| Biographies |
|---|
| Erik - I was born in Prague, Czech Republic in 1996. I moved to Canada with my family when I was about 2 years old. I have always been interested in how things work and how to build things. One of my hobbies was to build structures with Lego but I never followed the models in the boxes, I liked to create my own. I also like music, and I play piano (grade 7 of RCM), saxophone (grade 4 of RCM) and base guitar. I play in the jazz band in my school. I currently attend Westdale Secondary School, and I am in grade 10. I have participated in two Science Fairs before, where I was awarded bronze and silver merit awards. I enjoy speaking other languages and I am fluent in Spanish and French, and I understand a bit of Czech. I also like to play soccer, and I practice Brazilian futsal. When I finish school I would like to go to University and study either engineering design or architecture. I would like to have a career in design, specifically with cars, trains, bridges or buildings. The inspiration for our project was seeing our own attic ventilation turbine spin one afternoon. | | Alex - I was born in the Czech Republic, and moved to Canada when I was 6 months old. I grew up in Ancaster, a town just outside of Hamilton, Ontario. I attend Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, where I am currently in grade 9. I am passionate about soccer. Since 2007, I have been playing in rep soccer teams, and continue to regularly watch many soccer games. I am also very interested in science, in particular physics. When I grow up, I plan to pursue a career in this field. I play several musical instruments, focusing on piano and guitar. With respect to my project, I got the idea when I was sitting in my backyard with my brother. We noticed an attic ventilator on the roof, which seemed to be constantly spinning, even if there was very little wind. Naturally, the question arose whether we could transform this into an electricity producing wind turbine. In further investigations, we plan to improve our axial flux alternator in many ways. |
| Erik Bercik, Alex Bercik
A Novel Rooftop Wind Turbine for Convenient Residential Use
| Challenge: | Innovation | | Category: | Intermediate | | Region: | Bay Area | | City: | Ancaster, ON | | School: | Westdale S.S. | | Abstract: | Our aim was to develop a novel wind turbine model for residential use. We modified the internal structure of a commercially available attic ventilation fan to produce electricity and created an axial-flux alternator. Using an array of fans, we measured electricity generated and the effect of a roof on the turbine’s efficacy. The slanted roof increased the performance of the turbine by up to 84%. |
| Awards | Value | Excellence Award - Intermediate
Bronze Medal
Sponsor: Nuclear Waste Management Organization | $300.00 | Western University Scholarship
Bronze Medallist - $1000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: Western University | $1 000.00 | | Total | $1 300.00 | |
Print/Download as PDF