Suneil Tagore and Trystan Lea / Wind turbines and open source energy monitoring
Project Outline
The wind turbine is a self build wind turbine built as a training project by a group from Engineers without Borders Cardiff in 2008-2009. It can produce up to 500W and has a 2.4m blade diameter. The turbine was designed by Hugh Piggot of scoraigwind in conjunction with Practical Action for both good windy sites on the west coast of Scotland and for overseas development.
In the Micro Maker fair the turbine will be on a stand with the blades removed so that its workings can be seen and it can be turned by hand. There will be a prize available for the person that generates the most Watts by the end of the fair.
The power produced by the turbine is then connected to electronics and software developed as a part of the OpenEnergyMonitor project a project to: develop and build open source energy monitoring and analysis tools for energy efficiency and distributed renewable microgeneration – there will be 7 segment displays and graphical outputs and flashing lights to go along with your wind turbine turning efforts!
You will also have the chance to learn how to build a device for measuring energy consumption of your house and there will be design sheets available so that you can get making when you get home.
Biography
Suneil Tagore from Cardiff and Trystan Lea from the mountains of Snowdonia are keen makers of things with a background in electronic engineering and physics. They are currently working on developing the OpenEnergyMonitor project, a course on making sustainable technologies and in the initial stages of looking at a project called the MakeryInitiative.
Related Links
Cardiff WindOpen Energy Monitor
Makery Initiative
Image 1: Suneil Tagore and Trystan Lea OpenEnergyMonitor Project, wind controller. Image courtesy of the artists
Image 3: Suneil Tagore and Trystan Lea Wind turbine, made at Cardiff University, Bala. Image courtesy of the artists