Front row, from left: DeBari Gbaandor, Emily Johnson, Stephanie Rodriguez, Rocky DeHoyos, Jared Garrand, Aakash Patel, Andrius Daley, Cameron Steele, Zane Andrews, Gavin Bigler, Shawn Deguire
Back row, from left: Ivan Rodrigiez, Jazirae Duncan, Joshua DeWees, Alex Benitez, Giulio Danino, Matt Taylor, Matthew Mamdouhi, Chance Zajicek, Kyle Noakes, Austin Faeth.

TEAM NAME

Techsan Wind

WHY WIND

This competition has allowed those who study wind energy at the university to gain both technical and business experience while also allowing students from multiple disciplines to work and interact towards a common goal. Each student has the opportunity to apply what they have learned in class as well as learn new methods and functional skills along the way. Our hope is that each student on our team will learn more about the wind industry and apply their experiences to their future careers. 

TEAM TURBINE

Our turbine will be a three-bladed, horizontal axis turbine. As this is the first time our university is competing in the competition, our main focus relies on strength and durability. All of the components and materials within our turbine have been chosen because we believe they will create a stable machine that future teams will hopefully be able to build off of. 

GAME PLAN

The team will utilize 3-D printing and controls software available to us through the university to assist in the building of our wind turbine. We also have the opportunity to gain professional assistance and advice on both our technical and business plans from local companies. The team plans to extensively test our turbine to ensure we are meeting our goal of strength and durability. 

TEAM STRENGTHS

The majority of our team consists of senior students who major in wind energy, and the classes they have taken up until this point have taught them real-world applications that they have been able to use throughout preparing for the competition. They also have the opportunity to work with multiple engineering majors, who bring new and valuable perspectives and knowledge to the team. 

TEAM HURDLES

This is the first time our university will be competing in this competition, so unlike many of the other teams competing, we do not have past business and technical references to rely on. Aside from studying the previous competitions' teams, we have had to rely almost solely on what we have learned through our academic courses. Also, while we are extremely fortunate to have had class time to work towards the competition, a majority of the work is done individually, or long after class hours have ended, as it is difficult to get so many individuals from different backgrounds and disciplines together to meet. 

COLLEGIATE WIND COMPETITION OBJECTIVES

One of our biggest hopes is that this competition will prepare our students for the professional world, regardless of whether they pursue a career in the technical, business, or law side of the industry. We also would like to pave the way for future Texas Tech University teams competing in this competition and provide a source of guidance throughout their process. 

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This webpage was submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy by the team.