How does wind power tie into our electric vehicle project?

Because one of the purposes of our project is to be environmentally conscious, it is necessary to think of a method of power generation that will be equally benign to the environment. When the class of 2001 was thinking about how to charge the batteries for the EV efficiently they also considered the fact that we are living on an island. Because we are surrounded by water there is nothing stopping the wind from hitting the island full force. Further, we are somewhere in the middle of the top range categories (between 5 and 7)on the geographical wind power map (see diagram 1 at end of paper). Our wind supply will guarantee good charging station performance most of the time. This charging method will have very little impact on the environment, thus supporting our reasoning behind the electric vehicle project.

Our world has become very dependent on electricity; so dependent that it would not be able to go without it. But the generators for today's electrical power, otherwise know as power plants, burn coal and oil to produce the electricity we need. By doing this, the factories are killing not only the ecosystem of the planet with pollution, but are also causing the people who live in this world to develop respiratory infections, regular asthma attacks, and respiratory bronchiolitis.

Wind generation, although it carries three areas of concern, will reduce the pollution emitted into the air, and thus radically help our environment.
 
 

How is wind made?

Wind is the movement of air. When cold air and warm air meet, the cold air, which is denser and thus heavier than the warm air, presses against the warm air and pushes it off to the side or causes it to move upward. As the warm air moves up or sideways, out of the way, the cold air presses in to replace it. This movement of different temperature air creates what we call wind (Craig, 30).
 
 

How do we collect the wind for energy? How do wind turbines work?

So, how do we harness this wind to generate electricity? We use wind turbines. Wind turbines "work the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan [does], wind turbines use wind to make electricity" (www.eren.doe.gov). As the blades of the wind turbine spin, they drive a shaft, which is connected to a generator. The generator, in turn, makes the electricity. Every wind turbine has some tool used to catch the wind and make the shaft turn. These "tools" are called blades, and each turbine usually has two or three of them. The blades are attached to a "low speed" shaft which spins as the blades spin. On the back end of this shaft is a gear box. The gear box has teeth that fit together with the teeth on a different gear box. The second gear box is attached to a second shaft, called the "high speed" shaft. This shaft runs through the generator and powers it. The generator, shafts and gear boxes are contained in what is called a nacelle. It holds on the rotor, or the piece that holds the blades in place, and protects the gears from weather. The rotor and the nacelle are held up at various heights by towers. Wind blows stronger at higher altitudes, so the height of the tower effects how much or little wind the turbine gets, thus effecting the amount of electricity the wind turbine cangenerate (see diagram 2 at end of paper) (www.eren.doe.gov).

There are different kinds of wind turbine blades. One type uses a petal style that usually has three blades that ray out from the center rotor. Another kind uses two blades that are shaped in an egg beater style (an idea thought of by a man named Darrieus and so named the Darrieus model) (www.eren.doe.gov).

Also, different turbines use different wind directions. The turbines that use down wind gusts to generate electricity, are blown into position, or downwind, by the wind itself. Turbines that utilize upwind breezes, or face into the wind, have an attached wind vane that "communicates" the wind direction to the yaw drive. The yaw drive, powered by the yaw motor, orients the wind turbine into the wind (www.eren.doe.gov).

When many turbines are erected together in one place, they are often referred to as a wind farm.
 
 

How will wind driven electricity benefit or hurt the environment?

Wind generation, although it carries areas of three concern, will reduce the pollution emitted into the atmosphere and thus radically improve our environment.

Today, coal and oil help to generate most of the electricity we need. Nuclear power plants also help in creating electricity for our country. Coal and oil are nonrenewable resources. If we continue to use these fossil-fuels, we will run out. Coal and oil also damage the environment in many ways. The mining process of these two fossil fuels damages the earth, as do spills which, occurring during transportation, severely hurt both animals on land or even worse onthe water. Millions of gallons of oil are being brought across the ocean in very non-invincible boats. Because of the potential of puncture or wreckage of these boats, there have been numerous oil spills that have killed wildlife in and out of the water (Brant,23-29). These fuels produce electricity through burning them, thus they create air pollutants such as carbon dioxide that smog up our atmosphere (www.eren.doe.gov). Nuclear power, which is another means of generating power, "creates safety hazards and produces radioactive wastes" (www.spirit-lake.k12.ia.us).

