How to make a wind turbine for a school project?
A wind turbine model entirely relies on wind energy to create electric energy. This makes it an environmental-friendly method of producing power. And an excellent choice for your project in school.
In the following post, we’ll take you through an easy to comprehend, step-by-step guide on how to come up with a working model of the windmill for your project.
Table of Contents
How to make a wind turbine for a school project:
These are a few steps that you need to follow if you have to make a wind turbines for a project:
- Step 1: Building the rotor
- Step 2: Building the blades
- Step 3: Building the tower
- Step 4: Mounting the motor
- Step 5: Building the house
- Step 6: Connecting the light
- Step 7: Get the turbine turning
Things You’ll Need:
Steps to follow:
Step #1: Building the rotor
Grab the large piece of cardboard and cut out 4 circle pieces, around 3cm diameter each. Stick all the circles together with the help of glue to make one thick circle.
Now take a thin paper and wrap (glue) it around the thick circle you have obtained above, ensuring it properly fits the circle, lengthwise and widthwise.
Step #2: Building the blades
Cut up to 4 rectangular pieces from the large cardboard, each measuring 8cm X 2.5cm. Cut out one edge of pieces so that they form a round shape to enable you to easily glue them to the rotor you have just made above.
You’ll also need to slightly bend all the 4 pieces along the middle so that they appear somewhat rounded, just like the blades on a typical home wind turbines kit.
Glue all the 4 blades to your rotor and leave them to dry out.
Step #3: Building the tower
As the blades take time to dry, you can focus on making the tower which will elevate the rotor up.
Go back to your large piece of cardboard and cut out a thin portion of it, measuring 30cm x 12cm.
Wrap this cutout around a pen to make a perfect hollow pole. Glue the paper end and pull out the pen so that you’re left with the tower.
Step #4: Mounting the motor
Grab your DC motor and wrap it with a piece of cardboard paper which properly fits its length. As you do so, ensure the pointy part of the motor stays outside the wrap work.
Take the rotor with 4 blades and make a small hole through its middle. This is where the motor’s pointy part will connect with the rotor.
Connect the positive and negative wires to your motor with the help of a hot gun, making sure you leave an adequate length of wire to connect with the LED bulb on the other ends.
Glue the paper wrapping the motor to the pole and leave it to dry.
Step #5: Building the house
You’ll also need to make a house model which will be lit using the power produced by your wind turbines.
To do this, cut 4 pieces of equal size to make the 4 walls of your house. Cut a door opening one piece and cut out window openings on the 3 remaining pieces.
Glue all the 4 pieces together to complete make your house, making sure the piece with door cutout stays on the front.
Keep in mind you’ll also need to cut another piece to make the roofing for your house…but don’t do it now.
Step #6: Connecting the light
At this point, you’d want to take your led light and connect it to the wires originating from the motor (as in step #4). Stick this light to any of your house windows and use a tape to hold it in place.
Once the light is well wired, and inside the house, you can now make the roofing your home. Take two pieces of carload and glue them on the edges to make a triangular roof shape and then glue the roofing to the 4 walls of your house.
Glue the complete house to a thick cardboard layer (the floor of the house, i.e.) to make it feel more stable.
Now glue both your complete house and the tower holding the entire turbine to the plywood board such that all your project exists on a single platform.
Then, connect the motor and LED wires together.
Step #7: Get the turbine turning
Now that everything is set and ready to run, it’s time to get the turbine turning to produce electrical energy and light that bulb hanging on your window.
Use an external source of wind power, preferably a table fan, to make your turbine blades rotate. These will then rotate the motor, which will, in turn, produce electrical energy, which will then flow through the wires and light your LED bulb!
Conclusion
That’s it! You have successfully constructed a simple working home turbine for your project in school. The materials used in this project are readily available and cheap.
Has your turbine started lighting your “house” already?
