Sarkar, K., & Freeman, R. A., & Schneider, D., & Starcher, K., & Groce, P. (2012, June), Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South Texas  Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21222

\bibitem{asee_peer_21222}
  Sarkar, K., \& Freeman, R. A., \& Schneider, D., \& Starcher, K., \& Groce, P. (2012, June), \emph{Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South Texas}
  Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, San Antonio, Texas.
  10.18260/1-2--21222

Kamal Sarkar, Robert A. Freeman, Dean Schneider, Ken Starcher, and Pam Groce.  "Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South Texas".  2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas, 2012, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2012.  https://peer.asee.org/21222 Internet.  24 Apr, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_21222}
  Kamal Sarkar, Robert A. Freeman, Dean Schneider, Ken Starcher, and Pam Groce.
  "Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South Texas".
  \emph{2012 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, San Antonio, Texas, 2012, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2012.
  https://peer.asee.org/21222 Internet.  24 Apr, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_21222
author = "Kamal Sarkar, Robert A. Freeman, Dean Schneider, Ken Starcher, and Pam Groce"
title = "Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South Texas"
booktitle = "2012 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2012"
month = "June"
address = "San Antonio, Texas"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/21222}
number = {10.18260/1-2--21222}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -   Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South                                 TexasTo expose the high school students to renewable energy, a project to build wind turbinesexclusively by the high school students was conceived and implemented in a South Texas highschool. A key motivation of the project was to make high school students interested inengineering by letting them build a complete system that harnesses wind power. The proposedsystem converts, stores, and measures all pertinent energy parameters for future usage. Twentytwo students worked together as a team and shared all the engineering and budgetaryresponsibilities. An important societal component was added to the project by identifying thepotential of small wind turbines to meet, at least partially, the energy need for isolated, off-gridpoor residents in Colonias of South Texas.A challenge was made to the students; namely, how to supply electricity to poor residents inisolated, off-grid Colonias. They were asked to analyze the need, identify a solution, and finally,deliver it. Important major restrictions for the students included an easy to follow engineeringbuild, $1500 dollar limit for the turbine parts, no outside help, and commercially available parts.None of the authors were involved in manufacturing the turbine. A total of 22 students, 14 boysand 8 girls, participated in this program. The team had a Team Leader, a girl, and four TeamCaptains. The team was trained by one of the authors on all science and engineering aspects ofwind turbine. Another author trained them in blade carving and aerodynamics. One of theteachers from the high school kept a watchful eye for day to day activities of the students, mostlyfor safety reasons. Hugh Piggott’s book on the subject was given to the students as a guideline.Final product was a 35’ tall tower with three 8’ diameter pine wood turbine and 12 NeodymiumIron Boron permanent magnets. The system also included 1200 Watt Whistler power inverter,Xantrex charge controller, and a DC heater as dump load. Four deep cycle Werker 6 VDCoutput batteries were used to store the wind power to deliver at 12 VDC when needed. Finally,the students also added a HOBO data logger to collect pertinent wind data. Estimated “sweatequity” for the system built was 150 person-hours, a doable effort for Colonia residents.While the turbine was not able to generate enough power for the lofty goal of electrifying aColonia home, it was an excellent start for the students to be sensitive to local societal needs andthe sense of achievement by developing and delivering an engineering solution to the problem.Students also learnt a lot of about renewable energy and many concerns of the local Coloniaresidents. Finally, it left a legacy of excitement and hope for the next group of students to furtherrefine the solution. Twenty of the twenty two students, including two who changed theireducation path to engineering, joined science or engineering degree programs after graduationfrom this program.High School Students Erecting Their Wind Turbine, Complete with Data Acquisition System
AU  - Kamal Sarkar
AU  - Robert A. Freeman
AU  - Dean Schneider
AU  - Ken Starcher
AU  - Pam Groce
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2012/06/10
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Development of Small Wind Turbines for Isolated Colonia Homes of South Texas
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/21222
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--21222
ER  -