University of Liverpool Wind Power
Designing, manufacturing and installing a small wind turbine for farmers in rural Zanzibar
Who we are
The team
Our team is made up of ten 4th year Mechanical Engineering students from the University of Liverpool, working collectively to provide a renewable, and reliable power source for a small group of farmers in Zanzibar.
Electrical
The electrical sub-team are working towards having a 1kW system, utilising lead-acid batteries for energy storage, chosen over lithium-ion for ease of sourcing in Zanzibar. The system will have 3G connectivity, allowing it to be monitored anywhere in the world, as well as having a screen on the housing for the end user.
Alex Daugan
Ed Cleary
Joe Hiscott
Blades
The blades team are developing the rotor, which includes the blades and hub of the turbine. We have used wind data, alongside specialised CAD software and structural design techniques to produce a carbon fibre prototype blade. This idealised blade will become the benchmark as we move on to design and test a simplified system for use in Zanzibar. The final system will be built and maintained on site using local resources, targeting our goal of long-term sustainable energy.
Luke Bryant-Smith
Eve Purdy
Anton Caldwell
Mechanical
The mechanical team are responsible for designing the turbine structural support, including the tower, guy ropes, and foundation set up.
We have implemented a yaw and furling system which turns the turbine rotor into the wind to extract as much energy as possible, whilst also providing overspeed protection.
The mechanical team has also designed our turbine nacelle, which is responsible for housing the electrical components and provides a point of rotation for the nacelle around the tower.
Oscar Booth
Patrick Doyle
Jonty Styles
Shivan McCutcheon
Our aim
We aim to provide electricity to a farming collective in rural Zanzibar through off grid renewable generation. We plan to use a 10 metre tall wind turbine in combination with custom energy storage to create the start of an expandable system, allowing future year students to build on and improve what we have created. Ease of maintenance and repair for the end user are priorities in our design process, as we will leave the turbine in the hands of the local people to keep running. We are establishing contact with a relatively nearby college, who we hope to develop a strong partnership with, ensuring there will be regular checks carried out on the turbine.
Our work
We began our project with extensive research in to small wind turbine design, speaking to experts in the industry, as well as non-profits that have installed turbines in mainland Africa.
Since September 2020 we have explored many design iterations and have reached the prototype design seen in the video below, which features a 1kW generator, a 10m tall tower, a furling mechanism for over speed protection, and three carbon-fibre blades. Although the majority of the design is finalised, parts are still undergoing redesign in an effort to reduce complexity, making repair more accessible for the end user. Limitations in shipping also force us to try and source parts in Zanzibar, and come up with ways of making the turbine as 'flat-pack' as possible.
Bespoke machined solid aluminium hub
1kW Generator from
FuturEnergy
Car wheel hub
Wooden blade root for
pitch adjustment
Carbon-fibre aerofoil blade
Crowd funding
We have designed the turbine so that we can source as many of the materials as possible in Zanzibar, to reduce the amount we need to ship. However as this is a completely custom wind turbine design some parts will have to be transported from Liverpool to the end user in Kinyasini. The cost to ship relatively heavy steel parts almost 10,000km is more than we had anticipated at the start of the project, and any donations would be greatly appreciated.
The aeroplane button below will take you to a GoFundMe page, thank you in advance from all of us on the Wind Power team for any donations.
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