XPERIENCE ENGINEERING PROJECT

XPERIENCE ENGINEERING PROJECT BACKGROUND Glencovitt National School, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal.

Inventions that engineers have contributed to in our school community

Wind turbines Drawings of the invention showing how it works

Measurements Newly constructed windturbines. The windturbines are 157 m high, Vane length : 61.5 m Rotor diameter: 126 m Rotor area: 12.469 m2 Blades: manufactured by LM Wind Power Turbines: 5 MW manufactured by REpower

At 60 metres up from the ground the crane lifts the huge 12 ton gearbox and disk brake assembly in to position. The engineer stood in the nacelle and is in contact by radio with the crane operator below Engineer in the nacelle

Turbines used in wind farms for commercial production of electric power are usually three-bladed and pointed into the wind by computer-controlled motors. These have high tip speeds of over 320 kilometres per hour. The blades are usually coloured light grey to blend in with the clouds and range in length from 20 to 40 metres or more. The tubular steel towers range from 60 to 90 metres tall. The blades rotate at 10-22 revolutions per minute. At 22 rotations per minute the tip speed exceeds 300 feet per second (91 m/s).A gear box is commonly used for stepping up the speed of the generator. Some models operate at constant speed. All turbines are equipped with protective features to avoid damage at high wind speeds, by feathering the blades into the wind which ceases their rotation, supplemented by brakes.

FEB. Worksheet. Green School elections. Target: waste and energy. FEB. Step 1 - select windturbines for project STEP 2 Visit windfarm, photograph, research on line, create drawings. NOV. Register to take part in Xperience Engineering FEB. Visit from Mr. Ewing from Kirchhoff Ireland LTD. Class begins to try to make own Sudoko games. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT TIME LINE OCT . Attend science demonstration in Balor Theatre, Ballybofey MARCH – Visit Kirchhoff on site in Letterkenny. Green committee elected. Green Audit conducted. APRIL – Submit on line!!! APRIL – Worksheet 3. Present project using PP. Present to school APRIL – School approved for funding to conserve water and begin rain harvesting

Windturbines can damage the look of countryside and can cause some soil movement

Airtricity gives back to the local community through the sponsored walk

Although we could see them from our school, we did not quite understand how the wind was turned into electricity

All pupils would consider engineering as a career and never knew that there are so many different sorts of engineers

Pupils found that it was difficult to draw the inside of the windturbines because all the parts were so detailed

It is difficult to find information on line about our local windfarm, though there is quite an amount of information about windfarms on line.

Windturbines are expensive and do not suit every area such as cities and scenic areas

Some locals believe that the sound of the windturbines can damage mental health, though there is no proof of this. ,[object Object]

Teacher’s Evaluation Prep work & research tools: the pupils worked in smalls groups of two to three. They discussed and thought about an engineering feat that made their own lives better and more comfortable. Electrical items such as light, computer games, tv, laptops etc were top of each groups list. We discovered that one invention that improved our lives was electricity. We looked at the circuit and how it worked . This made us think about the theme of the project “Engineering a cleaner greener world”. We decided to explore features of our local environment, both built and natural. Windturbineswere an obvious choice. They can be seen clearly from our classrooms and playground and Airtricity organise and sponsored walk each year for local community based projects and we take part to fundraise for our school. The pupils are effective end users on the internet. They are quick to use the google search engine. We enjoy using our whiteboard for our searches and often find we can gather information quickly and easily. Our wireless keyboard and mouse make the whole search easy and helps keep the group focused. We also researched about Kirchhoff online and were surprised that such a state of the art engineering facility exists so close to us.

Integration & cross curricular English – oral language development – parts of the wind turbines and using the terms correctly in a sentence word attack skills to decode unknown words editing and publishing work, recording own voice and attaching to PP (ICT links)

Cross curricular Maths/ geography following maps from school to wind farm locating wind farm on the maps using the key to estimate distance from school to wind farms estimating the dimensions of the turbines

Gaeilge/PE Playing gaelic games in an irish speaking area through the medium of irish, close to the location of the windfarm Taking part in a local community different to our own and understanding the Gaeltacht areas have special minority protection – grants for establishing business in the area

Visual Arts Sketching and drawing of wind farms and turbines – looking at the lines, marks and shapes that make up the turbines. Create the illusion of wind in your drawing Colour – how the colour grey blends in with the clouds in the sky – recreate the colour through colour mixing Use recycled material to create a wind turbine eg straws, plastic paper

Green school Our school has formed a green school committee and we are currently trying to gain green school status. This project is linked to Xperience engineering. aiming to create and greener cleaner future for all by reducing, reusing and recycling. use mechanical devices to harvest rainwater, push taps and conserver energy. Work as a whole school to achieve our waste and litter targets.

Group learning experience The focus was away from books and taking the pupils to different sites, bringing people to visit us and using the internet to learn more We made excellent use of our local environment, our parents were involved and we learned about wind power Wind energy “UNLIMITED POWER FOR LIFE”

Differently Start the project in September rather than in the middle of the year Visit the site at different times of the year to see how the seasons contribute Fundraise to buy a small windturbine for school Write to Airtricity or email them to get more information

Evidence of worksheet activities GLENCOVITT NATIONAL SCHOOL

Matching job description with title and picture

A study of Empire State Building NYC

LIGHTING THE BUILDING AT NIGHT

An Engineer visits our classroom Mr. Mark Ewing is a parent here at our school. He works for Kirchhoff Ireland LTD . He brought many parts that his firm manufactures. We learned where the parts go in the Mini. Mr. Ewing brought pictures that showed where the parts are in the car.

Activities We got to hold and keep the parts in our classroom We had to guess what we thought the part was for We had to point on the picture to where we thought the part would go We heard how all the parts can be melted down later and recycled We learned how the parts are coated to prevent rust

Environmental Policy Kirchhoff Ireland Ltd. is a first-tier supplier and manufacturer of pressed metal and welded components to the world automotive industry. The firm is conscious of their responsibility to minimise the environmental impact of their daily activities, and their commitment to this goal is an integral part of their business strategy. They are therefore playing their part in creating a cleaner greener environment for us all.

Parts that we don’t see in cars

Parts we should not see in cars Pipes and cables are held in place with this part This hold the radio in a car This will keep the boot closed

BMW Mini parts are manufactured at Kirchhoff

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