About
Design, build and test a Windmill for maximum efficiency in an urban environment to help reduce electricity prices for high-rise residence.
Aim
Create a windmill which can be placed on high rise building which will use the wind tunnel created by said building to generate green energy to be used to help reduce energy bills in urban areas.
Idea
Use a venturi to direct the wind to the turbine to create higher velocity wind and therefore produce a higher power output.
Testing
Throughout the process, each design and prototype were tested in a wind tunnel where the voltage was recorded and the power out calculated to finetune the design.
Prototyping
Using cheap material for the original mock up for the design we created our initial venturi model which we can and adapted until the power output would go any higher. From there we used CAD and 3D printing to further refine the windmill, testing the angles of the turbine blades as well as testing for the optimal number of blades. The final prototype was made using vacuum forming the venturi, laser cutting MDF to hold the motor and blades and 3D printing the blades.
Result
The windmill produced 10 Watts of power in the wind tunnel. This was the highest wattage of the wind turbines achieved for this project. The venturi Streamlined the airflow to the turbine which resulted in the air flowing faster around the turbine, increasing the power output.
RGE Design 