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Jeff Wilson         jwilson@vtc.edu Dave Carlson   dcarlson@vtc.edu

Professor Windmill

Users Manual

A Wind Energy Demonstration System

Chapter I: Introduction

Professor Windmill is a demonstration system designed for use at Vermont Technical College and in the industrial wind energy businesses.  Professor Windmill is an interactive system that includes a scaled down model of a standard industrial wind turbine that automatically reacts to wind conditions changed by a remote user.  Along with remote control capabilities, the system is simultaneously capable of remote monitoring of the system.

At Vermont Technical College our system can be permanently set up.  It is accessible to anyone in the world via our interactive Internet interface.  Similarly to how NASA interacts with robots in outer space and on mars, you can interact with out system from home without even leaving your computer chair!  Prospective students looking to find out more about Vermont Technical College will enjoy playing with our system and viewing data fed back to them.  This data gives prospective students a tangible way to see their interactions with a system that was engineered by real VTC students.  Prospective students interacting with a functional and entertaining senior project may lead them to apply to VTC.

Professor Windmill also can be used as a sophisticated display model for wind energy conferences.  When in this display mode, an Internet connection is not necessary, and the user can react directly with our system while it’s right there in front of them.  At a wind energy conference, bystanders will enjoy watching the wind turbine move back and forth as a result of user changed wind conditions.  Our system may lead more people to become interested in wind energy.

Mechanical Features:

All of the components of the Professor Windmill System, except for the server, are mounted to a 3’ X 4’ piece of ½”plywood.   The tallest component on the mounting platform is the webcam tower, which is 14” tall.  The fully assembled platform weighs about 20-30 lbs and can be moved easily by two people to fit on a desktop.  The server weighs about 25 lbs and is easily movable by one person; a computer monitor is optional for the system.

The Mechanical components consist of:

·        Seven high volume computer case fans arranged in a 180 degree semi circle

·        Seven fan mounting brackets

·        Two micro controllers (Motorola HC08)

·        Two motor controller boards

·        One signal conditioner board

·        Wind direction sensor (Potentiometer)

·        Yaw Control Assembly consisting of:

o       Yaw Motor for changing turbine Position

o       Yaw Potentiometer for determining turbine Position

o       Yaw housing for containing the yaw components

·        Turbine Tower

·        Turbine Assembly consisting of:

o       Turbine, shaft, hub and bearings

o       Turbine generator (for monitoring output)

o       Gearbox for increase of generator speed

o       Turbine generator housing for containing the Generator components

·        Webcam and webcam tower for viewing the entire system

Electrical Features:

The Professor Windmill system requires two Motorola HC08’s (9V wall transformers), a Yaw motor (3V wall transformer), seven computer fans (12V, minimum 3 Amp power supply), and a 120 AC wall outlet to power the server.  A power supply that provides +/- 12V is also required for powering the signal conditioning circuit.  The system requires 6 wall outlets.  An Internet connection is also required for remote access if desired.

The seven high volume fans are turned on by the user.  No more than three fans can be on at any given time, and unless operating in on of the two special modes (sweeping or gusty wind) the selected fan will be on full, and each adjacent fan will be turned on with only a 50% duty cycle.  When in these special modes, preset programs control the fans on or off.  Each fan draws 1A, at no point will the combine current for the fans be more than 3A.

The Yaw motor automatically and continuously positions the turbine assembly into the wind during changing wind conditions.  The Yaw motor knows how to change its position based on data that one of the two microcontrollers collects from the position sensor.  A potentiometer senses the motor’s position and compares it to the direction sensor, when the two values match, the motor stops and the turbine is facing into the wind.  When one is bigger than the other, the motor is turned on in the correct direction to make the values match, and then stops.

The turbine generator is only attached to load the turbine and to monitor it’s output.  The generator is small, and feeds an output voltage into the signal conditioner board and then into the soundcard of our server to be displayed to the user. 

Computer and Software Features:

The Professor Windmill system requires a Professor Windmill server and two microcontrollers.  Any Linux OS based computer capable of communicating with a parallel port, a USB port, an Ethernet card, and low-end sound card, is capable of being this server.  The server runs Linux for stability and easy communication with ports.  The server talks to one of the two microcontroller boards via a parallel port connection, and the other microcontroller is completely self contained and only used for turbine yaw control.  Data from the generator and the webcam are displayed on the interface to the user, and the interface also updates it’s own information for each operation selected by the user.

Chapter II: Setup Of Professor Windmill

For your first time setting up Professor Windmill, open the box and remove the platform.  Most of the components will already be assembled, verify that they are all there.  A list of components can be found in “Mechanical Features” in Chapter I.  If anything is missing or damaged, contact your retailer.  Once everything is accounted for, begin the setup process (this will be the same for each setup following the first unless you do not break it down between uses).

