Reprentatives from A-Wing International handed over the turbine to MCCTC on May 19.
A-Wing
International has donated a 500 Watt turbine to MCCTC. This
is the first A-Wing International turbine in the United States. A-Wing is using
this opportunity to test how well the turbine, which has recently come out of
the research and development stage, will perform in the United States. The
school, with assistance from a Tennessee Tech engineering graduate student,
will collect the generation data from a data logger, provided with the turbine,
and will send the information back to the company. Students will be able to see
how much energy the turbine is able to generate and learn about the turbine's
development process.
Students
in MCCTC's high school welding program in the fall 2010 semester will construct
a tower for the turbine, using pipe donated by Citizen Gas. MCCTC carpentry
students will work on the framework for the foundation. Students will assist to
install the turbine this fall next to the school's two other wind turbines located
at 132 Flat Fork Rd.
Ronnie
Trout, MCCTC welding instructor, said, "Two hundred students will be involved
in this project from math, carpentry, and machining. We appreciate this
opportunity for further training."
A-Wing
International
business coordinator Katharina Drokur originally learned about the renewable
energy program at MCCTC through the program's website. "I was impressed with
the high school program and its connections with Tennessee Tech and other
schools in the area," says Drokur.
Drokur
is interested in using the school's tower construction model to apply to
communities in Vietnam. MCCTC students construct tall towers more than 100 feet
in order to reach a more consistent wind resource and use guy-wires to secure
the tower because of its safety and low cost. Drokur sees a benefit in applying
what she has learned about the tall tower construction for rural towns in
Vietnam, where there are no tower height restrictions and the towns can benefit
from making their own towers with local materials.
New Turbine Installation at MCCTC Campus
Click on the video above to watch a news story on the project by WVLT in Knoxville.
