Sharil Maredia

ISM-Period 1

Ingram, Grant. “Wind Turbine Blade Analysis Using the Blade Element Momentum Method.”

Durham University, Durham University, 18 Oct. 2011,

community.dur.ac.uk/g.l.ingram/download/wind_turbine_design.pdf.

 Method of analysis for fan or turbine blades

 Equates momentum and force components (lift and drag) of the fan blades to find out
total flow rate exhausted by the fan
 Ignores aerodynamic interactions such as turbulent flow and vortices between different
fan blades
 Assumes only forces present on fan blades are lift and drag
 Lift and drag coefficient data are found by testing the fan blade airfoils within a wind
tunnel
 Fan blades are twisted along the radially outward axis to create equivalent airflow along
the whole fan blade
 If the airfoil is twisted at too steep an angle (>14°), the airfoils Lift-to-Drag efficiency
ratio significantly drops, leading to stalling
 Lift and drag force created by an infinitesimally small element of the fan blade is
calculated
 The forces are integrated across the whole length of the fan blade to calculate the total
momentum and lift and drag force of the system
 Variable relationships within the integration demonstrate that increases in fan speed
induce higher flow rates and that an optimal blade twist angle can be found such that drag
is minimized and lift is maximized
 Blade element theory serves as a useful approximation of real-life scenarios, but ignores
realistic interferences
 According to blade element theory, having an infinite number of fan blades would be
optimal for a high flow rate, but, in reality, these fan blades was cause lots of
aerodynamic interference and cause the efficiency to be extremely low
 Some fan blades may use a sort of arc shape to lead to a higher efficiency, but the path of
the arc must meet a very specific set of criteria, or else it can be extremely inefficient and
lead to higher drag
 An important factor that blade element theory neglects is the friction in the rotating
components of the fan
 Blade element theory can also be used to find the expected power output/input of a
turbine/fan system

This source delved deep into the math behind fan blade design to maximize efficiency, clarifying
the impact of airfoil design, chord length, and blade shape on volumetric flow rates, as well as
specifying necessary constraints on fan blade design, like the maximum twist angle to avoid stall.
“Heat-Related Illness.” Picture of America Heat-Related Illness Fact Sheet, Center for Disease

Control, 6 Aug. 2017, www.cdc.gov/pictureofamerica/pdfs/picture_of_america_heat-

related_illness.pdf.

 Body unable to properly cool itself through sweat or other perspiration methods, leading
to high body temperatures
 Heat exhaustion itself can result in death or serious illness
 Heat exhaustion can indirectly lead to death by further impacting those with
cardiovascular or respiratory diseases
 Heat strokes are a common reason for heat-related death
 Infants and children under 4 at high risk of heat stroke
 Old people and overweight people are more likely to succumb to heat-related illnesses
 However, even young, healthy people can be killed by extreme heat and improper care
 Alcohol or medication use lower the body’s ability to perspire and may cause a greater
risk of heat-related illness
 Urban centers tend to reach much hotter temperatures due to the common concrete and
asphalt, which tend to absorb the sun’s energy
 Heat-related illness mainly a problem in the Midwest and Northeast, areas which are
generally accustomed to cool temperatures
 CDC uses death certificates to identify the heat casualty count, but since some certificates
attribute indirect heat-related death to cardiovascular failure, the casualty count of
hyperthermia is an underestimate
 8,081 dead due to heat-related illnesses since 1999
 In 72% of deaths, underlying cause was exposure to extreme heat
 Heat was a contributing factor for 28% of the heat-related deaths
 69% of those dead died from cardiovascular failure directly due to heat
 Heat-related deaths most common in the American Southwest
 Heat-related deaths peak in the summer months, unsurprisingly
 Hospitalizations for heat-related illness increase with age
 Males are more likely to be impacted by heat-related illnesses
 Black people are much more likely to suffer from heat-related death than any other race
or ethnicity
 Clear spike in deaths on days of high heat
 Air-conditioning is the best protector against heat-related illness
 Many heat-related deaths happened within a building, not outside, showing the need for
proper air-conditioning
 Hydration is important for avoiding heat-related death
 Sun exposure can make heat-related death even more likely

This source clarified the magnitude of the problem of heat-related illnesses, providing statistics
as to how so many people have died due to extreme heat, while also explaining best practices to
avoid getting killed by these hot temperatures.
Koetsier, John. “This $5 Lamp Is Powered by Gravity (and Just Destroyed Its Funding Target on

Indiegogo).” VentureBeat, VentureBeat, 12 Dec. 2018, venturebeat.com/2012/12/26/this-5-

lamp-is-powered-by-gravity-and-just-destroyed-its-funding-target-on-indiegogo/.

 Built by two London designers

 Can be used to light homes, recharge batteries, or power a radio
 Exceeded Indiegogo fundraising goal by more than 500 percent
 Want to mass produce units for <$5 per gravity light
 Use’s Earth’s gravity to power an LED light bulb for around half an hour
 No electrical grid, batteries, or external generators required
 Set up requires hanging up the light, filling a bag with some dirt as weight, and hanging
the bag off the rope of the light
 Gravity turns a generator and creates electricity for about half an hour, before it must be
hoisted up again
 Goal is to provide clean energy and light to around 1.5 billion people who have unreliable
access to electricity or use kerosene lamps
 Kerosene results in high cancer rates due to smoke inhalation from the burning of the
chemicals
 2.5 million people in India were burnt due to the falling of Kerosene lamps
 Most people in the developing world must use 10-20% of their income to provide fuel for
their lighting
 Initial production of 1,000 GravityLights will be distributed to villagers in Africa and
India
 Based on feedback, product will be modified
 Product distributed to NGOs and NPOs for distribution among developing areas
 Thousands have backers have donated a variety of money to support the GravityLight
system
 Main competition is solar-powered light
 GravityLight can work in any environment and at nighttime
 Solar-powered light is limited to sunny, hot environments and could not work as well
during night, when light is most needed
 GravityLight and its necessary components are much cheaper than the solar panels
necessary for solar-powered fans
 Unlike solar-powered fans, GravityLight requires the user to do work, like hoisting the
bag back up
 Deciwatt, company responsible for GravityLight is now working on NowLight, a more
versatile system
 NowLight allows user to connect multiple lights together and can also charge any
cellphone

GravityLight helped me better understand alternative power sources, like the utilization of
gravity to create electricity.