Wind as a "green" resource for generating electricity and the advantages of using it:

Wind generated electricity is a free, "green power" supply. This electricity is called "green power" because it comes from a renewableresource (www.awea.org). Unlike coal and oil, wind does not need tobe cultivated from the land, or paid for by the government, and then by the people. It is a naturally produced aspect of everyday life on earth. If we want to be environmentally and economically conscious as a country and a world, we need to turn to the green power sources as our guides into a cleaner and happier future.

Wind generation falls in to the category of zero emissions. It does not fog up our skies or cause diseases for the population. If wind farms are used to create energy for the country, they will counter act the pollution expelled into the air. An example of the benefits to using wind generation to power electricity happened in California. "In 1990, California's wind power plants offset the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 15 million pounds of other pollutants...It would take a forest of 90 million to 175 million trees to provide the same air quality"(www.eren.doe.gov). This benefit is over powering! If wind turbines for one area saved that much pollution out of the atmosphere, how much would it benefit our environment if our whole country relied solely on wind power or other renewable resources?

Another example of the advantage of using wind power took place in Iowa, at the Spirit Lake Elementary School. Since 1993, all of the school's electrical power has been driven by a single wind turbine. Since 1993 the "turbine has produced 1,570,000 kilowatt hours of electricity which would have cost the district $ 124,900...The energy produced by the...wind [turbine]...would have taken 1094 tons of coal or 3,851 barrels of oil. These fossils fuels would have emitted into the atmosphere 3,282,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 468,000 pounds of sulfur oxide plus thousands of tons of other pollutants" (www.spirit-lake.k12.ia.us). In just seven years, the wind turbine has reduced the pollution to a great extent. The school district also saved a lot of money. By using the same renewable energy source, the government, and citizens, too will save a large amount of money. If all homes, offices and schools were run off of wind power think how much pollution we would not be producing!
 
 

What are the draw backs of using wind generation?

Although there are some many beneficial aspects to wind generation, there are three main issues that are of concern to people. The first concern is the visual aspect. Large scale wind farms which produce enough energy to drive a city, or even a state, take up a great amount of space because there would need to be a generous number of wind turbines to produce that amount of energy. It would probably take a while to get used to seeing a wind farm across a huge field that used to have cows within its fences. But, a study shows that "63% of those who could see a wind farm from their home still supported [it]" (www.galeforce.nireland.co.uk). There is not much to be done about a person whose aesthetics are displeased with being in the visibility range of a wind farm. Once the message gets across to these people, though, that our energy supply is going to run out soon, they may be able to, and will have to adapt more easily to it.

The second problem is the noise factor. Just as airplane propellers make a lot of noise as they spin, so do wind rotors. This noise, just like cars in a city, can be adapted to as people around the wind farms grow used to having them near by. Older models of wind turbines were much, much louder, but with an increase in technology, the designs have greatly reduced the sound and speed of the spinning blades. The noise one turbine makes is equivalent to that of your washing machine (www.powerscorecard.org). With technology advancing everyday, manufacturers will be able to, eventually, make wind turbines even quieter than they are now; just as they did to make today's models less loud than they were when first invented.

The last main issue with the wind turbines is that when the blades are spinning fast, they become a whirring, virtually transparent circle about one hundred feet above the ground. Birds, not seeing the blades, can easily be killed by flying into them. Also, on the older models, the towers were perfect places to perch, and so the birds got caught in the blades as they began to turn. But, as with the noise problem, newer technology will not allow the birds to perch on the towers because they are solid, tubular structures. Newer models have also modified the blades so that they do not spin as fast as before, which reduces the chance that the birds will run into them.
 
 

How can we resolve these issues?

The latter two issues will come closer and closer to being resolved with every new model invented. The visual aspect will have to be adapted to, but when people realize that wind generation will benefit, not only the environment, but also them financially, they will, hopefully, be able to get used the sight of a wind farm.
 
 

Conclusion:

Even with those three issues in question, wind farms will benefit our environment greatly. If one, 750 kilowatt wind turbine eliminates the emission of 1500 tons of carbon dioxide each year, think about what environmental benefit we would get if every building in the United States was run by wind, or another renewable resource,generated electricity. And because wind generation is a renewable, orgreen, power source, we will still have the same amount of wind after depending on it for thousands of years. If we are striving for acleaner, longer-lasting earth, we need to start changing what we are doing now! If we change now, we will be confronting pollution face on and heading for a brighter, happier future more environmentally viable.

