Power Novato
For this project we had to design a micro grid for San Marin. First, we found that San Marin uses about 1744 kilowatt hours per day, at about 17 cents per kilowatt hour. We decided to use Solar powered pumped-storage hydroelectricity to power out micro grid. When working on this project we did not realize that pump hydro was a energy storage method so our plans only generation method was the pre-existing solar panels which would not be enough for San Marin.
Our Presentation: |
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Wind Turbine Design
Our claim was that when using modified triangle shaped blades using only two blades is most effective in wind speeds besides hurricane speeds. We tested one blade, two blades, three blades, four blades, and six blades. The design with two blades was the most efficient at all speeds except hurricane speeds. This happened because this design was able to distribute the weight evenly, it required less material, and it had less weight to rotate.
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Electrical Fields
Sticky tape lab: When you stick two pieces of tape to a counter top and then bring the two non sticky ends of tape together they will repeal each other. When you stick two pieces of tape on top of each other and then bring the two non sticky ends together they will attract each other. This happens because the tape on top is negative and the one on bottom is positive. The electrons are gained on the bottom and lost on the top.
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Electric field hockey: A standard charge is positive because it is attracted by the negative. A negative attracts a positive and a positive repels a positive charge. Charges interact by attracting or repelling each other. In the game a combination of charges worked best to get the puck in the goal because you could get a push and a pull.. Coulomb's Law is used fro calculating the force of an electromagnetic field. The equation is F=kq1*q2/d2.5.
Electromagnet Lab
We used the question of How do electrical currents influence magnetic fields? by investigating: How does the length of the shaft of the electromagnet affect the strength of the electromagnet’s magnetic field? Our hypothesis was if you wrap 32 gauge insulated copper wire 100 times around a 3” galvanized nail, a 2.5” galvanized nail, and a 2” galvanized nail, then for every half inch smaller the size, you can pick up twice as many paperclips.
We did five trials with three different types of nails. The two inch nail was able to pick up the most with 18 paper clips. The two and a half nail could pick up the second most with 13 paper clips and the three inch nail picked up the least with 4 paper clips. This showed that the smaller sized nails we used were able to pick up more paper clips. It happened because the loops of 32 gauge copper wire were closer together and more tightly wrapped. Our hypothesis was correct. The 3” nail picked up around 4 paper clips, the 2.5” nail picked up around 8 paper clips, and the 2” nail picked up around 16 paperclips. This proves that for every half inch the nail length is decreased, the amount of paper clips picked up will be doubled. |
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During this project we learned about how motors work. A motor has a copper coil and a magnet that create a magnetic field. Current flows through it in opposite directions creating movement. One side moves up while the other moves down so the motor spins.
During this project we learned about circuits. In order to have a circuit you need a power source, conductive material, and a closed loop. In a circuit there is voltage, current, and resistance. Voltage is the potential energy difference across a component in a circuit and it is represented by the equation V=ir. Current is the flow of charge through a circuit and it is measured in amps. Resistance is the amount the current is slowed through a component of a circuit.
We also learned about electronics. We proved V=ir by using batteries and resistors. We used voltmeters and learned about resistor codes. Using different circuits we found that current is the same throughout the entire circuit and in series voltage splits in proportion to resistance. We learned about Potentiometers, capacitors, and LED s and how they work. After we learned about electronics we used a circuit diagram to create a blinking light with a Potentiometer to control the rate the LED blinked.
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For the final part of this project we used Arduino boards to create a Robotic Art Show. We went through 16 sketches to learn how to program our own art show. Our project had a buzzer to play the Cantina Band from Star Wars. We also had four Cantina Band paper cut outs that could move along to the music and four lights that matched with the music.
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In our code we had if statements tells the lights when to light up. We assigned each light to a frequency on the buzzer so the lights could go along with the music. The servo made the paper cut outs move and each servo degree was also matched with a buzzer frequency. To make the music we had each note defined with the corresponding frequency. We wrote out the rhythm with 1 representing a eight note, 2 a quarter note, and 4 a half note. One space represented a eight rest. We also wrote out the song using the corresponding letters for the frequencies we wanted so the buzzer would know what to play.
Our code: Circuit Diagrams:
Our code: Circuit Diagrams:
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Reflection
Throughout this project some things went well and some things could have been improved. What went well is we continued to try to make the Robotic Art Show to work even when it would not do what we wanted it to do over and over. We continued to try and fix it and eventually it worked. What we could have worked on is not spending so much time on one part of the project. We try to get two buzzers to play at the same time and we invested too much of our time trying to get it to work. We also could have put more time into researching pump hydro so we could have found that it was an energy storage method.
I learned that I can sometimes be narrow minded. We focused on the double buzzer for so long that we didn't get the other parts of the art show working until a few days before we presented. I also learned that you really need to research and learn a lot about what you use. We selected pump hydro without doing enough research into it to learn what it was used for.