CWC Electrical Engineering Capstone Team 2023-2024
The 2023-2024 CWC capstone EE team's progress in the creation of turning wind into usable energy
SCOPE OF WORK
The Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) is a national competition hosted by the Department of Energy (DOE). Turbine design, Turbine testing, Project Development, and Connections Creations. As a student team made of ME students and EE students, we will design and build a turbine prototype that will harvest the wind and produce DC Power. Our team of Electrical Engineering students are specifically focusing on the electronics of the turbine design and testing.
Engineering Requirements
Hardware Requirements
​Voltage at the PCC must be DC & <= 48 volts continuously. ​Teams must choose their own generator, design the wind turbine.​Create a load system.​Turbine electronics must be separate from the load for clear distinction.​
​Performance Requirements
​Wind turbines must shut down when an emergency-stop button is pressed or when electrically disconnected from the load. ​Team load operates at a maximum of 120 V AC.​​
Renewable Energy Alternatives
Photovoltaics
a nonmechanical device that converts sunlight directly into electricity
HydroPower
which uses the natural flow of moving water to generate electricity
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear power reactors use heat produced during atomic fission to boil water and produce pressurized steam
Meet the Team!
Team Lead
Ryan Frost
Project Manager
Gabrielle Hall
Treasurer / Programmer
Austin Burrows
Our Client
David Willy - Mechanical Engineering Prof.
David.Willy@nau.edu
Our Solution
1
DC-DC Boost Converter
The Boost DC -DC Converter is interface with proposed wind system to step up the initial generator voltage and maintain constant output voltage. The fluctuation nature of wind makes them unsuitable for standalone operation.
2
AC - DC Rectifier
The purpose of a rectifier is to convert AC power into DC power. Our design, figure 5, is a 6-diode 3 phase rectifier which will convert the Ac power coming out of the generator into DC power. A capacitor is then used to smooth out the wild DC output. The downside to using diodes is there is about a 1 V voltage drop across the rectifier.
3
Pitch Brake System
EXPLANATION FOR WEBSITE
REPORTS
CWC Report 1
CWC Report 2
CWC Partial Design
Report
Testing
AC-DC Rectifier
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AC-DC Rectifier
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DC-DCB
AC-DC Rectifier
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Prototypes
AC-DC Rectifier
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DC -DC Boost Converter
Final Build
AC DC Rectifier Results
Manufactured vs. our Design