Serious Fun learning about Renewable Energy

 

A picture is worth a thousand words. Kaitlin and Allison from the UW Madison WEI (Wisconsin Energy Institute) Spent 4 hours in the Mobile KidWind Learning Laboratory getting some hands on experience.

From the list of possible hands on learning possibilities they choose #’s 71, 41 and 69. They started with #41 - Assemble a GEN-X ac generator. This is a new addition that will be coming to the KidWind program soon. It will allow students to design, build and test a radial AC generator. They will wind coils for a stator and wire them to produce either single or three phase AC electricity. Then they will have to rectify the AC output to DC for the KidWind challenge. Similar to what Pedro did last week, Allison and Kaitlin were able to look at a model preassembled GEN-X and then took parts from another kit to build one of their own. Some parts in the kit were missing and had to be borrowed from the model. Once they had their model assembled they tested it to see if it produced electricity. It did. Then they had to disassemble their work and put the model back together like it was to start. All this took about an hour but they now have the experience to draw from if they are given this task to do again in the future.

Next they wanted to work with planetary gears, #71. They first looked at a standard single step 1:8 ratio using the spur gears used in a KidWind Nacelle. Experiencing the differences in speed and torque by spinning KidWind Nacelles with 1:16 and 1:32 ratios. Then they did the math to understand how the tooth ratios between driving and driven gears resulted in the ratio. Then actual planetary gear sets from an auto transmission, Dewalt drill and 20 watt dc generator were examined. The input shaft of the 20 watt generator input shaft was turned 1 revolution and the output shaft of the generator was counted. The result was a little over 5 and 1/2 rotations. Giving a ratio of 1:5.5

Now the planetary gears were exposed and identified and defined. Sun gear, planet gears and ring gear. The gear teeth on the ring and sun were counted. To get the total number of teeth on the planets they added the teeth of the sun to the ring gear. (NOTE: if all of this seems long and complicated then you are getting the reason for the bus and hands on experiences for the teachers. Just ask Allison and Kaitlin.)       

Anyway then they did some of the math and after a few tries got the numbers they got in the verification they did at the start. They now have a good start on learning more about and working with planetary gears like the ones in real wind turbines that they see.

Lastly they wanted to Assemble a yaw system for a wind turbines #69.  After learning what a yaw system on a wind turbine does using a small model and movable fan. They were ready to build their own. They put together PVC pipe to allow the Nacelle to be mounted on the tower but also swivel. Then they used pipe hangers and threaded rods to mount the tail they cut out of cardboard to the main part of the yaw system. Then they attached a premade set of blades and tested it in the KW wind tunnel to see if it kept the blades facing the wind as the base of the tower was rotated.

Again IF you find all this long and confusing you are getting the picture of what the Mobile KidWind Learning Laboratory bus can and will do to provide teachers with hands on experiences that they can share and use in their classrooms to better cover renewable energy and specifically how electricity is produced from the wind and the sun. Teaching about the future of renewable energy in their classrooms TODAY!

Allison and Kaitlin having some serious fun learning about renewable energy on the bus.

Do you have any thoughts or comments about this idea about providing this opportunity to interested teacher?