Eighteen Maine high schools and vocational centers across Maine are taking part in the first ever Maine High School Wind Blade Challenge. The statewide competition encourages students and teachers to explore the use and application of composite materials in expanding alternative energy industries.
The Maine Wind Blade Challenge is sponsored by the Maine North Star Alliance Initiative and the Maine Composites Alliance. The 18 schools have created a total of 31 teams to design the most efficient wind blade. Each team is working with a kit of composite resources, provided by composite companies in Maine. Over the next nine weeks, the students will research wind blade design and performance. With help from four Maine composite institutions, the teams will produce the blades. All wind blades will be tested May 15 at the University of Maine in Orono.
“The Wind Blade Challenge is the first time students from across Maine can leverage their skills in math and science, as well as their growing knowledge of alternative energy, into a real world project,” says Paul Williamson, program director, Maine High School Wind Blade Challenge. “This project also allows the students to work with the leading composite companies and manufacturing labs in Maine, which fosters relationships between Maine high schools and Maine businesses.”
The students will receive a kit of composite materials, from Harbor Technologies Inc. and OCV Technical Fabrics, both of Brunswick. The guidelines: build a blade no longer than 18 inches/457 mm long, and 42/1,067 mm in diameter. After the teams research and complete their individual blade design, the blades will be produced by students under the direction of composite manufacturers.
Four regional educational institutions with advanced composite manufacturing labs and two composite manufacturers have agreed to instruct the teams in proper closed vacuum resin infusion process: The Landing School (Arundel); Foster Technology Center (Farmington); Maine Advanced Technology Center (Brunswick); Husson Boat School (Eastport); Custom Composite Technologies (Bath); and Kenway Corp. (Augusta).
"Our participation is important because we are a pilot program," says John MacDonald, teacher at Foster Technology Center. "Our program will hopefully serve as a model for future composites programs around the state. This will be an opportunity for teachers to learn more about what a composites program might look like in their schools."
“The school teams will travel to the composite lab in their region,” explains Williamson. “There they will work with the lab instructors to wrap their shaped foam blades with the provided fiber glass cloth and infuse them with resin. The result will be a blade with a hard smooth shell.”
The Advanced Engineered Wood and Composite Center (AEWC) at the University of Maine will create a universal testing hub to mount all blade turbines for official testing. On May 15 the AEWC will host a blade testing competition, measuring the power output of each blade turbine design at a set wind speed.
Industry News
Maine high schoolers compete in wind blade competition
More than 30 high school teams will use composite kits to design and build wind blades.
