Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Undergraduate
Project Type
individual
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Julian Goins, Senior
Lead Presenter's Name
Julian Goins
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Engineering
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Michael Kinzel
Abstract
In the realm of Nautical vehicles, aside from the occasional outliers like rarely used coal steamboats, experimental solar powered ships, or the military grade nuclear vessels, the vast majority of ships run off diesel-powered engines. The unsustainability of such methods will need to be addressed for the security of our planet’s future due to the limited and destructive nature of fossil fuels, much like it already is in many other fields. To that end, this project gains inspiration from the past and looks toward harnessing the power of the wind. In recent times, most sail boats are equipped with some variation of motorized propellers to support the sail and allow travel even in the most disagreeable of winds; this project is suggesting a reversal of that dynamic and repurposing the “sail” to support the motor through the generation of electricity. Wind turbines, in their most common form, would seem like a rather unruly replacement to the sail of a ship. However, this project acts under the belief that the incorporation of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT), along with respectable power storage, would be the perfect evolution of the sail made for the modern day. This project’s goal is to examine the electrical and structural requirements of modern-day motorboats and create a “VAWT vessel” design geared towards individual commercial and recreational use and capable of meeting such requirements, verified through analytical evaluation methods such as aerodynamic and hydrodynamic analysis using CFD software, and eventually a physical prototype for practical testing.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Reimagining Wind Based Sea Travel with Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
In the realm of Nautical vehicles, aside from the occasional outliers like rarely used coal steamboats, experimental solar powered ships, or the military grade nuclear vessels, the vast majority of ships run off diesel-powered engines. The unsustainability of such methods will need to be addressed for the security of our planet’s future due to the limited and destructive nature of fossil fuels, much like it already is in many other fields. To that end, this project gains inspiration from the past and looks toward harnessing the power of the wind. In recent times, most sail boats are equipped with some variation of motorized propellers to support the sail and allow travel even in the most disagreeable of winds; this project is suggesting a reversal of that dynamic and repurposing the “sail” to support the motor through the generation of electricity. Wind turbines, in their most common form, would seem like a rather unruly replacement to the sail of a ship. However, this project acts under the belief that the incorporation of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT), along with respectable power storage, would be the perfect evolution of the sail made for the modern day. This project’s goal is to examine the electrical and structural requirements of modern-day motorboats and create a “VAWT vessel” design geared towards individual commercial and recreational use and capable of meeting such requirements, verified through analytical evaluation methods such as aerodynamic and hydrodynamic analysis using CFD software, and eventually a physical prototype for practical testing.