Wind power scores

[soyuppy]

This looks similar to the ones in Ohio I have seen.

It's a tough event because there is too much variation in box fans. The fan we were using to test is faster than any box fan we have seen at any competition. Most box fans we have seen are not strong at all.

That might be because Science Olympiad has an official scoresheet on their website, lol

The strength of the box fan shouldn't matter, though, just your voltage relative to the other turbines there. As long as yours is more efficient, it should do better no matter the box fan

But our fan works amazing on a low powered and high powered Haier model, yet this Haier model is a standard box fan, but is much stronger than any we have seen. Many box fans seem very inexpensive and do not spin fast at all. Our blades have a hard time moving on those fans, but gets 400 on low and 600 on high on a Haier fan. Yet we never see good fans at competition. These weak fans won't spin our blades. So we struggle. Is this invitational going to have a powerful fan? a weak one? We've only get to impound 1 fan and we can't see if they have a quality fan or low quality fan. Blades can be really efficient on a weak fan and not as efficient on a strong fan and vice versa. So the fan style totally matters. Different powered fans call for different blade weights.

I have an old 20" box fan and it wasn't strong either. Then I went to get $20.00 20" box fan from Walmart and that was pretty strong. Unfortunate we are at the mercy of event supervisor. We just hope and trust that whoever supervising the event will use a decent box 20" box fan. But I would think the fan will have the same effect on all blade during competition.

[OHscioly]

That might be because Science Olympiad has an official scoresheet on their website, lol

The strength of the box fan shouldn't matter, though, just your voltage relative to the other turbines there. As long as yours is more efficient, it should do better no matter the box fan

But our fan works amazing on a low powered and high powered Haier model, yet this Haier model is a standard box fan, but is much stronger than any we have seen. Many box fans seem very inexpensive and do not spin fast at all. Our blades have a hard time moving on those fans, but gets 400 on low and 600 on high on a Haier fan. Yet we never see good fans at competition. These weak fans won't spin our blades. So we struggle. Is this invitational going to have a powerful fan? a weak one? We've only get to impound 1 fan and we can't see if they have a quality fan or low quality fan. Blades can be really efficient on a weak fan and not as efficient on a strong fan and vice versa. So the fan style totally matters. Different powered fans call for different blade weights.

I have an old 20" box fan and it wasn't strong either. Then I went to get $20.00 20" box fan from Walmart and that was pretty strong. Unfortunate we are at the mercy of event supervisor. We just hope and trust that whoever supervising the event will use a decent box 20" box fan. But I would think the fan will have the same effect on all blade during competition.

There's a sweet spot for blade weight and it depends on fan speed. So if supervisor has weak fan, heavier blades won't work as well, but a strong fan they would work better. Same thing for light blades. Weight effects torque and power but too much weight won't spin the blades with a weak fan.

[OHscioly]

Here's a raw score sheet from one of the recent invitational in CA.

This looks similar to the ones in Ohio I have seen.

It's a tough event because there is too much variation in box fans. The fan we were using to test is faster than any box fan we have seen at any competition. Most box fans we have seen are not strong at all.

That might be because Science Olympiad has an official scoresheet on their website, lol

The strength of the box fan shouldn't matter, though, just your voltage relative to the other turbines there. As long as yours is more efficient, it should do better no matter the box fan

I don't mean the sheet. I was referring to the scores themselves. They align with the score values from the 6 invitationals I've been to.