you the feeling is priceless!

Upon arrival at the Energy Fair in Custer, WI which covers over 20 acres I found the Educators Tent and set up the wind tunnel and display. At the fair there are several large tents set up where knowledgeable people in the renewable energy field give presentation and conduct workshops for fair goers to sit in on. There are also over 200 exhibitors displaying and explaining their products and services.

On the table you can see the five blue Kid Wind gear heads on towers set up. There were gear ratios of   1:2    1:4    1:8    1:16     and    1:32  for the participants to choose from and work with.

Inside the tent at the table on the right is where the participants shaped their blades, hot glued them to dowels and assembled their rotors to be tested in the wind tunnel. The weather was nice and the tent kept out a little rain one day and shade from the sun was appreciated.

For blade performance testing in the wind tunnel each participant selected what gear ratio KW nacelle they wanted their blades turn. Each nacelle had the same KW 2 watt generator mounted to the gear train. Using Verniers Go Direct Energy (GDX-NRG part number) sensor and a LabQuest 2 to monitor the output (volts, milliamps and Joules) for a 30 second period of time was measured.

Participants ran their blades and recorded the output. Then they could go back and make any changes they though might improve the output, ie. change the pitch, more blades, different gear ratio etc. and test again. It was a challenge and they wanted to see their output go up. When it did they wanted to continue the process and did!

The participant producing the highest number of Joules in 30 seconds each day won a KidWind Basic Wind Experiment Kit (KW-BWX) as shown in the picture.

Another high lite of the experience was Saturday when Josie M. a member of the Darlington middle school Kid Wind Team that went to the KW National competition in Chicago, IL this year. Her team place 5th out of the 40 middle school teams there. Josie helped participants, answering questions and collecting test data.

Being a part of a Kid Wind Team is about a lot more than designing, building and testing wind turbine blades. It is about solving problems, working as a team, learning the knowledge and skills to be successful in anything you want to do. Plus getting out meeting and working with new people. So parents, teachers, administrators and school board members ask yourselves why is Josie, a middle school student from Darlington, WI at the MREA Energy Fair in Custer, WI helping out at the Educator's Tent? Because that is what members of Kid Wind Teams do.

Friday morning, Iana L was the first KW participant. She started out with a 6.47 j output then made some changes and  got up to 15.89 j  She was hooked and made some pitch changes that brought her up to 17.94 j All day long this number held and Iana won the first days KW Kit prize.

Saturday brought in Kaelyn S. Now here was a participant that had her game face on and really got down to business. She saw the new posting on the board and team Kaelyn set her sights high. Her Dad was helping but for sure Kaelyn was the brains of this operation. Calling the shots and making critical decisions that brought their turbines output up to the best for the day. 35.48 j

When Kaelyn saw how her brothers performed with four blades she made the decision to go with 6 blades and a 1:16  gear ratio.

What do you think Kaelyn and her family think about the Kid Wind experience they had at the MREA Energy Fair?

Day three of the fair brought in Charlie D. from Mineral point, WI. Word must have gotten out that there was a KW challenge going on and the leader board was changing every hour. Earlier outputs were McKenna J at 21.47 j then Charlie B. with 27.92 j then Morwyn J coming in with 33.24 j and Carole C. 33.96 j  Competition was in full swing and Charlie D. designed and built this 12 blade beauty that topped them all for the day with a winning 38.22 j by the Sundays closing time of 2 pm and took home the prize KW Kit. And so went the Kid Wind Challenge program at this years MREA Energy Fair...

And then, as Paul Harvey always said, "And now for the rest of the story."


Yes, there is more. Remember Charlie B. with his 27.92 j output on Sunday? He had tried his hand at building a blade set the day before. When he left Saturday he said he was going to come back and try again. Well Charlie B. was a watcher and a thinker. Even though when he came back Sunday the 2 pm deadline had passed and Charlie D. had already won the KW Kit. Charlie B. from Merrill, WI wanted to give it another try. And did he ever! You can see him above working on his 12 blade version.


Charlie B. From Merrill, WI produced 46.93 j the all time high for the three days of the Kid Wind Challenge!

So I have decided to award Charlie B. the first "George Rothlisberg Kid Wind Kit". Charlie is a great example of the KW spirit and determination to succeed. Charlie says he wants to start a Kid Wind team and compete in a challenge in Madison, WI in the 2018-2019 school year. Congratulations Charlie B.

Footnote: George Rothlisberg was a good friend and fellow teacher of mine for many years in the Darlington School District. George was born and raised in Merrill, WI. His family owned and operated a small family grocery store in Merrill for many years. George supported education and was a friend to all the students he worked with giving it his all. Sadly he passed away in 2017.

Thanks to Mike Arquin, ReCharge Labs and the Kid Wind Challenge organization for their support and making this all possible.

More outstanding performers...




 

Kid Wind 2018 National Challenge

A year ago at this time had anyone asked me about KW (Kid Wind) I would have responded that kilowatts are the units that electrical power is measured in. Then if they would have said no, no I mean the Kid Wind Challenge, I would have guessed that it had something to do with teams of kids building something powered by the wind.

