Wind power – An introduction

Teachers’ guide

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Contents
Contents................................................................................................................................................2
Overview...............................................................................................................................................4
Duration................................................................................................................................................5
What is provided...............................................................................................................................5
Preparation........................................................................................................................................5
Structure............................................................................................................................................6
Outcome............................................................................................................................................6
Siemens Solid Edge software.................................................................................................................6
For secondary education...................................................................................................................6
For post-secondary education...........................................................................................................6
For Students......................................................................................................................................7
Siemens PLM academic contacts.......................................................................................................7
Planning.............................................................................................................................................7
Session one – Why wind power?...........................................................................................................7
Preparation........................................................................................................................................7
Activities............................................................................................................................................8
Session two – Initial testing...................................................................................................................9
Preparation........................................................................................................................................9
Activities............................................................................................................................................9
Session three – Power in the wind......................................................................................................10
Preparation......................................................................................................................................10
Activity.............................................................................................................................................10
Session four – Betz limit and efficiency...............................................................................................11
Preparation......................................................................................................................................11
Activity.............................................................................................................................................11
Session five – Fair testing....................................................................................................................13
Preparation......................................................................................................................................13
Activities..........................................................................................................................................13
Session six – Blades.............................................................................................................................14
Preparation......................................................................................................................................14
Activities..........................................................................................................................................14
Session seven - Blades from tube........................................................................................................15
Preparation......................................................................................................................................15
Activities..........................................................................................................................................15
Session eight – Solid blades.................................................................................................................16

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Preparation......................................................................................................................................16
Activities..........................................................................................................................................16
Session nine – Blade manufacture.......................................................................................................17
Preparation......................................................................................................................................17
Activities..........................................................................................................................................17
Case studies.........................................................................................................................................17
Further study.......................................................................................................................................18
Appendix 1 – Wind turbine hits for schools.........................................................................................18
Appendix two – Siemens interactive wind power web resource.........................................................19
Blade production.............................................................................................................................19
Blade optimisation...........................................................................................................................19
Offshore wind farm..........................................................................................................................19
Turbine production..........................................................................................................................19
Onshore wind farm..........................................................................................................................19

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Overview
This project is aimed at educators and mentors as a guided learning activity and designed to be
delevered as part a formal curriculum through timetabled classes or as an extra-curricular STEM
activity.
The guided learning activities use model wind turbines and these could be based on the Siemens
Solid Edge models we supply or one of the educational wind turbine kits available from a number of
suppliers around the world.
The main document Wind turbine_intro.docx contains the course map reproduced here.

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Duration
This guided learning activity has been design to last for nine sessions of approximately one hour per
session plus homework tasks. The materials are flexible and could be delivered in after school STEM
clubs, alongside other projects in a ‘carousel’ or part of a ‘long and thin’ curriculum model.

What is provided
The following documents and files make up this project and available to download from the Siemens
Academic programme web site.
http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/academic/resources/solid-edge/educators/
index.shtml
Wind turbine_intro.zip
Wind turbine_intro_teachers_guide.docx - This document is aimed at educators and
mentors.
Wind turbine_intro.pptx - A PowerPoint presentation for the start of the project and at
strategic points during each of the sessions.
Wind turbine_intro.docx - Aimed at educators/mentors to develop structured lessons/
activities and for students as a course guide. The document can be edited to suit the delivery
format and style of the educator/mentor and the students.
Session two - Initial testing.docx – A recording sheet for variables and the results of testing.
Wind_turbine_calculations.xlsx – A spreadsheet which calculates the power output, power
coefficeint and efficiency for several commercial turbines and the model turbine used in
experiments.
Siemens data-sheet-wind-turbine-swt-7.0-154.pdf -
infographic-noise-restricted-operation.pdf -
D7-Platform-brochure_en.pdf -
EWEA-HaWTW.zip – Animation files for offline viewing
Folder - Solid Edge models and associated files.

