Rules and Constraints
Important Dates
January 4, 2010 - Registration for WindENG2010 begins
January 29, 2010 (This date may change if we reach our 42 team limit before this time) - Registration for WindENG2010 ends - we will contact your teacher advisor at this time to inform your school if entry of multiple teams will be allowed
February 1-5, 2010 - Kits will be mailed to your school
April 13, 2010 - Deadline for video submission
April 20, 2010 - Toyota Challenge deadline
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The following rules may be amended and/or modified up to the day of the competition
Teams
Every high school (public or private) in Ontario is eligible to enter a team for the competition.
A maximum number of 2 teams can be sent from any individual school. We will officially be taking 1 team per school depending on the total amount of entries received. You will be notified if your school will be allowed the entry of 2 teams. Preference will be given to the schools in the order of date registered.
There are no restrictions on the number of members making up a team but there must be a minimum of 2 students per team.
There must be a Teacher Advisor for each team. It is the responsibility of this person to enter and manage the students, however, only the students are required to attend on the day of competition. Please note that we will not be providing or be responsible for supervision of the students.
In order to be considered for the competition all members of your team must be present on the competition day unless your school is farther than 399km (as described by Google Maps, e.g. directions from Guelph Ontario to Sudbury Ontario = 443km), in this case you can submit your windmill by mail (at your own cost). You must include assembly instructions if applicable and your submission must arrive to the University of Guelph’s School of Engineering before the competition day.
Turbine
The windmill blades must not be constructed from metal. Plastics, wood etc. are acceptable materials.
You must use the provided DC motor as the sole power generator for your windmill. You DO NOT have to use the hub provided with the starter kit.
The DC motor must be easily removable from your windmill for the purpose of inspection.
You can attach whatever you want to the motor (eg. gears, bearing, supports etc.).
The windmills must be homemade (eg. you cannot use fan blades) and not a pre-packaged windmill kit available from retail companies.
Wind Tunnel
Only registered student competitors will be able to enter the wind tunnel competition area. Teacher advisors will be able to watch and provide verbal support if they wish to do so.
Your windmill design must be able to fit through the single 2 foot by 4 foot side entrance of the wind tunnel and must also be able to operate in the 4 foot by 4 foot internal dimensions. Make sure your design will be able to fit through the wind tunnel side entrance and is able to operate within the wind tunnel before competition day. It is highly recommended to make your design fit with lots of room within these dimensions.
You will be given 3 minutes to setup and 3 minutes to remove your windmill in the wind tunnel. Make sure you practice setting up and taking down your windmill before the competition date (a 10% deduction will be applied to teams for every minute the 3 minute setup is exceeded.)
There is a 7/16 inch -14 UNC diameter bolt and nut protruding from the floor of the wind tunnel for the purpose of securing your windmill to the tunnel.
Make sure there are wire connections accessible from your motor that we can attach our own 10 watt 10 ohm resistor in the circuit on competition day (this is a different resistor than the "practice" 2% 1 watt 10 ohm resistor included in the resource package we send you).
Power must be generated solely by the wind from the wind tunnel once testing commences.
In order to receive full marks for windmill functionality your windmill design must be able to start once the wind tunnel is activated with no external assistance (a 10% deduction will be applied to teams that require a "kick start" to get their windmill going).
The wind tunnel will be constantly running during testing. Average power will be calculated after 60 seconds of operation.
Once the wind tunnel is up to speed and the 60 second timer is started, testing will not be stopped. If your windmill slips, breaks apart, or falls over during the testing period the power score will still be averaged across the total 60 seconds
If your windmill slips, breaks apart, or falls over before the 60 second timer is started you will be given a maximum of ten minutes to setup your windmill again (a 10% deduction will be applied to teams that require a second setup time). A third setup time will not be granted (make sure to thoroughly test your windmill before attending the competition, wind at 5 m/s through the wind tunnel is surprisingly powerful).
If your windmill design restricts the airflow through the wind tunnel to such a level that the testing speed cannot be achieved when the variable controller for the wind tunnel is set 5% beyond the "no load" preset level (the tunnel operating at 5m/s with no obstruction eg. a windmill in it), the controller will be set to this 5% level for the testing period.
In the event of a tie in overall score, the winning team will be decided as the team with the highest average power output.