Working with TecQuipment’s Wind Turbine Dynamics Apparatus
Last Friday, I was given the opportunity to take a trip to Centennial College alongside a colleague of mine to help a group of professors with the assembly of the TecQuipment AE1005V Wind Turbine Dynamics Apparatus. The apparatus is comprised of a bell shaped mouth and honeycomb to reduce turbulent airflow, a silencer to reduce excessive noise, an anemometer to record wind speed, and a digital display for pitch, yaw, fan speed, and turbine speed, all of which are adjustable. We arrived at the campus early in the morning, where we met with our contact at the school. He led us through the college into the machine shop and we began to assemble the AE1005V.
The assembly process was very simple and easy to follow from the provided instructions. Once the silencer is removed from its stowed position and fastened to the back of the apparatus, we connected the Control Cabinet to a power supply and opened the sliding door to attach the fins to the turbine. We then connected the apparatus to a laptop which was running the Versatile Data Acquisition System, or VDAS, which automatically collects data, calculates experiment parameters, and allows the user to create graphs and tables for the collected data. Once the fins were secured and the security door was closed and locked, we began to experiment with the fan speed, pitch, turbine speed, and anemometer. This data was also digitally displayed on the Control Cabinet.
Now that the apparatus was fully set up, we began to work through the first experiment to determine the influence of pitch angles and turbine speed on the coefficient of performance and power generated. As a future environmental engineer hoping to specialize in air hydrology, I was really grateful to be able to have a hands on experience with this kind of equipment. The option to switch out the included turbine fins for ones that have been 3D printed by students made the AE1005V even more interesting to use, with students being able to create and test different fin designs to determine optimal performance, and this really piqued my interest.
Eventually, I would like to spend more time using and learning about the AE1005V Wind Turbine Dynamics Apparatus, and other technology like it, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to speak with the professors about what they plan to use theirs for throughout the upcoming fall semester.