Preparation
1. Download the curriculum materials and files;
2. Familiarise yourself with all of the files and documents.
3. Make the project files and folders available to students on school networks, the cloud or
memory cards.
4. Read these teaches’ notes to familiarise yourself with the project and materials.
5. Install Siemens Solid Edge on your own PC – see below.
6. Work through Geenpower Steering wheel – Introduction to 3D modelling
7. Work through all sections of the Wind turbine_intro.docx.
8. Become familiar with the introduction to Wind turbine_intro.pptx including the notes on
each slide.
9. Plan how you will incorporate the project in your teaching.

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Structure
The materials set out to teach the key concepts of wind power and how they can be used to specify,
build and test an efficient model wind turbine. Some of the sessions focus on the scientific concepts
for wind turbines and, where appropriate, use mathematics to quantify performance. Other sessions
focus on how the shape of wind turbine blades extracts power from the wind includimg the use of
Siemens Solid Edge to model blades.

Outcome
Students should:
 Learn about wind turbines, how they extract power from the wind and convert this into
electricity.
 Learn how to specify and optimise blades for wind turbines.
 Use Solid Edge to create and edit blade designs.
 Set up and run tests on small wind turbines producing reliable performance data.

Siemens Solid Edge software

For secondary education
Siemens Solid Edge High School Edition is available at no cost (free) to all secondary schools and
provides the school with a perpetual, academic site license, enabling them to use Solid Edge on as
many computers as required for academic purposes. This edition is for use by secondary schools
within the curriculum or in support of extra-curricular activities. To help clarify which academic
institutions are classed as secondary schools, see the Wikipedia entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education. For clarification or confirmation please contact
your regional Solid Edge Academic Program Manager.
To obtain the software an educator or school official must register at www.siemens.com/plm/solid-
edge-highschool. Following registration, a welcome email will be sent to the registered email
address containing download instructions for the software install executable. The school’s license is
automatically embedded during the software installation process.
Providing secondary schools with a perpetual site license for Solid Edge gives schools, teachers and
mentors the confidence to deploy Solid Edge within the classroom and develop material to support
the use of Solid Edge within their STEM curriculum. When a new release of Siemens Solid Edge High
School Edition is available, teachers simply repeat the registration process to obtain the latest
release.

For post-secondary education

Siemens Solid Edge University Edition is aimed at post-secondary, tertiary, and vocational academic
institutions and provides academic institutions with free and perpetual academic site license
allowing the installation and use of Solid Edge on as many computers as required for academic
purposes on the identified campus (site license). Solid Edge University Edition is free with optional
annual maintenance. Academic institutions wishing to use Solid Edge University Edition are required
to purchase at least one year’s maintenance. Maintenance can be purchased for multiple years on
one sales-order giving academic institutions flexibility, i.e. using current budget to secure up to 5
years of maintenance and support.

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

To clarify which academic institutions are classed within these categories see the Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education. For clarification or confirmation please contact your
regional Solid Edge Academic Program Manager.

For Students
Siemens Solid Edge Student Edition is available at no cost (free) to all part-time or full-time
students, regardless of age and provides the student with a perpetual license. This edition is
intended to be used by individual students to support their studies. To obtain the software students
must register at www.siemens.com/plm/solid-edge-student. Following registration students will
receive a welcome email that contains download instructions for the software install executable.
The student’s license is automatically embedded during the software installation process. All
students must register to obtain a valid and legal license.
When a new release of Siemens Solid Edge Student Edition is available, students simply repeat the
registration process to obtain the latest release.

Siemens PLM academic contacts

Americas - [email protected]
Asia Pacific - [email protected]
Europe, Middle East, and Africa - [email protected]

Planning
These materials are designed to be used flexibly. The sequencing here is a suggestion and shows just
one way of using them in taught lessons with children aged 11-14. Teachers are free to use the
materials within their taught lessons, through after-school STEM clubs or as outreach activities.
We encourage all educators and mentors to use your own experiences to personalise the sessions
and slides.

