Design, Construction, and Testing of a 130w Wind-powered Air Compressor System for Operation in Zaria, Nigeria
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives
The aim of this work is to design, construct, and test a wind air compression system of 130 W to produce compressed air of 3.45 barg in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The specific objectives are:
- to carry out a design analysis for the wind rotor and a suitable transmission system for the wind compressor system.
- to select appropriate materials for the wind compressor system.
- to construct and/or procure the components of the system.
- to evaluate the performance of the system.
- to estimate the cost of a prototype of the system.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Wind and Wind Energy
Wind is air in motion caused by the rotation of the earth and the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun. Wind flow is caused by the differing temperature profile of air around the earth, together with the effect of the earth’s rotation. Wind patterns vary according to seasonal, diurnal, and landscape variability and due to changing wind patterns, physical obstacles, in the area, slope, etc. Figure 2.1 gives a global air temperature profile. Wind is also caused by a phenomenon known as land and sea breeze. The land and the sea have different heating coefficients and therefore retain heat differently. During the day, the sea is cooler and hence a temperature differential is therefore created, which results in a breeze (wind) moving from the sea to the land. In the night time the reverse is the case and the breeze moves from the land to the sea. Figure 2.2 illustrates this phenomenon.
The History of Wind Energy
The wind has played a long and important role in the history of human civilisation. The first known use of wind dates back 5,000 years to Egypt, where boats used sails to travel from shore to shore. The first true windmill, a machine with vanes attached to an axis to produce circular motion, may have been built as early as 2000 B.C. in ancient Babylon. By the 10th century A.D., windmills with wind-catching surfaces as long as 16 feet and as high as 30 feet were grinding grain in the area now known as eastern Iran and Afghanistan. Windmills were modified and used in the 12th century to pump water and reclaim much of Holland from the sea.
The familiar multi-vane “farm windmill” of the American mid west and west was invented in the United States during the latter half of the l9th century. In 1889, there were 77 windmill factories in the United States, and by the turn of the century, windmills had become a major American export. Until the diesel engine came along, many transcontinental rail routes in the United States depended on large multi-vane windmills to pump water for steam locomotives.
Farm windmills are still being produced and used, though in reduced numbers, and show no sign of becoming obsolete. They are best suited for pumping ground water in small quantities to livestock water tanks. Without the water supplied by the multi-vane windmill, beef production over large areas of the West of the United States would not be possible.
CHAPTER THREE
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MATERIALS AND METHODS
The Wind Compressor System
The wind air compressor system consists of the following components:
∙ Wind rotor
∙ Transmission system
∙ Air compressor
∙ Storage reservoir
Materials
Material Selection
The materials used for each component were selected based on availability and guided by information from the Wind turbine- Materials and Manufacturing Fact Sheet prepared by the Princeton Energy Resources International (PERI) based on current trends in wind turbine technology (Ancona and McVeigh, 2002).
References
- John Cooke Cit. P. 161.
- Crawford Morris And Alan R. Moritz, Op. 147
- See French Decree 55-1591 of 28th November, 1955.
- See Ball v. Mallinkrodt Chemical Works Supra
- Watterson Dunnington 241 Mich. 383 217 N.W. 329 (1928).
- Ballance Dunnington 241 Mich. 382 217 (1929).
- See State to the use of Janney Housekeeper 7 Md. 162, 16A(1889)
- Crawford Morris and Alan Moritz R. Op. Cit. P. 465.
