Vernier MINI Wind Turbine, Инструкция по эксплуатации

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Experiments for your MINI Turbine
The MINI Wind Turbine was designed to demonstrate wind power
technology while helping you do some simple experiments!
Experiment 1: changing wind speed
This experiment can be done with the red blade set or your homemade
blades using the crimping hub. Place the turbine about three feet in front
of a fan, and turn it on high. What happens when you turn the fan to
medium or low? Does the LED bulb light up at any wind speed?
Now leave the fan on medium and move your turbine away from the fan
by about a foot. Continue moving the turbine away from the fan, one foot
at a time, until the LED bulb no longer works. How far away can you get?
Why is the turbine unable to power the light bulb as you back away from
the fan?
The KidWind MINI—Blade Design includes a multimeter. What happens
to the voltage or current as you move your turbine further from the fan, or
decrease the wind speed?
Experiment 2: blade design
The amount of power your turbine can produce depends on blade
efficiency. To build efficient blades, you must capture the wind and
reduce drag as they spin around. Blade design experiments are a fun
and engaging way to explore how design affects power production.
The blades on modern turbines “capture” the wind and use it to rotate the
drive shaft of a generator. How well you design and orient your blades
can greatly impact how fast the blades spin and how much power your
turbine produces.
If you are doing this for a science fair or school project, you should focus
on just one of these variables at a time, as your results can get confusing
quite quickly.
You can do a lot of great experiments by isolating blade variables and
examining how they affect the power output of your turbine. Try these
variables to get started:
•
blade pitch (angle)
•
blade size
•
blade shape
•
number of blades
•
blade materials
After attaching your new blades, try to light the LED bulb or measure your
voltage, current, or power with a multimeter. How has the efficiency of
your turbine changed? Try a few blade designs to learn what makes
blades more efficient.
To make an electrical circuit, the conductive metal wires of each
element must be in direct contact with those of the next. Make
sure the ends of the wires are stripped, then connect them with
clip cords or by twisting them together.
CONNECTING WIRES
Try graphing the relationship between voltage and
wind speed or amperage and wind speed.
a
V
Wind speed
Wind speed
Graph your Data
The red blade set is designed to be very efficient. If you are
able to design a blade set that is better than our red blades, we
want to hear about it! Send us a note at www.KidWind.org.
CAN YOU BEAT THE ENGINEERS?