Session one – Why wind power?

Preparation
Familiarise yourself with these materials and the Siemens curriculum ‘Blowing in the wind’. This
material consists of the following:
 Scheme of work
 Supporting Lesson Plan (PPT)
 Student Support Information
There Siemens Wind Power webpage is also a good source of information
(http://www.energy.siemens.com/br/en/renewable-energy/wind-power/)

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Activities
The power point will help you summarise the materials for students and introduce the session.
Review the pre-requisites stressing the need to be familiar with Siemens Solid Edge 3D modelling
software.
In the initial session you will be setting the scene for students using slides 5-7.
For the first class activity, students work through the Siemens curriculum Blowing in the wind
except for the wind turbine testing which is the focus for the remainder of this guide.

Class Class activity: With the exception of the turbine testing, work through the Siemens
curriculum Blowing in the wind.
Please check you web browser supports the following content (try Mozilla Firefox)
Student powerpoint
Student support
Scheme of work

This activity will set the context of wind power for students and raise their awareness of the
underlying science plus social and environmental considerations.
Homework for this session encourages students to learn mode about wind power and specifically
the long and successful history Siemens has in the wind power industry.

Homework task – The link below takes you to an interactive web page explaining many aspects of
Siemens’s wind power capability. Please check you web browser supports the following content (try
Mozilla Firefox)
http://www.siemens.com/innovation/en/home/research-topics/wind-power.html
Follow the link then watch the video Siemens wind power and find out the following:
Which year did Siemens start making wind turbines? 1980
How many employees work for Siemens wind power? 8,000
How much wind power capacity does Siemens manufacture each year? 4,000 MW
Where is the main market currently for Siemens wind turbines? USA
Where is the fastest growing market for Siemens wind turbines? Norh Sea

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Session two – Initial testing

Preparation
Set up up a model wind turbine ready for testing.
Print off the blank recording sheet - Session two – Initial testing.docx and review the answer sheet.

Activities
Measuring how successful design changes are relies on gathering reliable performance data and this
session focusses on setting up and carrying out tests using a model wind turbine. The key focus is on
carying out a fair test by controlling all but two variables, changing one of these, and observing the
other.

Class activity: Variables in experiments

Your teacher/mentor will show you a model turbine set up for testing.
In small groups, list all of the things that might vary between tests. Share your lists to come up
with a class list. Next to each variable, add one of these variable types; controlled, independent or
dependent.
Document: Session two – Initial testing.docx
Note: there should only be one independent and one dependent variable in your list.

If several groups of students all use identical equipment, results can be compared to highlight any
variations and variations reduced by averaging the results.
The results of this test are important as they form the benchmark against which design
improvements will be compared.

In the next activity children get a ‘feel’ for the resistance to rotation caused by the small generator.
With no load attached it should be very easy to spin the blades. This is because the generator is not
having to do any work. After connecting a load to the generator the blades are much harder to turn
because the generator is now doing work.

Class activity – Set up a turbine driving a small generator but without anything connected to the
generator terminals. Spin the axle with your fingers. The blades should spin quite freely.
Connect a 3v bulb to the generator terminals and spin the axle again with your fingers. The blades
should now be harder to spin. If you can get them moving quickly enough, the lamp should glow.
Can you think of other DC electrical components that would work as a load?
Using a large desk fan to drive the turbine, measure the output from the generator.
Note: details on setting up, connections and conducting the test are below.

Two methods of measuring output from the generator are suggested. A load is important in making
the generator do work and small resistive loads are best. For example a small bulb matched to the
voltage rating for the motor/generator.

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

For homework, students research links on the web where a Siemens engineer talks about sensors on
wind turbines and how they are used to monitor performance, predict problems before they cause
failure and help techncians keep turbines producing electricity.

