How successful we were:
- We were able to complete the project only needing to work outside of class once.
- We were not able to consistently power our LED.
- The turbine does not spin at a constant speed and often does not spin at all because the water cannot handle the torque we put on the turbine through gears.
How the turbine works:
- The turbine is attached to a shaft with a gear on the other side that leads into a wooden box where there is a smaller gear attached to another shaft that leads to a dynamo. The dynamo is then attached to an LED. When water turns the turbine, the gears turn and power the dynamo, lighting up the LED.
Reflection
- The decision of making a gearbox to increase the amount of electricity generated per rotation was not very good because the increased torque created caused the turbine to not be able to turn under the water at ISB.
- We think that our turbine would be able to consistently generate electricity if there was a higher water pressure.
- Remodeling the turbine we made to make some structures longer would allow our turbine to catch more water and thus allowing our turbine to turn would be a good improvement.
Impact
- Our turbine could be extremely useful if we made some minor improvements and if it is paired with a fountain to pour the water again at the top.
- The turbine could be placed in a natural stream and generate energy through environmentally friendly sources.
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