city windmill

7/29/2019 City Windmill

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City Windm


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Table of Contents

Project Brief

Timeline

Windpower Research

Aermotor Research

Three Companies

KitchenAid

Sketches

Sketch Models

Final Model Process

Final Model

Conclusions

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4

5

6

7 - 8

9 - 10

11 - 13

14

15 - 22

23 - 24

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Project Brief Timeline

Design a windmill that would be more accessible to a single

home using both the design language of Aermotor and a chosen

company. The windmill should be cost effective, aesthetically

pleasing, and be able to generate energy even in low wind

environments.

This project will be done individually over the course of eight weeks.

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Wind Power Research Aermotor Research

Wind power can be harnessed with a multitude of devices,

though some are more effective than others. Both horizontal axis

and verical axis windmills exist, thye are just different ways of

accomplishing the same task.

Wind pushes the blades of a windmill, which turns the main shaft in

the gearbox and generates electricity. Many of the original windmills

were built in order to pump water out of the ground for farms.

The fastest moving part of the blade on a turbine is the blade tip. The

Honeywell windmill takes advantage of this and generates energynot by spinning a center shaft, but in the motion of the blade tips. It

works almost as though the entire blade structure is the main shaft in

the center of the turbine.

By utilizing this fact, the Honeywell turbine is able to be smaller, lighter

and generate energy at lower wind speeds.

Aermotor is the only windmill manufacturing company in the United

States and has been around since 1888. Their windmills are meant

for pumping water and they are very dedicated to the quality of their

windmills.

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Three Companies

To begin this project, three companies were chosen and studied

for their design language and brand semantics. From these three

companies, one was chosen to use the design language of when

designing the windmill.

The three companies I chose were Skullcandy, Mercedes-Benz,

and KitchenAid.

Originally designed to be the worlds co olest earbud, Skullcandy

lives by their motto :Every revolution needs a sountrack.

They focus heavily on their engineering before tackling the aesthetic

aspects of the design. For them it is about quality sound, then they

design a seamless, highly customizable product that is aimed at the

current generation. In the same line of thought, their target audience is

people who are involved in outdoor action sports.

With a mantra like Das Beste Oder Nicht (The best or nothing),

Mercedes has to constantly outdo itself with new innovations and

beautiful design. Known as one of the German Big Three, they are a

luxury automobile company.

Unlike many other luxury vehicles, Mercedes is a leader in safety

innovation and maintains a very cohesive design over many

decades. Mercedes are known for being long lasting and a vehicle

that gets passed down the generations.

Originally created to be used on Navy ships, KitchenAid got its

name from someone claiming, I dont care what you call it, but I

know its the best kitchen aid Ive ever had!.

Their mantra, for the way its made, tells a lot about this company

and their choices. KitchenAid products are made to be sturdy and

passed down the generations. Their bold colors with clean chrome

and white accents make them a statement piece in every kitchen.

Their design not only brings a nostalgic feel to any kitchen with their

retro styling, but every stand mixer creates a story that follows it

down the generations.


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KitchenAid

KitchenAids most notable design features are the bold and bright

colors with the crome, clear and white accents. The bold colors

come in a wide variety to fit any home and any style.

The products themselves are sturdy, simple to use and have

rounded edges and touch points. The design is retro, but timeless

and still fits in a modern style setting.

In the design process, six words wer eused to describe the style of

KitchenAid, as well as what they stood for.

Timeless; a design that hasnt changed much in decades and stillfits in with things designed currently.

Sturdy ; a product that doesnt fall apart and lasts long enough to bepassed down.

Story; a connection is built with the product and memories arecreated with loved ones.

Clean; simple design that is perfect in its execution, not cluttered.Statement; a bold design, bold colors and something thateveryone recognizes and knows.

Family; fosters a bond between family members and gives a linkback to those we love.

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Design - Sketches: Round 1

The first designs started by being much

more like the standard wind turbine, a

tower with a body and blades at the top.

Before long, designs that were suited

more to the city began to come

about. The beginnings of these were

bridges that spanned between two

buildings and could house parks and

greenhouses on top of them.

