ANSWER KEY

BROWN SCIOLY WIND POWER

DIVISION B
Part I: Written Test. ​ ​ ​ SCHOOL NAME______ANSWER KEY________
a. Teams will be given 45 minutes to complete a written test consisting of a variety of different
types of questions (i.e., multiple choice, true-false, completion, or calculation
questions/problems).
b. Unless otherwise requested, answers must be in metric units with appropriate sig. figures.
c. The test will consist of at least 5 questions from each of the following areas:
i. Wind power rotor/fan blade design (e.g., types of designs, pros/cons of designs, ways to
improve designs, sources of loss)
Question 2b 2c 2d 2e 3a
Exam Points 2 4 8 6 3

ii. Power generator general questions (e.g., generator design for wind, nuclear, coal, gas,
solar, or hydroelectric power plants)
Question 1a 1b 1c 5a 5b
Exam Points 4 3 8 4 3

iii. Power storage questions (e.g., how is the power stored during charging and how is it
used during discharge, concepts relating to methods of power storage)
Question 7a 7b 7c 9a 9b
Exam Points 7 4 6 8 5

iv. Power transmission questions (e.g., ways electricity is transmitted, how power is lost
in transmission, ways to reduce power loss)
Question 8a 8b 8c 8d 10a
Exam Points 8 4 9 5 6

v. Historical applications, environmental impacts, and ecological impacts of wind power

(e.g., commercial vs. individual use, how wind power has evolved from windmills, how it is used
today for agricultural and industrial use, power generation using wind power, impacts on land
use, effects on wildlife)
Question 2a 4a 4b 6a 6b
Exam Points 2 6 4 4 4
125 points in test, score relative to the competitors' max

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ANSWER KEY

Wind Power Checklist / Data Sheet​ SCHOOL NAME____________________________

Chart Score (CS) - One of the submitted graphs/tables, selected by the Event Supervisor, is scored using
i., ii., and iii., described below for a maximum of 6 points. Four (4) additional CS points are available via
items iv, v, vi. Partial credit may be given.
i. 2 points for including data spanning at least Selected Chart (page #)
two fan speed settings

ii. 2 points for including at least 10 data points

in each data series

iii. 2 points for proper labeling (e.g. title, team

name, units)

iv. 0.5 points for each distinct graph or table

turned in (up to 2 points total). Different test
runs with the same variables measured are
considered distinct graphs or tables.

v. 1 point for including a labeled device

diagram.

vi. 1 point for including a labeled front cover.

Total Chart Score (10):

Submission Bonus (3):

(brought device in box labeled with team name & number)

Score Penalties Max Total Points

HSS (21)

LSS (21)

Exam (45)

GRAND TOTAL (100):

g. If the blade assembly stops turning for a period of 10 or more seconds during the measurement period,
pieces detach from the assembly, or the team violates any of THE COMPETITION rules, the
Max Voltage at that wind speed must be multiplied by 0.9 when calculating the Speed Score.
h. Both Max Voltages must be multiplied by 0.7 when calculating the Speed Score if any CONSTRUCTION
violation(s) are corrected during the competition block.
i. The Speed Scores must be zero (0) if a team is disqualified for unsafe operation, modifying a CD, or fails
to bring a blade assembly device. Such teams will be allowed to compete in Part I.
j. Tiebreakers
i. 1st – Best HSS
ii. 2nd – Best LSS
iii. 3rd – Specific Test Questions: 4a+9b, then 2e

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ANSWER KEY

Question Subpart Notes Total

1a i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
1b i 1
ii 1
iii 1
1c i 4
ii 4
2a i 1
ii 1
2b i 1
ii 1
2c i 1
ii 1
iii 2
2d — 8
2e i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
v 2
3a i 1
ii 1
iii 1
4a i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
v 1
vi 1
4b i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
5a i 2
ii 2
5b i 1
ii 2
6a i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
6b i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1

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ANSWER KEY

7a i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 2
v 2
7b i 2
ii 2
7c i 2
ii 2
iii 2
8a i 1
ii 2
iii 2
iv 2
v 1
8b i 1
ii 2
iii 1
8c i 1
ii 2
iii 2
iv 2
v 1
vi 1
8d i .5
ii .5
iii .5
iv .5
v .5
vi .5
vii .5
viii .5
ix 1
9a i 3
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
v 1
vi 1
9b i 1
ii 1
iii 1
iv 1
v 1
10a i 2
ii 2
iii 2

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ANSWER KEY

1. ENERGY EFFICIENCY ⚡
a) The rotor power coefficient CP,rotor represents the fraction of available power from the wind
stream that the rotor captures.

