LEGO Turbine at KidWind Challenge

Here’s a LEGO Wind Turbine under test at a KidWind Competition (kidwind.org)—many thanks to the people from KidWind and James Madison University for running the event. The test wind tunnel at KidWind uses four fans to suck air through a 4x4-foot area. The object of the test is to see how much power the turbine generates. We tried two different test setups at different events and got 600-mW at one and 250-mW at the other for the same turbine design, so there is some difference in the wind speed at different wind tunnel setups.

The turbine design here is described in the book “LEGO Wind Energy,” including use of an official KidWind generator, adapted to LEGO mounting. The gear ratio here is a 56:8, using a custom 3D-printed 40-tooth gear adapted to LEGO mounting, also described in the book. The LEGO-based turbine here adheres to all the rules of the KidWind Challenge, so can be entered into competition.