The design that garnered the most interest was more

abnormal than most. It was a single fan that sat close to

the building, just underneath a window and bridged to no

other structure.

The design and shape wasnt very far along, but the

concept and ideas were just beginning to come about.

Design - Sketches: Round 2

This round of sketches was

about finding the shape for

thewindmill as well as looking

at different methods for a

windowsill garden on top of the

windmill.

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D S h R d 3 D S h M d l


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Design - Sketches: Round 3 Design - Sketch Models

This final round of sketches was mostly about

the mechanics of the design. The final iteration

included a gyroscope so that the fan could

face downwards and get the most wind

coming up the side of the building.

This page also explored possibilities for how

the windmill would attach to the side of the

building.

It also looks at possibilities for the fan bladedesign and how they would attach and

ride on the inner ring, where the energy is

generated.

These sketche models were meant to explore the shape of

the windmill body quickly. To see how the negative space

and the curves interacted with the wall. They were also

used to determine scale next to an average window.

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Final Model Process

Once the MDF parts were laser

cut, I took the pieces and glued

them on either side of a piece

of blue foam. This gave me

the width of the windmill that I

wanted, while remaining light and

sturdy.

After the glue was set, I shaped

the blue foam down to the exact

shape of the laser cut pieces

and rounded all of the MDF

edges.

I then used bondo to fill any

imperfections and create a

smooth surface.


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With the imperfections fixed with

bondo, spackling paste was

used next to make a completely

smooth surface. The pieces

were also fit together to be sure it

was correct.

At the same time, the support

structure for the inner ring was

being glue together. This involved

carefully placing many supports

upright, then delicately putting a

lot of weight on top to create a

tight bond.

All of the main pieces glued,

shaped and sanded, put

together for a sizing check

and photo.

Blue foam formed into rounded

cylinders in order to be placed

as buttons in the holes where

the pivots are on the windmill.

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Gluing bearing blocks into place

so that the inner ring can spin in

the main body of the windmill.

The shaft was kept through the

bearings during this process to

ensure that the blocks would be

aligned correctly across from

one another.

Bearings being glued into the

center hub where the fan blades

will attach to inside of the inner

ring.

All pieces were primed and

parts that were not to be painted

were covered with paper and

taped off.

Everything was painted,

assmebled, details began to be

added.

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Adding silver to the inside of the

main body with a white trim to

offset it from the bold and vibrant

red. The buttons can be seen

here in the pivot points of the

turbine.

Putting the fan blades on the hub

and attaching all pieces to the

inner ring of the turbine.

All pieces put together and complete.

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Materials


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Materials

Main Body:

The main body would probably

be made of cast aluminum

so that it was light weight and

still strong. The color would be

applied using powdercoat and

would have many different color

options to choose from. The

powdercoat would also keep

the aluminum from rusting.Inner Ring:

A rolled aluminum C-channel.

This would allow the fansblades to turn inside of the

channel and generate energy

with the faster moving wing tips

than the center of the fan.

Fan Blades:

ABS Plastic, it would be

lightweight, weather resistant,

cheap and easy to replace if

the blades were to be broken

somehow.

Accent Pieces:

ABS Plastic, because these

parts are more for coveringseams and making the inner

workings more appealing, they

dont have to withstand the same

load as most parts and can be

made out of plastic.

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Final Model


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Final Model

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Conclusions


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Conclusions

In conclusion, Ive learned that most people think of wind turbines as

these large structures and dont realize how small scale windmills

can generate enough energy to cover sixty percent of the average

home usage.

The wind that is almost constant and reasonably strong in cities is

an underestimated source of green, renewable energy for bustling

urban settings. Many different options could be explored that would

provide cities with energy that is cleaner and cheaper. These options

could also serve more than one purpose and help the city overall to

be cleaner.

For the actual model, if I could go back and do the whole thing over

again with real materials and more time, I would change the exact

arrangement of the colors. There would be a little less red, and more

white so that it was more balanced and not quite as heavy on the

eye.

The materials would be mostly aluminum and plastic because they

are cost effective, and light weight.

I would also carve the shape of the windmill a lot more so that it

wasnt as flat and was more of an inviting shape all around.

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city windmill

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