Wind Turbine Power Measurement

Introduction

In order to test and compare different wind turbine designs, we need a way to measure their output. We can do that with an Arduino and a current sensor. The current sensor can tell us the current and voltage produced by the wind turbine and using those we can calculate power. This gives us an effective way to compare different designs.

Materials

• Arduino microcontroller with Grove shield
• Current sensor with Grove connector and A/B/C connections
• Box fan
• Kid Wind Mini Wind Turbine Kit or similar
• Optional: anemometer (wind speed sensor)

Our Wind and Solar Kit contains most of these materials.

Prepare your Arduino

1. Use the provided screws to attach your Arduino to the plastic base plate.
2. Attach the provided rubber feet to the base plate.
3. Attach the Grove shield to the Arduino. Be sure that the pins line up with the sockets.

Assemble Current Sensor

1. Attach the provided screws to the current sensor.
2. Place rubber feet on the bottom of the current sensor.

Assemble Wind Turbine

1. Feed the turbine wire (black and red) through the aluminum tube, with the flanged part toward the turbine.
2. Feed the wire through the wood base plate and yellow connector.
3. Connect the parts together with the wire hanging out from under the wood base plate.
4. Attach rods to the plastic sheets using packing tape.
5. Connect the blades to the hub so that they tilt forward (otherwise they may hit the support tube).
6. If they're not already stripped, strip about 2 cm of the ends of the red and black wires.
7. Wrap the stripped end of the black wire around the current sensor bolt labeled A.
8. Wrap the stripped end of the red wire around the bolt labeled C:
9. Connect the current sensor to one of the I2C pins on the Grove shield.
10. If you're using wind speed sensor, connect it to digital pin 2 on the Grove Shield.
11. Position your turbine in front of the fan and note the distance for future tests.

Now you can open the Wind Turbine Power Measurement lesson. This lesson shows realtime plots of the current, voltage, and power produced by the turbine.