​ i) This rotor power coefficient has a theoretical maximum, called the __ Betz limit_
​ ii) This maximum value is (exact fraction or 3 sf)___ 16/27 or 59.3%____
iii) The physics assumption(s) that ensure that limit exists are (circle all that apply):
​ ​ a) Boundary-layer friction exists between the turbine blades and the air
​ ​ b) Air is incompresssible at the speeds typical of a wind turbine
​ ​ c) Back-pressure in front of the turbine can push air to either side of it
​ ​ d) The motion of air through plane of the turbine is axial, not radial
​ ​ e) The turbine blades must have nonzero thickness
iv) Write the equation that uses CP,rotor and the other terms (particularly Vwind, 𝜌air and
either Arotor or Rrotor) to find the power generated by a wind turbine.
P = 0.5 CP,rotor 𝜌air π Rrotor2 Vwind3

b) Hydroelectric turbine power:

i) Write the equation describing the theoretical maximum power that could be generated
by a hydroelectric turbine. This should include all the variables as the equation above (but note
which fluid they describe), and also two more variables.
P = Q * ρ * g * H * η = Vwater π Rpipe2 𝜌water g H CP,turbine

ii) What is the power loss (1 - efficiency) of a typical hydroelectric generator (accounting
for just the turbine)?

10% https://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf
ii) What causes the other major source of power loss in hydroelectric power plants
(external to the turbine)? (Hint: this is also known as head loss)

Friction of the water with the walls of the intake pipe / penstock.

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ANSWER KEY

c) Chernobyl. In the 2019 TV series, this conversation regarded a lava of melted nuclear fuel:
Ulana Khomyuk : When the lava enters these tanks, it will instantly superheat and
vaporize approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water, causing a significant thermal explosion.
Michail Gorbatchev : How significant?
Ulana Khomyuk : We estimate between two and four megatons. Everything within a 30
kilometer radius will be completely destroyed, including the three remaining reactors at
Chernobyl.
​ Let’s assume the lava had 3 megatons of TNT of energy (1 megaton = 4.184×1015J).
Assuming constant-pressure calorimetry, what volume of steam would the 7000 m3 of water
initially at 20°C occupy after the explosion? Write your answer in cubic km.
(Hints: 𝜌water=1000kg/m3, Cwater =4.186 kJ/kg/°C,
Clatent = 2260 kJ/kg, 𝜌steam = 0.590kg/m3 at 1 atm pressure and 100°C,
Cp* ≈ 25.5 kJ/kg/K or steam in this temperature range. 𝜌water=1000kg/m3, Cwater=4.186 kJ/kg/°C
Initial energy = 4.18J E15 *2 *1kJ/1000J = 8.36 E12 kJ
7000m3 *1000 kg/m3 *4.186 kJ/kg/°C *80°C = 2.34 E9 kJ ​ warm water
7000m3 *1000 kg/m3 *2260 kJ/kg = 1.58 E10 kJ​ ​ water to steam
Leftover = 8.36 E12 kJ - 2.34 E9 kJ - 1.58 E10 kJ = 8.34 E12 kJ
8.34 E12 kJ = 7 E6 kg * (25.5 kJ/kg/K ) * ΔT , so ΔT = 46778 °C
Ti =373.15K​ Tf = 47049K
Vi= 7E6 kg/0.590kg/m3= 1.19E7 m3​ Vf =TfVi/Ti=47049K * 1.19E7 m3/373.15K = 1.50E9

1.50 cubic km.

