The team recently met with Ian Arbon of Gaia Wind and the IMechE. During this meeting we discussed the ideas we had for the project and he provided us some design factors we would need to consider. After the meeting, we carried out a feature analysis to identify the best design for each of the components. This then allowed us to reiterate Douglas' original design and produce a detailed design concept.
The erection of the turbine was one of the key points discussed with Ian. After considering a number of methods, the team decided to attach the tower to the base using a T-Bar row platform. This will allow a winch to be used to easily erect the turbine.
In addition to the guy ropes from the original concept. The base will now act as a counter weight to support the turbine, as it can now be filled with dirt/sand. The base will also now act as the storage unit for storing the components which make up the turbine. This will allow the turbine to be easily transported.
The tower will still consist of interchangeable 1 meter long poles, which will allow the turbine to operate at variable heights to maximise the turbines performance. The poles will be connected to one another using components which can be purchased called 'unions'.
The generator will now be positioned directly below the blade assembly and secured within a nacelle. It was considered that the generator be placed at the base of the tower in order to reduce the weight at the top of the turbine. However, this would mean a longer drive shaft, meaning that there would be increased mechanical losses. This would also make the design more difficult to flat-pack, as the drive shaft must be rigid as it would be rotating. This would ultimately lead to a more complex design with more components.
The turbine blades will be replaced with a solid material rather than a fabric material. This will allow us to find an optimal blade shape to ensure that the turbine design performs to the best of its ability.
As of now, it is being considered that the lower and upper disks that form the blade assembly will be specially manufactured to allow the blades to be interchanged between 3-5 blades. Research is currently being carried out to find out if this feature would be worthwhile implementing into the design.
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