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Summary of Contents for Vernier MINI Wind Turbine
- Page 1 MINI Wind Turbine Instruction Manual...
- Page 2 The MINI Wind Turbine The MINI Wind Turbine wind turbine kits are perfect for demonstrating how wind turbines function. They also allow you to perform experiemnts with wind power. Check out all the kits at: www.KidWind.org/shop The MINI Wind Turbine The MINI Wind Turbine is an easy-to-build turbine that produces enough electricity to power LED bulbs, a sound &...
- Page 3 10 for tips on how to make and test blades. Connecting to Devices and Loads KidWind MINI The MINI Wind Turbine comes with a sound & light panel that you can connect to your turbine to demonstrate power output. Be sure to connect Stand up the tower and red wires to red and black wires to black.
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Page 4: Measuring Voltage
Measuring voltage RESISTORS Attach the wires from the generator to the multimeter. Polarity is not Resistors are electrical components with a known resistance. relevant at this point. There is a standard system of colored bands to show what the resistance of a resistor is. To check the voltage, select DC volt (V) and set the number to 20. - Page 5 Experiments for your MINI Turbine Graph your Data 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.
- Page 6 Experiment 3: building a MINI wind farm A wind farm is a collection of wind turbines in the same location. This may also be called a “wind power plant,” because many wind turbines working together can produce a lot of electricity—just like coal or nuclear power plants.
- Page 7 on the roofs of homes. Do an experiment and see if you think this is a CIRCUITS good idea. Can you design a shroud around the turbine to collect more Parallel circuit Series circuit wind? Some inventors think this might be a good idea. What do you think? Wind park effect Each wind turbine extracts some energy from the wind, so winds directly...
- Page 8 Tips on Making Blades More Drag Less Drag Efficient blades are key to maximizing power from a wind turbine. Sloppy or poorly-made blades will never produce enough energy to power anything. It takes time and thought to make good blades! An important concept to keep in mind when making turbine blades is drag.
- Page 9 The Power in the Wind If a large truck or a 250lb linebacker was moving toward you at a high rate of speed, you would move out of the way, right? Why do you move? You move because in your mind you know that this moving object has a great deal of energy as a result of its mass and its motion.
- Page 10 P = Power in watts V = Voltage in volts I = Current in amps Example: Your MINI Wind Turbine is producing 3v at 50mA. How much power is your turbine producing? P = V × I P = 3 × .050 A P = .15 watts...
- Page 11 Using algebra we can rearrange this equation so we can determine the current from voltage and resistance: I = V/R Current = Voltage/Resistance (ohms) Resistor = 50 ohms Voltage = 1 volt I = V/R I = 1/50 = 0.020 amps = 20 milliamps Computing power using voltage, current, and resistance It can be difficult to calculate power by measuring current and voltage simultaneously.
- Page 12 A wind turbine that could power your whole house is still considered “small.” This wind turbine might have a rotor diameter of 7 m and could Scale of wind machines produce 10 kW (10,000 watts) in a 25 mph wind. A typical “large”...
- Page 14 800 Transfer Road, Suite 30B, St. Paul, MN 55114 www.kidwind.org Phone:877.917.0079 ✦ Fax: 208.485.9419 © Copyright 2013 All rights reserved...
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