All of the fan brackets and fans will be attached to the mounting platform, as well as the sensors and the electrical boards and all necessary wires.  The webcam is already attached on the webcam bracket and it’s USB cable is secured to the board with enough slack in the end to plug into the server.  The turbine assembly is also attached to the board.  The only things that are not attached are the various power supplies and a series of cables, power cords, and the server.

Next, connect all of the cables to their respective connectors.  The fans, turbine assembly, and sensor should already be connected, but check the connections anyway.  Plug the webcam USB connector into the back of the server.  There will be a “headphone” jack from the signal conditioner board that will have to plug into the line input jack of the server in it’s sound card.  Connect the parallel port cable from the server to the connector on the mounting board and verify that it is securely in place. 

            Verify that all of the items requiring power are plugged in to the supplied power strip and plug the power strip into the wall.  There should be 6 items requiring power:  Server, 2V (3A) power supply, 3V power supply, +/-12V power supply, two 9V wall adaptors for the HC08s, and an optional monitor plug.  If applicable, plug in the mouse and keyboard, and plug the monitor into the server’s monitor port and plug the power for the monitor into the wall outlet.  The mouse, keyboard, and monitor are for display setups only.  Hook up a live Ethernet cable to the Ethernet card on the server*. 

Turn on the server and wait for it to boot up.  Turn on both of the HC08’s and turn on all of the power supplies.  The system is now completely set up and ready for operation.  Unless changing settings, you should never need to login to the server.  DO NOT ENTER ANY KEYSTROKES INTO THE COMPUTER UNTIL IT PROMPTS FOR A PASSWORD.  If settings need to be changed, the username is “root” and the password is “windmill”.  Do NOT login unless you are familiar with the system and understand what you are doing.  As the user “root” you can very easily accidentally delete our entire system with no hope of ever retrieving it.  In Linux, the computer never asks you if you’re sure, it just does what you say and assumes you know what you want.

*This Ethernet step is only for installing at Vermont Technical College. Display systems do not require an Ethernet connection.  If the building the system is installed in at VTC has changed, you will need to contact your Professor Windmill Tech Support Representative (Sam Colwell) for a walkthrough of how to get the system back online.  If you are incapable of handling a walkthrough of the Linux operating system, for an additional fee your representative will do an onsite installation of the system.

Operation Of Professor Windmill

If the Professor Windmill system is installed at Vermont Technical College and is configured to have an Internet connection, the system should already be working.  Anyone in the world is now fully capable of operating and controlling the system through the Internet.

If the system is set up as a display, the operator of the display will have to log in with a supplied login and password.  On the server’s “desktop” an icon labeled “Professor Windmill Interface” will be viewable.  Double clicking on this icon will open the interface.  Once the interface is open, the system is then ready for interactions from bystanders.  Invite them to take control of the mouse and click on different buttons on the interface.  As they interact with the system, the operator should feel free to push “pro-wind” propaganda on them.

Interactive Features:

Wind Control-

To change the wind direction, click on one of the seven buttons on the interface next to the arrows.  The arrows change color based on which net wind direction you choose.  The green arrow indicates which fan is on full power, and the yellow arrows indicate which fans are on half power.  Each time you select a new direction, the page will update and the corresponding fans you chose will turn on.

Pre-set Wind Control-

There are two pre-set wind conditions for the Professor Windmill system.  The first is the “Gusty” wind condition, which is a sporadic alteration of which fans are on and off.  This condition is designed to confuse the direction sensor and simulate rapidly changing wind conditions in storm environments.  The second pre-set wind condition is the “Sweeping” wind condition, which is a gradual change of the net wind direction from one side of the system to the other.  The wind is capable of varying up to 180 degrees, and this is designed to simulate a large wind direction change gradually.

Webcam-

The webcam is watching over the entire system to give the person interacting a sense of what’s visually happening.  The user will be able to see the turbine react to different changes in direction.  This webcam will be refreshed once a second.

Graphical Voltage Output-

The graphical voltage output gives the user data readings taken from the turbine’s mini generator.  These readings will be displayed as a graph on the webpage, and will plateau when the system is pointed in the direction of the wind for an extended period of time.  When the system is confused or in process of tracking the wind, the voltage may be lower, reflecting that the turbine is not optimally pointed into the wind.  This graph has a 60 second memory and will display readings taken once a second for 60 seconds.  Once the data becomes older than 60 seconds, it is lost.

Chapter III: Detailed Specifications and Documentation:

            1) Yaw Motor:

            2) Yaw Motor > Driver Circuit:

                        Components: