Diary Entry - May

One restriction of the laser cut discs is that it doesn’t allow scope for testing blades of different shapes. With this in mind I have arranged a visit to the CLC to look at how CAD CAM can be used to design and cut blades from acrylic sheets. The blades were then assembled and  heat was used to soften the acrylic so  the blade could be twisted to a set angle The real advantage of this is that there are few limitations when creating a blade shape.  The acrylic designs were made to fit the wind tunnel.

The children have started to consider design ideas for Trevor’s turbine. The small scale wind tunnel models have been remade using  corriflute sheeting so they can be tested in the wind tunnel exhaust and outdoors. Groups tried different design ideas on squared paper before choosing one to make. I really enjoyed listening to the conversations about what was needed to make the turbine work best. There were lots of different ideas about how wide blades should be, or if they should be wider at the tip or bottom. Was it important that blades were symmetrical or had square tips. It was really good to see ideas from earlier work involving air resistance and wind tunnel testing being applied to the challenge of creating a wind turbine of their own. The visible voltmeter is portable and will be used for outdoor testing.

The school science fair is always a big event and as such requires a lot of organising. It was great to have Katherine Noon (Rolls Royce graduate) help on the day. The main hall needs to be transformed with displays and all of the equipment for different year groups to be organised. The wind tunnels were to be the centre piece display and children and adults were invited to use them.

Dr. Thahira Rahman did a great job of publicising the event with local press and we had coverage in regional publications, the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and Journal. An article will also appear in the Council news, a publication that is delivered to every home in Gateshead.

Back to main school page