Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Second Day of Work

This was an extremely productive day as the group brainstormed about what materials to use and coming up with a final design. After developing this design, the group set to work gathering materials from around the school to build a prototype. Thick tin foil was used for the blades.

For the sake of balancing out the "pole" we chose for our initial design we decided to put four blades on the "pole" instead of the three present in our design. Using LOTS of hot glue and patience we assembled out great work. After making sure the structure would stand by reinforcing it with sticks and hot glue, we went out to the hallway to test our design against the large fan.

However, after testing our prototype against the mighty forces of mighty wind provided by the mighty fan our team discovered something. The thing would not turn. Our design made the wind push against the blades equally so nothing moved. To fix the problem we had to put a block up in front of half the windmill, effectively making a "tail" for our defective machine.

One of the advantages of having a our blades lain out horizontally was, we thought, that we wouldn't have to bother with making a "tail" to angle it towards the wind, as it would always be facing the wind.

Instead of now trying to make a "tail" for our design, to truly test it, we will be building a more accurate model of our design.

Also, I will be trying to figure out why NONE OF OUR MOVIES WILL PLAY!!!!!

1 comment:

GeekTeach said...

Here is an email from Robert Schongalla:

"..Oh, Wendy and I did to some gardening at her rock garden near the wind machines. They have been fun to watch – each performing under very different wind conditions. The multi-pin-wheel one works frequently under low wind. The large one with the bicycle fork really took off and spun quite fast and loudly at one point. The modified Savonius (sp) spins, too. (Haven't seen the wooden one move.) Great project!!!..."

and another from Andy Lawrence, Ethan's dad:

"..Richard,
Thank you for sending me your note and links, it is great to see the
progress SBS can make when working together.
Good luck wind farming!
Have fun (not always easy)!.."

and from Ann Sauderson:

"..They look beautiful. I’d like to see them there forever…or perhaps a hundred more!..."

~Richard