Team Name:
Wildcat Wind Power
Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas
Why this Competition?
Wildcat Wind Power (WWP) is an organization at Kansas State University designed to involve students in the application and development of wind energy and expose them to the wind industry through the U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition. We hope to use the competition to develop and nurture practical skills in our members that can carry over into a professional setting.
Game Plan
The team is divided into smaller groups with more focused goals. These groups include an electrical, a mechanical, and a siting team. On the electrical team, we teach our younger members how to solder, interpret, and design both digital and analog circuits, as well as how to use circuit design software. Meanwhile, older members focus more on optimizing the circuit and testing our generator to create a more efficient turbine.
A major goal for the electrical team this year is creating a function that can calculate wind speed using rotations-per-minute (RPM) and load resistance data. We hope to have this function fully implemented in our turbine to allow us to optimize power performance during the competition.
On the mechanical side, we focus on implementing new, original designs in SolidWorks and utilizing 3D printing to manufacture our parts. A major goal for the mechanical team is the creation of a centrifugal brake. We want to be able to passively limit the maximum RPM of our turbine to account for a possible loss of control and/or electrical system failure. Currently, we have a few unique designs modeled and are testing different combinations of abrasives and spring types in our brake to determine a viable option for competition.
The siting team has been tasked with developing a complete financial analysis and presenting it to potential owners and investors. Doing this requires us to contact nearby wind farms seeking advice on-site costs and maintenance.
All members of WWP are constantly testing, working together, and discussing how the turbine design and site plan should progress. We hope to submit a unique and competent design that will impress our peers and colleagues.
Team Strengths
To face the design challenges and create the best design possible, we have recruited a multidisciplinary group of students from a variety of backgrounds. We have students from the electrical, computer, civil, and mechanical engineering departments, as well as a few members from business and computer science. This variety allows us to think creatively and focus our strengths where they are most applicable. Our shared interest in renewable energy technologies has united us while our academic variety has helped our team flourish when it comes to finding innovative solutions to complex problems.
Team Hurdles
This has been a challenging year for all, but we have been successful in continued engagement and participation. Transitioning to weekly virtual meetings via Microsoft Teams for all club members, with additional in-person team meetings for each subteam, has allowed us to stay in contact and up to date with all our members. When meeting in person, subteams follow university COVID-19 guidelines and use a shared parts cabinet to transfer items between different members who are working at separate times.
Competition Objectives
We expect to walk away from the 2021 U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition with the experience of carrying through a design to completion and ending with a successful final product. We believe that all our members have gained (and will continue to gain) useful skills and understandings of working within a large, multidisciplinary group that they can take with them into their future professional lives. In addition, we believe many of our members will gained new knowledge pertaining to the technical design of wind turbines, which they will also carry into their careers.
Follow Us
Facebook: @KState
Instagram: @kansasstateuniversity
LinkedIn: Kansas State University
Website: https://www.k-state.edu/windpower
This content was submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy by the team.