Homework task – Follow the link below to learn how engineers use information from sensors on
turbines to keep them operating at peak efficiency. Please check you web browser supports the
following content (try Mozilla Firefox).
http://www.siemens.com/innovation/en/home/research-topics/wind-power.html
Select Blade optimisation and watch two videos: the videos – Per Egedal Expert for sensors and
synchonised blade rotation.
How could you use sensors and data logging to capture and store information on the model turbines
you are using?
Examples: Shaft RPM, axial; thrust on main shaft, torque sensors on main shaft/generator drive,
Vibration sensing, energy output (voltage and current).
All connected to data logger and/or uploaded to www.

Session three – Power in the wind

Preparation
Sounce small, hand-held anemometers for measuring wind speed.

Source and print a map of the area students surveyed in a previous session for wind speed.

Activity
In this session students gain an understanding of wind speed and the factors that affect it. Students
take measurements in their locality and these should include low lying areas, high ground, open
spaces and around buildings and trees. Consider allocating small groups or individuals a specific area
and combining readings to arrive at an overall set of data.

Mention the need to calibrate anemometers and use any discrepancies to standardise readings

Class activity: Measure the wind speed in your vicinity. Try to include readings from low lying areas,
high ground and around buildings and trees.
What was the average wind speed measured?
Where were the highest wind speeds?
Where were the lowest wind speeds?
If there was a plan to install wind turbines in your area, where would you locate them to
capture the most wind power?
Who would be most affected by turbines in this location?

Child protection – Prior to students going outside to take wind speed measurements, teachers
should carry out a risk assessment and, if necessary, supervise the activity to ensure students are
kept safe.

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Social issues are touched on with the question asking who would be affected by wind turbines in the
area. Based on the measurements, students are asked to suggest where turbines should be located
for the highest output.

Use questioning to find out who students think would be most affected. This might be during
construction/dismantling or operation and could include; noise, visual intrusion, impact on wildlife
including bird strikes, etc.

Knowing how much power there is in the wind is key to knowing how efficient designs are. Students
are provided with the formula and asked to calculate the wind power for a commercial turbine and a
small desktop turbine.

Class activity: Using the values above, calculate the power in the wind passing through a
commerical tubine and a small model turbine.

Homework – Students plot their wind speed measurements on a map of the local area creating an
Isotech map like the ones they see on the TV weather reports.

Homework: On a map for your area, plot your wind speed measurements joining up points with the
same wind speed to create an isotach map.

Session four – Betz limit and efficiency

Preparation
Print off the homework sheet

Activity
Students learn about the Betz limit. With younger students consider a getting pupils to model air
molecules through a kineasthetic modelling activity. Most of the students are asked to walk slowly
past one (sensible) student who represents the turbine. The turbine pupil ‘slowly’ rotates their airms
with the speed controlled by each student passing by. The process will be continuous if pupils
downstream walk around and join the upwind flow.

FLOWING FLOWING

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Repeat the process with students told to stop when they pass through the blades to represent all of
the movement energy being extracted by the turbine. Pupils downwind will stack up and stop,
preventing movement of those following and stopping rotation of the blades.

FLOWING STOPPED

Students are shown how to calulate the power coefficient and percentage efficiency for a large
Siemens wind turbine.

Class activity: Siemens increased the rated outputof the Siemens D7 wind turbine to 8 MW at a
wind velocity of 12 m sec-1.
Calculate the power coefficient for this turbine.
Calculate the efficeiency as a percentage using the formula:
Power out
Efficiency= x 100
Power∈wind

For homework, students research the published specifications for the largest wind turbine from each
of the top five manufacturers and calculate their power coefficient and efficiency.

