Both of the Paola teams had revamped the turbines that they had used in the Regional Competition. Rowan and Spencer originally used some lego parts inside of their nacelle and foam board for their blades. This time they had 3D printed their entire turbine and Rowan had machined all of the metal parts inside of the nacelle to make it more efficient. It looked really cool.
When testing in the wind tunnel though, one of the parts broke and so the energy output was very low. They ended up getting the Judge's Choice Plaque. This is a high honor considering there were judges from the Wind Industry that helped to decide who won.
Aaron Koechner and Sam Johnson changed their turbine also. At the previous competition, they had used legos to make their gearbox and had issues with it breaking during the competition. This time they 3D printed a new gearbox and kept reprinting gears until they got their turbine to function. It paid off. They finally had a full run in the wind tunnel (last time the longest run they had was 15 seconds before the gears slipped out and quit generating power). For their highest run, they ended up generating 35.5 Joules compared to 13 Joules at the last competition. They also felt like they had done a great job during their presentation.
PMS Team 1 earned a 2nd place plaque and will be invited to represent the State of Kansas at the National KidWind Challenge in Houston, Texas!
It was a very long couple of days, but they are stoked and eager to improve their design. Great Job to both teams and a big thanks to Mitchell Ball for all of his help!