WindSprinters -- Parametric Wind Turbines for Every Car!

Hello! My name is Reagan! I'm 14 this is the WindSprinter, an attachment for Lego or handmade cars to make them powered by the wind! Just slide the WindSprinter onto your front or rear axle and get rolling!!

1.Theory

The WindSprinter is based off of an old English semi-cylinder turbine. Watch this video to find out how it works! The arrows are a representation of the wind flowing into the turbine. I made the video by importing the Inventor images into Blender and then animated what you see below. Rendering was done by my friend Daytona. Music by Audio Market.

2.Assembly

First, create the car that you want to power. I've included example cars for you to build off of. Second, set up your box fan or hair dryer to blow your WindSprinter down a (long) hallway. Lastly, get your friends together and have fun racing!!

3.Modification

If you find that your WindSprinter doesn't have enough torque or is too big for your car, then you can use the HighTorqueTurbine file or the CompactTurbine file instead. If you want to go even higher torque(or even smaller!), go into the Turbine.ipt and open up Parameters. At the bottom, under User Parameters, there are 3 dimensions you can change: Diameter, Intake, and Length. Diameter changes the diameter of the Turbine (the default is 1.5). Intake (indirectly) changes the size of the intake(default is .15). Higher Intake values will create bigger intakes. Length is the length of the whole turbine(default is 2.5). Note: Edit Diameter before Intake if you are making it bigger, inverse if smaller.

Here is a link to the Thingiverse files for building your own WindSprinter:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:953001/#files

Check out more of our projects, blog and 3D Acrylic Maze Kit at http://www.cuberinth.com !

Enjoy!!

Step 1: 3D Printer Settings

Follow the pictures below to make one of the two example cars that are powered by the WindSprinter. The first one is a simple Base for you to add anything onto. The second one is much slower but higher torque. It's a modification to the Base. For the second one (OffRoader), I recommend using the HighTorqueTurbine. I printed these WindSprinters with HdGlass at these settings:

Layer Height - .1mm

Shell Thickness - .8mm

Infill - 100%

Print Speed - 50mm/s

Support - None

10 line Brim

.4mm nozzle diameter

Note: Scale the model up by a factor of 10 if you find that it's tiny in your slicer.