Alcoi week
Topic: Sustainable Energy Sources | Alcoi week | LearnSpace
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Teachers: Helle & Martin
In this challenge we will investigate two different types of power sources, namely wind turbines and voltaic solar cells, in order to characterize the power output depending on different variables of input.
We will learn the fundamentals when working with electric circuits, Ohm's Law
\( U=R\cdot I \)
giving the connection between voltage, current and resistance and how to calculate the power deposited in some kind of 'consumer'.
We will characterize a power source using Ohm's 2.nd Law
\( U_{term}=U_0-R_i \cdot I \)
telling us something about how most loss there is in the powersource itself and how large a current the source can provide.
We'll use this knowlegde when dealing with the model wind turbines and voltaic solar cells.
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The fundamentals of electrical circuits:
In order to be able to characterize different power sources, we need to know some basic concepts regarding electrical circuits, that being
Current I
Voltage V (U)
Resistance R
Power P
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Testing the wind turbines:
- Use the same electrical circuit as you did when testing on the battery. The optimal load is \( R_{out} = 100 \Omega \)
- Data collection
- The currents are not so high so you can use Pasco sensors for both current and voltage.
- You'll need one 'user entered data' coloumn for the tested parameter
- Use manual data collection
- Sample data for voltage and current for each change of parameter
- Data handling / calculations
- In each case calculate the power output from the turbine
- Plot a graph showing the parameter changing on the x-axis and the power output on the y-axis
When testing the impact of one parameter on the power output, you will have to make sure, that you test under simular conditions, that is keeping everything else but constant
Parameters to test:
- Speed of the wind
- Meassure the speed of the wind with an anemometer (wind speed sensor) at different settings of the fan (1,2,3) in different distances from the fan. Make markings on the paper to show the speed of the wind in the different positions.
- Shape of the wings
- Number of wings
- You'll have to borrow wings from an other group to have the same shape for all your wings
- Pitch on the wings (the angle of attack the wing relativ to the direction of the wind)
- Direction of the wind relativ to the turbine
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When all of the above have been tested, join in with some of the other groups to test the power yield when the turbines are placed in a cluster. Find out the best positions for the turbines relative to each other for the highest yield. -
When investigating the photo voltaic solar cells, start by establish the optimal load as described in the document.
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Your poster should have the size of at least 4 A3-papers put together.
In the poster you should present
- information about the use of sustainable energy in both Spain and Denmark with focus on windpower and voltaic solar panels.
- a calculation of how many wind turbines necessary (number and yield) to cover the power usage in each country
- A description of how wind turbines and voltaic solar cells work
- A short description of how you have tested the different parameter
- A presentation of the results of your investigations of wind turbines and solar cells: How does the power yield varies with respect to each parameter tested ?
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