Team Members & Role: 

Gordon Anderson: Lead

Arthur Axon: Fabrication

Max Brueggemann: Analysis

Anthony Samuel: Design

Brendan Scott: Evaluation

Abstract:

Currently there exists no viable renewable energy for low income and remote communities. Existing energy solutions are expensive, have site specific uses, and have a large environmental impact. This leaves remote and low-income communities which make up a significant portion of the world without reliable and clean electricity. This leaves these groups to rely on traditional, greenhouse gas emitting energy sources. This issue hasn’t been solved yet because these communities cannot afford to sponsor expensive R&D towards the development of a viable clean energy source. A bulk of money and resources are spent on massive projects which can provide electricity to a large number of people at once. The lack of invested capital into the development of a viable solution is compounded by the complicated task at hand, which is reflected in our HOQ parameters. Our team approached this issue by first developing expected operating parameters based on product cost, accessibility, environmental impact, and power output. With these parameters we selected and configured a suitable waterwheel design. This design was modelled, analyzed, fabricated, and ultimately evaluated in real stream conditions.