Diagram 1:

Range from 1-7, 7 being the highest in the range.

Diagram from: www.midcoast.com/~nhcs/wind_recource_charts.htm
 
 

Diagram 2:

Diagram from: www.eren.doe.gov/wind/feature.html
 
 

Works Cited

1. Brant, Bob. Build Your Own Electric Vehicle. TAB Books. NewYork, NY, 1994.

2. Craig, M. Jean. Questions and Answers About Weather. Four WindsPress; Scholastic Magazines Inc. New York, NY, 1969.

3. US Department of Energy. Wind Energy Program. 12/10/01, 10:03.<www.eren.doe.gov/wind/web.html> or <www.eren.doe.gov/wind/feature.html>

4. Spirit Lake Community School District. Wind Generation.12/12/01, 11:00am. <www.spirit-lake.k12.ia.us/html/dist/b&g/wind%20generation.htm>

5. PACE University. Electricity From: Wind. 12/12/01, 11:14am.<www.powerscorecard.org/tech_detail.cfm?tech=wind>

6. The Facts On Wind Generation. 12/12/01, 11:19am<www.galeforce.nireland.co.uk/page4.html>

7. American Wind Energy Association. Wind Energy Clean Energy ForOur Environment & Economy. 12/12/01, 11:16. <www.awea.org/faq/greenpwr.html> or <www.awea.org/faq/co2trees.html>

A brushless motor is a safer one because it does not create sparks, which create a danger of overheating or fire. With a motor that has brushes, the metal of the brushes creates friction with the metal of the commutator, and therefore institutes a spark. A brushless motor does not have that friction, and there is no spark.
 
 
 
 

DC (Direct Current) Motors
 
 

The components included in a DC motor are as follows:
 
 

Armature- This is the main conductor of electricity, portrayed as being a cylinder of metal, with a coil around it. When electricity is added to the brushes, the armature is what spins, demonstrating the flow, the current.
 
 

Commutator- This is where the electricity gets transferred into the armature from the brushes. It has a north and south wire, that create the coil on the armature.
 
 

Magnets- In many cases, the magnets are portrayed as being permanent magnets to make it more understandable. The magnets both have a north and a south pole, the north and south ends being attracted to each other, north and north repelling each other, and the same thing for the south and south poles.*
 
 

Brushes- The brushes are the parts that transfer the electricity from the battery, or power source, to the commutator. Referring back to what I said about brushes, there is most often a spark between the brushes and the commutator when there is a certain amount of voltage going through.
 
 

Frame- The frame is basically to support the whole process, the transference of electricity to move the armature.
 
 

In a little more detail about the magnets, I want to explain about the role magnets play by talking about a compass. Compasses typically orient to the north and south of the magnetic field that surrounds the earth.. But, when a compass comes within close proximity of a magnet, the polarity gets discombobulated. If you lead the "north" arrow on a compass with the south end of a regular magnet, (opposites attract), you can move the "north" on the compass anywhere around the circle. This is what happens within the DC motor. The push and pull technique the magnets use pushes and pulls the south and north sides of the armature so that it spins as the polarity changes from south to north to south to north to south to north......

 
 

 

Different Forces that Impact Air Pollution

by Jacqueline

Statistics are showing that pollution is rising in Maine. We as a state, are letting different forces effect our air quality, and are compromising the health of people in our state.

Are we crazy? Do we know that we are polluting our enviroment? Of course we do. There are many ways we know about air pollution. Think about it on the following 4 levels: Global, regional, local, and personal.

There are many forces that impact air pollution some of the mare:

• distant power generation and industry and transportation emissions
• continental weather patterns
• local industrial emissions
• local power generation emissions

These enviromental effects influence our states health by severe incidences of asthma attacks, severe chances of respiratory infections, increased chronic respiratory symptoms, and the development of chronic respiratory bronchiolitis.

What the heck does this all mean? Its obvious that it effects your health in major ways. So do these issues really mean?

