Good progress on KW Bus Project

 

OK, so if you know about KidWind, you know this is what we want for teachers to be able to do with their students. Assemble a KW Nacelle, with a 2 watt KW generator and gear train that is driven by a set of blades in a 4 m/s wind tunnel to produce electric power. Specifically a number of Joules in 30 seconds against a 30 ohm load. Normally the Joule out put is around 30-40 J in 30 seconds for beginning students. Experienced student teams are putting out ten times that, 300 to 400 Joules. For the record a joule of power is 1 watt of power for 1 second. Now IF, you are still reading this then by all means read on to learn what the KidWind Mobile Learning Laboratory is all about.

So if you want to do all this here is what you get now. A nice box for $150 from Vernier. Let me back up a bit. Since the 70’s I have been interested in renewable energy. Specifically making electricity from the wind (solar wasn’t even a possibility then). As a high school “shop” teacher I had all the tools and equipment for the subjects of the day, I taught, metals, welding, power mechanics and electricity. “Making electricity” was a “new” idea. The oil embargo when Jimmy Carter was president got people like me thinking. Plus building a wind turbine applied a lot of the skills and knowledge I taught in my classes.

I marched on building wind turbines, electric vehicles and solar hot water systems the educational system and students however were not interested at the time. Besides where would a students put any renewable energy skills to use?

Finally, after 15 years of planning, in 2015 EDP built a 95 MW wind farm in Seymour town ship in Darlington, WI ! It was time, I had never even heard about KidWind, but in 2017 (now retired) EDP sent me to Mike Arquin’s, Recharge Academy for a week in Fort Collins, CO. I was hooked! And here I am today building a bus that will bring to teachers the knowledge and equipment that took me over 8 years to learn. 

Sure you can get a box like this and plow through it on your own. But I can bring it, on the bus, to a teacher and get it done in a day or two so they can bring “The future of Renewable Energy” to their classes TODAY!

What’s in the BOX? Imagine any teacher getting this and then figuring it out…

Presently in Wisconsin we run 2 or 3 one day teacher training classes. Getting the site, date and teachers to all line up for 10-15 teachers and the trainers is a real challenge. From this “shotgun” approach hoping to get 5 or 6 teacher to put it into their classroom. Why not just take the training, on a bus, to the specific teacher that says I want to make Renewable Energy part of my curriculum for my students or a small group of interested students?

So here it is right off the notes on the white board. The McGyver activity that uses the wind to produce torque to raise a cup of washers. Students compete to design, build and test blades that will raise the greatest number of washers from the wind produced by a 20” box fan.  

And this is the start to bigger and better things. Designing, building and assembling a gear box. Designing, building and testing a set of blades to turn a 2 watt KidWind DC generator to light an LED and produce the Joules of electric power I mentioned at the start of this post.

The bus is taking shape, the alternator has been replaced. Two wind tunnels to test turbines have been built into the bus. A model work bench has been assembled and tested out with the McGyver activity. Storage units for supplies, tools and equipment have been researched.

The work bench/work area with storage units is next on my list and will be covered in my next post.

It is going to take a village of supporters to make this a reality. If you want to be a member of the village and learn more or be a supporter contact me, Dick Anderson in Darlington, WI or KidWind.org a 501c3 organization. 

    

 

KidWind Bus Project Begins

 What do you see?

If you said a small bus then you have told me what it IS. Please read on…

What I see is a vehicle that can be used to bring, to teachers, the knowledge and skills needed to design, build and test model wind turbines or solar PV systems to produce electricity from the wind and sun.

Why? The production of electricity from the wind and sun is here. To understand it we need to teach it in our schools. This will require the teaching of teachers first. How?

This bus when finished will be equipped with the necessary tools and materials to achieve this goal. 

How will it work? The teacher/s interested in learning the hands-on skills and knowledge to design, build and test a model wind turbine or PV solar system to produce electricity will schedule a mutually workable time and school or location for the bus and instructor (myself) to come and work with them.  Think of it like going on You Tube to learn something and then having the person making the You Tube video drive up with the equipment and materials to actually work with. 

The saying is, “I hear it I forget it, I see it I remember it, I do it I understand it.” 

Industrial Technology classes in public schools today have undergone a lot of change. When I was teaching in the 70’s it was call Shop class. Then Industrial Education, and now Industrial Tech. Likewise in preparing today’s teachers the skills and knowledge covered in preparing today’s “Shop” teacher has changed a lot. People have recognized that the skilled trades and the workers are very important. Technology changes rapidly and teachers need to keep up as it changes. I believe the time has come for this bus and the work that it will do has come. You cannot teach something you know nothing about.

The KidWind program started over 20 years ago and has facilitated over 1,200 in-person workshops. These trainings broaden educator’s knowledge of STEM topics and clean energy, explore project-based pedagogies, and provide details about participating in the KidWind Challenges. In addition, we provide classroom materials. We offer a variety of workshops depending on the goals of the participants. 

It is going to take a village of supporters to make this a reality. So if you are reading this and see what I “see” and want to learn more or be a supporter contact me, Dick Anderson in Darlington, WI or KidWind.org a 501c3 organization.

I look forward to hearing from like minded people like yourself that believe we need to teach about the future of clean renewable energy, today!

Thanks