ii) If a 740,000 m3 containment sarcophagus were constructed around the tanks, what
pressure would this have to contain? You can neglect the air pressure initially in this sarcophagus
too: 101.3 kPa = 1 atm. Please write your answer in MPa.
(Hints: CV* ≈ CP* - R, where R gas constant for steam is 0.4615 kJ/kg/K. This form of R allows
you to simplify the ideal gas equation without solving for moles.)
8.34 E12 kJ = 7 E6 kg * (25.0 kJ/kg/K ) * ΔT , so ΔT = 47713 °C
Ti =373.15K​ Tf = 47984K
PiVi/Ti=PfVf/Tf so 0.1013MPa * 1.19E7 m3 / 373.15K =Pf 7.4 E5 m3/47984K
Pf=209MPa

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ANSWER KEY

2. TIP BRAKES

The Gedser wind turbine, one of the first modern wind turbines, utilized stall-regulated blades
with emergency aerodynamic tip brakes. Below is a diagram of an improved flap-tip brake, taken
from a 1997 report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/old/22253.pdf
a) This Gedser wind turbine was first constructed by Johannes Juul.
​ i) Funding for this construction was partially obtained from the US via what program?

​ ​ The Marshall Plan

ii) Over what period of time did it operate without maintenance?
__1957__​ - _____1967______
b) TSR in the is a nondimensional number that describes an important aspect of how wind
turbine blades move.
i) What does TSR stand for?

Tip Speed Ratio, also acceptable: speed of tips / speed of wind.

ii) ii) Suppose the wind is blowing at 15m/s, and a wind turbine with a radius of 70m is
turning at a speed of 15rpm (0.25 Hz). What is the TSR?
Rotation speed: 70m *2π 0.25 /s = 110m/s
TSR = 110/15 = 7.33

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ANSWER KEY

c) Equation 3.9 for the rotor power coefficient CP,rotor is written in a way that may be difficult to
understand. So I rewrote it as equations 1a-c to make it much clearer that it is a summation of a
series of ring-shaped sections labeled i=1, i=2,... and so on up to i=n of the entire turbine’s area:

ΔCP,i the portion of the rotor power coefficient due to the ith ring-shaped section
Ai the area of all blades occupying ith ring-shaped section
ri the average radius of the ith ring-shaped section
αi the average angle of attack of the blades in the ith ring
CD,i(αi) is the coefficient of drag, at an angle of attack
CL,i(αi) is the coefficient of lift, at an angle of attack

In the diagram at right, the blade section is moving up, causing an

apparent wind on the blade directed downward (ri*Ω, where Ω is the
rotation speed) and the external wind (u=V0) is moving from left to right.
So the resultant wind velocity experienced by the blade is W.

i) Label and circle which of the three angles (labeled with curved
arrows) is αi in the diagram.
Indicate smallest angele
ii) If TSR increases, the largest angle (top curved arrow) will:​ ​
a) increase
​ ​ b) decrease
​ ​ c) remain the same

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ANSWER KEY

Airfoil tests were conducted on a AWT -26 blade, which is an NREL S810 with a thickened
trailing edge, to determine the CL,i(αi) coefficient of lift and CD,i(αi) coefficient of drag.

iii) Name and briefly explain what is happening in the graph above at about a 15° angle
of attack. (Hint - if this phenomenon happens in an aircraft it may cause a crash.)

Stall - reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil

as angle of attack increases, usually caused by separation
of flow from the top trailing edge of the airfoil.

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ANSWER KEY

d) Fill in the blank white cells of the table below (gray cells do not count for points). Each
column describes one of 4 rings that together make up a 160m diameter turbine. Note that the
ring in the very center has the hub instead of blades. The gray cells are included to give you
extra space to work out parts of the formula if you want, but they do not count for points. Nb=3,
the number of wind turbine blades.

