Wind Power B/C

[bernard]

[John Richardsim]

Has anyone experimented with vertical-axis designs for the device?

[KingDelphinus]

Due to the setup of the testing apparatus I believe this is impossible to do and compete competitively but If I'm wrong feel welcome to correct me.

[John Richardsim]

I would think that turning the testing stand right or left 90 degrees would allow a vertical-axis turbine to work...but also I've never tried it so I don't actually know.

[knightmoves]

Rule 6b(iii) requires the axis of rotation of the turbine to be approximately parallel to that of the fan. So vertical-axis turbines aren't allowed.

[John Richardsim]

I'm not sure that it does though, since that rule only says that the event supervisor provides that. Other rules say students can reposition the stand, and I would think this includes rotating it as well as moving it forwards/backwards.

Edit: I'm submitting an FAQ for this, these rules seem a bit contradictory.

[knightmoves]

I'm not sure that it does though, since that rule only says that the event supervisor provides that. Other rules say students can reposition the stand, and I would think this includes rotating it as well as moving it forwards/backwards.

Edit: I'm submitting an FAQ for this, these rules seem a bit contradictory.

6b(ii) says that the support stand is required to have horizontal and vertical motion. It does not require the support stand to allow rotation. There are some obvious ways of putting a stand together that would allow the motor to be rotated to spin around a vertical axis, but there are other reasonable choices that would not permit that.

So I'd say that it would be unwise of a student to assume that the stand provided would be able to be rotated. I'll look forward to the FAQ

[John Richardsim]

The response that I got back was that different angles are fair game in that they are part of "positioning" along with vertical/horizontal translations.

https://www.soinc.org/will-test-stands- ... -rotated-0

I haven't been a volunteer for wind power at any tournaments, so outside of the testing stand my team has for practice and a couple testing stands in pictures online I haven't seen any. Has anyone used a testing stand that wasn't a freestanding structure?

I'd think that if a freestanding testing stand could accommodate a reasonable amount of movement left-right/forwards-backwards, the whole stand would be able to be turned right or left. The only issue I can possibly see is if the stand has a big base and is on a small table, depending on the design of the stand the blade assembly might not be able to be centered.

[kkmlhn]

Hi all, I had a few questions about wind power! I know it's late in the season but I still have a bit of time

Do you guys know if there is a set distance from the fan and the stand with the CD? I was under the impression that we could move it around, but in my first comp they made us keep it at one set distance.

And second, is it legal to switch out the whole blade assembly (including the cd) between the slow and fast test?

Thanks!

[knightmoves]

Do you guys know if there is a set distance from the fan and the stand with the CD? I was under the impression that we could move it around, but in my first comp they made us keep it at one set distance.

Well, that's interesting. You are free to position your blade assembly anywhere you like with respect to the fan. Rule 5 II d: "Teams are allowed to ... reposition the support stand during the set-up period". No distance is specified.

The support stand is required to support vertical and horizontal adjustments of the blade assembly (6 b ii). The implication of the combination of the stand itself supporting motion in X and Y and being allowed to reposition the stand is that the stand repositioning would be for motion in Z. Your event supervisor made up the requirement to run at a fixed distance from the fan.

And second, is it legal to switch out the whole blade assembly (including the cd) between the slow and fast test?

Go read rule 2c.