Homework task – Listed below are the five largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world.
Use the company web sites to find their wind turbine with the highest output and identify the blade
length and rated power output/wind speed.
Use the figures you find to calculate the power coefficient and efficiency for each of the turbines.
How do they compare?
Record your findings on the sheet - Session four - Turbine calculations.docx

Manufacturer Model Blade length(m) Cp Efficiency (%)

Enercon (Germany) E-126 63.5 0.44 44

Goldwind (China) 2.5MW PMDD 60.5 0.44 44

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Siemens (Germany) SWT-7.0-154 75 0.43 43

Suzlon (India) S111 55.9 0.20 20
Vestas (Denmark) V90-3.0MW 45 0.23 23

Session five – Fair testing

Preparation
Equipment for photographing the fan and printing the pictures.
Model wind turbines, flat corriflute blades, pitch gauges and test equipment.

Activities
This session aims to raise students awareness of fair testing and shows them how to set up and
conduct fair tests. Being able to replicate a reliable source of wind at a known wind speed is central
and the first activity focusses on this.

Class activity – Measuring the wind velocity from your fan.

1. Take a photo looking at the front of your fan.
2. Set up your desk fan blowing horizontally above the desks.
3. Using a hand held anemometer held at a consistent distance in front of the fan, measure the
wind velocity at several places across the face of the fan.
4. Map your readings on the photo you took.
5. From the readings, calculate the average wind velocity for your fan.
6. Make a note on the photo of the setting your fan was set to and the distance you held the
anemometer away from the front of the fan. This is so you can replicate the experiment at a later
date.

The second activity in this session is an investigation into the optimum blade pitch for flat turbine
blades.

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Class activity: Do the following:

1. Set the pitch of the flat blades to 30 degrees using the instruction below.
2. Run the turbine driven by wind from the fan.
3. Measure and record the output of the generator.
4. Alter the pitch of all the blades and repeat the test.
5. Alter the pitch and repeat for pitches every 10 degrees from 10 - 70 degrees.
6. If time allows, try angles between the two highest outputs. So, if 20 and 30 degrees
produced the highest output, try 22, 24, 26 and 28.

So far students have altered the pitch of blades to maximise turbine output. Turbine manufacturers
alter the pitch for other reasons and the homework focusses on noise control where turbines are
sited close to people.

Homework Task – Read the document - infographic-noise-restricted-operation.pdf to learn how

Siemens is using pitch control to keep turbines producing power whilst remaining below noise limits
in sensitive areas.
This pdf document is included in the ZIP file you downloaded for this project.

Session six – Blades

Preparation
Equipment for photographing the fan and printing the pictures.
Model wind turbines, flat corriflute blades, pitch gauges and test equipment.
There is no need to have six long-thin turbine blades for every model turbine. Students can share a
few long/thin, square and short/wide blades with results being collated.

Activities
Students experiment with different numbers of blades to find out how many blades give the highest
output.

Class activity: Using the optimum pitch angle you found in the last activity, try different numbers
of blades. Share you results with other groups to agree on the optimum number of blades.
Note: With rapidly spinning mechanisms it is very important they are balanced to avoid vibrations
that cause damage. The easiest way to ensure this is to only use symetrical arrangements like
those shown below.

Three blades should give the highest output.

Long/thin blades with the same surface area should give a higher output.

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Class activity: Cut another set of blades that are short (40mm) and wide (115 mm).
Note: These have the same surface area as the long thin blades and enable us to make a direct
comparison.
1. Fit the long thin blades at the optimum pitch you found and measure the output.
2. Replace the blades with the short, wide ones at the same pitch and measure the output.
3. Compare the two results, explaining any differences and suggesting reasons.
4. If you have time, try square blades with the same surface area.

For homework, students watch a short video eplaining why aerofoil section blades with twist and
taper are most efficient.

Homework – Follow the link below and watch the video titled Aerodynamic design.
Write a short description explaining why the plastic blades were better than the flat wooden blades.
http://www.siemens.com/global/en/home/markets/wind/turbines/technology/blades.html

Session seven - Blades from tube

Preparation
Rigid plastic pumbing tubing for cutting turbine blades.
Computers running Siemens Solid Edge.
3D printer(s) and consumables.
Edit the 3D printed blade roots for the size of tubing you have available and 3D printed sets for
students to use.
Source a suitable adhesive for bonding the tube to the blade roots. Guidance can be found in the
course guide.