Why are the continental weather patterns effecting our air? This is all about green house gases. These are the gases made by the consumption of fuel. These gases destroy our ozone layer, which controls the climate change, melting the polar ice-caps, which makes the sea level keep rising. On top of it all, these gases kill our trees, and trees we need to breathe so back to the beginning, we are hurting ourselves in the long run. Green house gases are just some of the pollutants, there are also local industrial emissions.

Local emissions mainly have to do with pollution that comes from vehicles and transportation.

In Maine just about everyone has a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, not a lot of people have an electric vehicle. Experiments show that transportation is the largest local contributor of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and volatile organic compounds. These gases are hurting us and killing out earth.

We don't have to hide from our pollution. We can help ourselves by improving transportation. Get more electric vehicles out there. We can reduce the impact of the two stroke engines. We can raise the turnpike tolls so that instead of people wanting to drive they might take a train because it's so expensive. With the toll money the government could put it toward supporting green transportation. There are many things we can do to help, but one of the most important things to keep in mind is to, inform people of what's really going on. We need to let people know that air pollution is a problem in Maine, and we can help.
 
 

There are three main steps to how a battery functions. Being fully charged is the first, fully discharged being the last, and discharging being the step in between the two extremes.

A battery is made up of sulfuric acid, and the most common liquid substance we know, water. Being drowned with these two substances, are two electrodes, one being negative and the other positive. The negative terminal is made up of lead, and the positive is lead dioxide. When a battery is fully charged, sulfuric acid is at it's maximum capacity, and water is at it's minimum, as shown in the diagram below.
 

(All diagrams from "Sailboat Electrics Simplified")

(H2SO4 = Sulfuric acid)

(H2O = Water)

(Pb = Lead)

(PbO2 = Lead dioxide)

So when a battery is being used, electricity is being taken from the battery, and given to what ever source might need the electricity. Chemically, sulfuric acid is broken apart into hydrogen (H) and sulfate (SO4). Some of the sulfate combines with the lead electrode, creating lead sulfate (PbSO4). The rest of the sulfate combine with the lead dioxide electrode, taking oxygen from the electrode as it does, also creating lead sulfate. The removed oxygen combines with the hydrogen, which was broken apart from the sulfuric acid, to create water (H2O). The next diagram shows this process.
 
 

The last phase of a batteries' life is being fully discharged. This is when there is a minimum of sulfuric acid, and a maximum of water within the battery, and also a minimum of lead and lead dioxide, but a maximum of lead sulfate. This phase is shown in the diagram below.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Lead Acid: Why?

By Stan

When asked to think about a battery, you might think of the standard AA Energizer battery. However, when asked to think about a battery in relation to an Electric Vehicle (No, not a little RC Car, I'm talkin' about a real car), the standard AA battery won't cut it. These batteries are non rechargeable, and the battery needed for an Electric Vehicle must be rechargeable, and most certainly not small AA batteries.

There are many different types of batteries that can be used for Electric Vehicles. There are aqueous batteries, which are made up of a liquid substance, or non-aqueous batteries, which are gel filled. And of course, there isn't just one type of aqueous battery, or non-aqueos battery. There are many different types within these two groups, including Nickel Iron, Sodium Sulfur, and Lithium Iron batteries. However, these are only a few, and the battery that we chose to use for our vehicle are the Lead Acid batteries, which makeup for over 50 percent of batteries used for Electric Vehicles.

Why Lead Acid? Well, for a few different reasons. Compared to the other batteries, Lead Acid batteries may not seem as efficient, in which, they aren't. Nickel Iron batteries may be able to hold more electricity, and last longer, however since they are made out of different substances and frames than that of a Lead Acid battery,they are much more expensive.

Although Lead Acid batteries may be less efficient than some of their competitors, that doesn't mean they are non efficient period. Lead Acid batteries will provide more than enough electricity than our Electric Vehicle will need, especially living on an island.

The only real downside to Lead Acid batteries is that they are heavy. Each lone battery is near 50 pounds, compared to others, which range from 20-30 pounds. Besides the factor of weight, Lead Acid batteries tend to let off Hydrogen gases during the process of decharging. However, within the battery boxes that we have produced, there will be ventilation fans as to let out the Hydrogen gases, so that there is no worry for explosion.

I feel that using Lead Acid batteries are great for our Electric Vehicle. They are inexpensive, and they are quite efficient, lasting up to 85,000 miles within it's lifetime, which is more than enoughfor our needs.