Then EDP Renewables, the company building the Quilt Block wind farm in Darlington, WI sent me to one of Mike Arquin's RE Charge Labs held in Boulder, Colorado for a week of I will call total KW immersion. Five days, forty hours of hands on fun filled learning experiences and experiments using all the materials for KW but also much more. Like solar, hydro, utility grid, vehicle, etc. fun learning activities for K thru 12 classrooms. Plus field trips to Vestas and the NREL to see the real thing.

I was hooked and began a journey that would involve, two local school districts, Darlington and Shullsburg. Four teachers and 20 students forming four KW Challenge teams. With EDP support and Mike Arqiun's help the teams began to design, build and test different blades and gear ratios in the wind tunnels and study their performance. Then redesign, modify and test again. Doing research and applying what they learned to continue to improve and expand their knowledge about wind energy and the design of wind turbines. Along the way I ran a workshop in Madison, WI and a sectional presentation at the WTEA (Wisconsin Technical Education Association) 2018 conference for other teachers to spread the word about KW and KW Challenges.

The four new KW teams competed in a KW Challenge held at the Wisconsin Energy Institute in Madison, WI and based on their knowledge and performance three of the teams qualified to compete in the 2018 National KW Challenge on May 8-10 in Chicago, IL during the AWEA (American Wind Energy Associations Conference). This was a very big deal! As first year teams we had no idea but went to work re-designing and re-building the blades and turbines as we knew our teams would be compeating against teams with more experience from all over the United States.

The logistics of getting three KW teams, coaches and equipment to the McCormick Place in Chicago would be costly and complex. Transportation, lodging, food, some time for fun and the competition. Again EDP Renewables was there supporting the teams and all the work they had done. This really meant a lot to everyone involved to see how EDP Renewables valued what the teams and coaches did.

The teams and coaches were prepared and ready. They were on their own. I was invited to be a part of the staff to help set-up and judge at the 2018 National Challenge. I was going to go from having no idea of what KW was to the National Challenge in less than one year! We started setting up Monday before the challenge on Wednesday. Everything was packed on three pallets.

Four wind tunnels were assembled and tested before the teams started arriving for practice runs. The tunnels ran from a high of 6 m/s to a low of 2 m/s and each team had to run their turbine in all four tunnels for a combined performance rated in joules produced.

One of Darlington's teams waiting to test their turbine.

Another cool thing about KW National Challenge is that at the same time, in the same ballroom the college level wind challenge, sponsored by the AWEA and ran by the Department of Energy is gong on. The middle school and high school Kid Wind'ers get to see the BIG wind tunnels and college teams test their turbines in wind speeds up to 20 m/s. Then if you go across the hall you have over 400 manufacturers of equipment used in the wind energy business. It is set up so the students can see and experience the people and steps one can take on a career path to some job related to wind energy.

A KW Challenge is a lot more than just building a wind turbine and producing some power. There is the Knowledge Test and Team Presentation. The Bonus points and the Instant Challenges. One of my jobs was to judge one of the high school Instant Challenges. The teams had 30 minutes to design and set up a wind farm in the area pictured above. The goal was to design a wind farm that produced the highest power measured in millawatts for the lowest total cost of building it. We had several fans at different heights running at different speeds. Then we placed different sized boxes to simulate the terrain. Teams could use two different sized turbines. Large ones cost $150 and small one cost $100 and the 24" long wires to connect the turbines to the Substation some 10' away cost $15 each. I got a couple of parents from a Darlington team to make a test run to see how it worked before the students tried it. Teams could set up a wind farm, test it and get the 30 second average mw reading. Then they could go back, redesign and test again as many times as they wanted in 30 minutes. The best wind farm value = mw/total cost was the one used for scoring.

So after 2 days of testing, re-testing and instant challenges the 17 high school team and 40 middle school teams from 12 states qualifying for the 2018 KW National Challenge were ready for the results. Considering that this group represents the 57 most knowledgable and skilled KW teams at designing, building and testing wind turbines in the nation where a team places among them is just motivation. If your team places high you will be motivated to up your game next year so as to stay on top. If your team placed low that will motivate you to learn from the experience of other teams you saw and learn more to move your team up the ranks next year. Motivation.

First year, one team ranked 3rd one ranked 5th and another ranked 40th in the nation! It is all about motivation to keep your rank or move up in rank. KW Challenge is one of those educational activities that until you experience it you don't know what you are missing. Once you do experience it you will be saying, "Wow, I want more of this!" When I visit with the Darlington and Shullsburg teams to wrap up the year I hope to challenge them to think over the summer. Every time they see one of the forty-nine 2 MW Vestas turbines on EDP's Quilt Block wind farm as to how they can come back next year and up their game.

Thanks to all the students, coaches, parents, administration, school boards, Kid Wind and EDP Renewables for valuing the KW Challenge.

Remember, "Every year is a good year, some years are just better than others."