Over three Wednesday afternoons on November and December 2017 we ran our new wind turbine workshop with the Sheffield Engineers Without Borders (EWB) student group.

Session 1

• A presentation on DIY wind turbines and their place in a global context
• Lesson on aerodynamic theory and blade design
• Practical session carving blades

Session 2

• Lesson on electromagnetism and three phase electricity including Faraday’s law of induction, EMF and rate of change. Plus alternator design.
• Practical session winding cooper coils
• Practical session wiring the coils together into a three phase stator
• Practical session handling magnets and placing them into the rotor

Session 3

• Lesson on electrical system design
• Practical session bolting together the blade hub, bearing, mounting and alternator
• Testing session using a fan!

We had good feedback from the organiser:

I’ve only heard good feedback – thanks so much for everything you’ve done for us 🙂 

And from the participants:

Explanation of how three-phase worked was really clear

I found the theory easy to understand despite my limited previous knowledge

I liked the mix of theory and practical

Good sized group for practical session tasks

It was good to build the stator and rotor by hand, it helped me understand how it works!

I really enjoyed it!