The project build
CAD Rendering of rotor
The goal of the project was to build a savonius wind turbine, which would generate electricity to charge low current devices. This project was made by four Drexel University Engineering Technology students. The project was completely built from scratch. There were three phases to the build process, each one consisted of an entire 10 week class quarter. The first quarter (Fall Term) consisted primarily of designing the project and towards the end of it submitting a proposal to our faculty. Most of the second quarter (Winter Term) consisted of further improving the design and beginning the process of ordering & sourcing the parts required for the assembly. Lastly, the third quarter (Spring Term) was used for the purpose of building the project and having a final presentation in front of the schools faculty and representatives from various engineering firms.
Our first design quarter was dedicated to designing the system, mostly through the use of CAD modeling software. Through the use of CAD software we were able to quickly come up with many different designs. Various scenarios could be produced, such as a different amount of blades, varying sizes of blades, etc. Radical blade designs were also being explored, some that weren't even based on the Savonius type. It was decided that the savonius type blade design would best serve our system, as we were focused on building a light weight dual blade turbine of the vertical axis type. Other blade choices were just too complex to manufacture and therefore would require more funding to be directed towards the build process of the blade system.
We dedicated the Winter quarter for ordering/sourcing the parts and material for our project. The electronic components were ordered during the first few weeks. Our Mechanical Engineering Technology major spent this term sourcing the material needed for the blade. After he had the material ready, the build process for the blades began. Over the course of the winter quarter several other parts began to arrive. A shaft and bearings arrived and metal was sourced for the lower portion of the build. Most of the project had been completed towards the end of the quarter. Our main goal was to have the design built and ready as soon as possible, so that any issues that arose, would have been dealt with swiftly. We accomplished this goal, and were the first group out of the entire Senior Design team to have a fully ready prototype. Our design was 6 weeks ahead of schedule. A Winter term paper was submitted, citing all our work that we have accomplished during the winter part of this project.
The Spring quarter was spent finalizing the electronic components. This quarter was also primarily focused on writing our Final submission for this project. This paper would serve as the summary of all that we have done throughout this project. It would also serve as a cornerstone for our completed project, as it would emphasize on the previously mentioned proposal.