Design of Oscillating Wind Power
The 2016-17 Oscillating Wind Power (OWP) Capstone project is a wind power generation device that captures wind by mimicking the motion of a bird's wing. The device is currently being prototyped and developed (and already looks very different - the sail pictured was built by the 2015-16 OWP team). More to come soon.
My role in the OWP team is to prototype and construct the designs we come up with at a low cost, and with high modularity. We have already altered the design of the device four or five times, and are working on perfecting the motion as we speak. I am using my experience as a windsurfer to redesign the sail (the sail pictured above was built by last year's team) to promote a high-torque output of the device. We hope to achieve an efficiency that proves the viability of such a device, which could be crucial in taking steps towards empowering users who want to be energy independent. We will construct a much larger prototype next semester, which will hopefully be beautiful - silent, graceful, and safe.