Chuck Swope& Dave Civello
March 17, 2003
Week # <Spring Break>
EMET 440 – Weekly Progress Report
Saturday, March 8
Chuck- I tried to rebalance the first rotor I made in lab. I was unsuccessful. I ended up carefully chiseling the magnets off and creating a new rotor. Instead of cutting by hand again, my Dad has a circle cutting jig for the band saw. I couldn’t make the exact same size rotor, due to the limitations of the jig, but I glued the magnets the same distance from the hub so that the geometry did not change.
Sunday, March 9
Chuck- found moly axel grease to lube the shaft. This type of grease will not break down the nylon bushings as oil based grease may. Also, I installed the shoulder bushings on the other side of the shaft to better support the weight. The rotor now spins more smoothly.
Monday, March 10
Chuck - Dad told me about a hydro electric plant in the Blairsville area. It is in Ashton, Pa about 5 minutes south of Blairsville. We found it on a back road. It turns out that this is a converted water wheel. Unfortunately, we did not know who owned it to ask them to take a tour. When we stopped to look we could see that the wheel no longer turned and the shed was starting to collapse. It was quite obvious that the project did not work According to the sign it was built in 1976.
Tuesday, March 11
Chuck - I returned to Altoona to continue testing on the project. Initially it ran fine, but one of the coils started to come loose. The coils were still mounted to the paper template which was then glued to the wood. The paper came loose from the wood. I then proceeded to remove the individual coils, tear the paper from the board and then reattach them. This did not improve the results; however it did improve the reliability. The project now has no more issues with loose pieces. I measured RPM by making a chalk line on the rotor and using a timing light
Wednesday, March 12
Worked
Thursday, March 13
Chuck - I created the table of data from the testing period. I initially began by plotting DC voltage of the motor vs. AC voltage. This did not produce consistent results. As the motor heated, it required more voltage to produce the same amount of RPM. I then plotted RPM vs. AC voltage generated. This produced much more reliable results. The results are very linear. I now see why the electric tachometers and speedometers are made the way they are.
Friday, March 14
Chuck- developed a final design based on a long water turbine. See attached drawing
Saturday, March 15
Chuck – drew an exploded view of the improved rotor. See attached drawing.