Our teams' scenario was that we were tasked with creating a wind turbine for Engineers Without Borders to use in remote Guatemalan villages. The turbine would have to be a simple design that would allow for easy assembly in these remote villages. Furthermore, the turbine would only have to power simple devices such as LEDs and thus, cost, ease of use, and longevity will be the primary objectives. The project went through a series of stages, starting with pre-project research and problem framing, and then ending with material selection and physical design.
The primary focus of this project was learning the objective setting and material selection processes. Using our primary objectives we were able to narrow our possible materials down to three; Medium Carbon Steel, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic(CFRP), and Aluminum Alloy. Using a secondary set of objectives for the material we determined that Medium Carbon Steel was the ideal material for our turbine. Its high strength combined with its relative abundance made it a much better candidate than either CFRP or Aluminum Alloy.
Material Selection with Granta Edupack
Documentation with Microsoft Office