Activities
Students follow an online tutorial to learn how to use the sheet metal tools in Siemens Solid Edge.

Class activity: Follow the link below and complete the Solid Edge – Sheet metal design tutorial
https://docs.plm.automation.siemens.com/data_services/resources/se/latest/se_help/en_US/
selfPacedExt/xid1012431/index.html?goto=synch_sheet_metal_overview.htm

Students follow step-by-step instructions showing them how to edit Solid Edge models and print out
cutting templates.

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Class activity: Follow the instructions below to learn how the sheet metal tools in Solid Edge were
used to create turbine blades that can be flattened and printed as a template for cutting turbine
blades.
• Edit dimensions.
• Flatten a sheet metal part
• Create a flat pattern drawing.
• Print a template and use to cut turbine blades.
• Bond blades into blade roots.

Students set up model wind turbines to test the sheet metal blades they have made. Students then
compare the output with that recorded with flat blades.
Safety - It is important that cut blades are bonded properly to the blade root. Check blades for
damage, cracks or separation of the glued joints and should not test blades with problems.

Class activity: Setting up the turbine blades

Note: Measuring the pitch of blades cut from tube can be tricky so guidance is provided below.

Curved blades should give a higher output than flat blades.

Homework – Follow the link below and watch how someone made their own blades from plastic
tubing using very simple tools.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NolB5BbQnBc
Explain the benefits of using computer modelling to help design and manufacture blades cut from
tubes.

The YouTube video shows someone making larger blades from plastic tube for a wind turbine.
Students are then asked to suggest reasons why CAD modelling might be better than measuring,
marking and cutting by hand. Some of the benefits of computer modelling are:
 Highly accurate models – precision ensures parts are almost identical facilitating
replacement when damaged or worn
 Computer models are easily edited. Design changes are very easy to make.
 2D computer models can be output to printers and comuter controlled cutting equipment.
Providing CNC machines are well maintained and set up correctly, parts are very accurate
and interchangeable.
 Identical parts are more likely to be balanced which reduces vibration.

Session eight – Solid blades

This session introduces aerofoil section blades for manufacture using 3d printing.

Preparation
Computers running Siemens Solid Edge

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

3D printer plus consumables.

Activities
The first activity should be a refresher on creating extrusions using Siemens Solid Edge.

Class activity: If you need proactice creating extrusions, complete the following exercise:
https://docs.plm.automation.siemens.com/data_services/resources/se/latest/se_help/en_US/
selfPacedExt/xid1012418/index.html?goto=profile_based_features_activities.htm

The next section contains step-by-step instrucitons that teach students how to model an aerofoil
section blade which is parallel and with no twist.

Class activity: Modelling a solid blade. Use the information below to create an aerofoil blade.

For homework, students are encourage to search libraries of 3D computer models for wind turbine
blades. This gives them an opportunity to use search criteria to narrow the range of results and
makes them aware of the wide range of models available on CAD download sites the high cost of
detailed models and shortcomings of some file formats.

Homework – Search online CAD libraries for 3D models of wind turbine blades. The links below will
get you started.
https://grabcad.com/
http://www.turbosquid.com/
https://www.thingiverse.com/

Session nine – Blade manufacture

Preparation
Solid Edge models of wind turbine blades for saving as STL files. A range of Solid Edge blade models
is provided.
3D printer and consumables.

Activities
The first activity has students following step by step instructions to save their Solid Edge models as
STL files with a fine mesh for 3D printing.
The next section features the Ultimaker 3 3D printer and Cura software. This is shown as an example
of a reliable 3D printer and easy to use software. Students should be able to use this section as a
guide to their own processing software and 3D printer.

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

Class activity - Follow the steps below to create turbine blades using a 3D printer.

