Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECpE Students Design Wind Turbine for Coover Hall

 

Contacts:
Dana Schmidt, communications specialist, 515-294-3071, schmidtdiastate.edu

Ames, Iowa -- Wind energy is a hot topic around the Iowa State University campus and the nation. It even was the topic of a senior design project for five electrical and computer engineering students last semester.

“The main goal of our project was to build an AC wind turbine to mount on the roof of Coover Hall,” says Dario Vazquez, the project’s student team leader and a senior in computer engineering. “It would produce AC power in the range of 500 to 2,000 watts to supplement the Coover grid. It also would have to be safe.”

Throughout the semester, the group built the nacelle and designed the tower. They used a 209 volt AC, 3-phase 1.5 horse power induction motor as the turbine’s generator; a 10:1 reduction gearbox to increase the rotational speed from the blades to the motor; a ¼” steel plate for the nacelle to make the turbine sturdy; and three 4½-feet-long blades made of fiberglass composite.

“I learned a lot about wind turbines, power generation, safe engineering, and Atmel microcontrollers on this project,” Vasquez says. “I also learned that good time and resource management is critical in order for a project to advance smoothly.”

In December, the group, which also included electrical engineering seniors Luke Donney, Chris Loots, Nick Ries, and Lindsay Short, presented their final project to a panel of industry representatives who evaluated their work. A new senior design team is taking over the project this semester to complete the design and implementation.

Professor Venkataramana Ajjarapu was the group’s adviser.

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