Case studies
Three case studies are provided as background information and to broaden students awareness of
wind power.
Georgia Grace tells her story of technical education at schools and college before starting an
engineering apprenticeship with Siemens Wind Power. Use Georgia as a role model for students in
school.
Siemens Wind Power employs a great many people including a large percentage of graduates. The
link has information on the wide range of roles working for Siemens and routes to those careers.
ORE Catapult is a leading UK technology innovation and research centre working with government,
industry, academia and small to medium businesses to develop wind, wave and tidal energy.

Further study
This section outlines additional resources that schools may find useful including the Siemens
advanced wind turbine reference guide.

Wind turbine Advanced - Siemens have developed an advanced wind power reference guide that
builds on this introductory curriculum.

Blowing in the wind - Siemens has developed complimentary resources that help students
understand some of the social and environmental considerations when choosing where to locate
wind turbines.

OCR - Cambridge Nationals in Engineering - Siemens partnered with the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA
awarding body to develop a comprehensive guide to delivering level 1/2 qualifications in
engineering. Through innovative and creative projects based around energy students apply core
maths and science principles to practical, hands-on challenges, a holistic approach. The materials are
organised in four topics:

Powering the future – Principles in engineering and engineering business

Energy transformations – Engineering manufacture
Energy recovery – Engineering design
SMART homes – Systems and control engineering

Appendix 1 – Wind turbine hits for schools

The most popular wind turbine kits for schools are summarised in this section.

The SEP Wind Turbine is ready-assembled and can be used to carry out a wide range of experiments
on wind power.

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The blades of the turbine can be easily attached, removed or adjusted, allowing students to
investigate the effects of changing the number, pitch, size and shape of the blades.

The turbine has a DC output.

Kid Wind (USA) – Kidwind - WindWise Education is Kid Wind’s comprehensive curriculum
exploring the dynamic field of wind energy. WindWise Education gives teachers the tools to teach
6th–12th grade students about this critical energy resource. It is an advanced, interdisciplinary wind
energy curriculum that can be incorporated into a wide range of subjects.

Siemens - Solid Edge models provided with this guide allow schools to manufacture and assemble a
working model wind turbine. A range of blade shapes produce increasing output leading students
through the factors that determine turbine efficiency.

Wind Europe - Formerly the European Wind Energy Association, Wind Europe Wind is the voice of
the wind industry, actively promoting wind power in Europe and worldwide. It has over 500
members, active in over 50 countries, including wind turbine manufacturers with a leading share of
the world wind power market, plus component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and
renewables associations, developers, contractors, electricity providers, finance and insurance
companies, and consultants.

Appendix two – Siemens interactive wind power web

resource
The Siemens web site for wind power has an interactive, multi-media guide. This is used at various
points in the student guide but contains a great deal more information so, to help you we have
mapped the links.

http://www.siemens.com/innovation/en/home/research-topics/wind-power.html

Blade production
 Michael Noerlem – Blade expert
 Singh Makhan - Technician
 Seamless blades
 World record
 Final Inspection

Blade optimisation
 Anne Schannog Vinther – Engineer on the ropes
 Per Egedal – Expert for sensors
 Synchronised blade rotation
 Peder Bay Enevoldson – Engineer in aerodynamics
 Dinotails – silent and efficient

Offshore wind farm

 Siemens Wind Power
 How a wind turbine works
 Tony Regan – Offshore specialist
 George Nicholls – Offshore specialist

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Wind power – Introduction – Teacher’s guide

 Floating wind turbines

Turbine production
 Serial production of wind turbines
 The wind pioneer
 Henrik Stiesdal – Making wind power competitive
 Keep exploring and studying
 From ideas to innovation
 Ideas for the future
 Jens Anderson – Safety officer
 Quality for sharp weather conditions

Onshore wind farm

 Scott Ballantyne – Service technician
 Jamie walker – Service technician

Siemens has great webpages on Wind Energy:

http://www.siemens.com/global/en/home/markets/wind.html
http://www.energy.siemens.com/br/en/renewable-energy/wind-power/

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