TSR=6​ ​ Arotor= 20106 m2​ ​ Rrotor =80 m

i=1 i=2 i=3 i=4

ri 25 m 52.5 m 70 m 77.5 m
zi 2.5 m 1.8 m 1.4 m 1.2 m
Ai 225 135 42 18

xi 1.875 3.9375 5.25 5.8125

2Ai/A 0.02238116 0.0134287 0.00417782 0.00179049

xi2 3.515625 15.5039063 27.5625 33.7851563

√1+1/xi2 1.13333333 1.03174603 1.01797897 1.01469148

CL,i(12°) 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.06
CD,i(12°) 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09
CL - CD xi 0.89125 0.705625 0.5875 0.536875
ΔCP,i 0.07947717 0.15157299 0.06886756 0.03295382
Also calculate the total power coefficient for the turbine and write it in the box below:
ΔCP,i the portion of the rotor power
coefficient from the ith ring
Ai blade area
ri avg. radius
αi angle of attack
CD,i(αi) the coefficient of drag, an angle of attack
CL,i(αi) the coefficient of lift, an angle of attack
Each area Ai is a sum of Nb (# of blades) rectangles with length spanning the thickness of the ring
(r+i - r-i ) and width being the cord of each blade zi.

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ANSWER KEY

e) Finally, calculating how a flip tip could stop the blade, I recalculated the i=4 column with the
angle of attack fully “flipped” to 90°. First, find the new total power coefficient
i) i’=4 i)
ri 77.5 m
zi 1.2 m
Ai 18
ii) TRUE or FALSE (circle one):
This result implies that the turbine slows down when the flip-tip
xi 5.8125
is deployed.
2Ai/A 0.00179049

xi2 33.7851563

√1+1/xi2 1.01469148 iii) Multiple choice (circle one):

CL,i(90°) Thinking about what a power coefficient means, what does the
-0.0046083
sign of this new CP, rotor mean?
CD,i(90·) 1.73394495 a)​ The turbine just slows but does not stop
CL - CD xi -10.083163 b)​ The turbine starts spinning the other direction
ΔCP,i -0.6189127 c)​ Power is required to make the turbine spin this fast
d)​ The turbine might fall apart if the flip-tips are deployed

iv) Short answer: What two mechanisms do most modern commercial electric wind turbines use
to regulate their speed and stop in the event of high winds?

Brakes,
pitch control of the entire blade (feathering)
(+ .5 if they missed one of the above 2): yaw drive to keep oriented into the wind

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ANSWER KEY

3. Novel VWAT

a) Below is a simplified patent drawing from the top-down view of a novel vertical axis wind
turbine. There are flexible wire ropes which connect the ends of opposing blades through loops
in the frame, and the position of each blade changes as this frame rotates due to the force of the
wind. The wind in this diagram is coming from the top of the page.

i) In the lower-left quadrant of this diagram, which type of fixed-blade vertical axis wind
turbine does this new design most closely resemble?

Savonius

ii) In the upper-right quadrant of this diagram, which type of fixed-blade vertical axis
wind turbine does this new design most closely resemble?

Darrieus

iii) The idea to use the wind itself to shift the relative position of the blades as they rotate
originated in about the year 800AD in Persia. What was this wind turbine design called?

Panemome

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ANSWER KEY

4. DEADLY ENERGY

a) All methods of energy production carry some risk; in order from least to most deaths per
kilowatt-hour, rank each of the following methods of energy generation: wind, nuclear, coal,
hydroelectric, natural gas. (Note - there is some debate regarding the order of the least-deadly

😀
two on this list, full points will be given for either order).

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (least deaths)

​ i) Nuclear (or wind)

​ ii) Wind (or nuclear)
​ iii) Hydroelectric
​ iv) Natural Gas

☠️
​ v) Coal

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (most deaths)

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-energy-production-per-twh
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-price-always-paid/?sh=5f03f7f0709b
https://earth.org/nuclear-which-is-the-safest-energy-source/
vi) Circle the energy source that releases the most radioactive waste - Coal
b) Wildlife deaths:
i) Name the types of animals that are killed in the 100,000s/year by wind turbines.

Birds (also bats)

ii) Besides the death of this animal from wind turbines, there is also an invasive species
responsible for the majority of the population loss of the animal in 4b(i). Name this invasive

species.​ ​ Cats
iii) The death toll from the invasive predator is much higher than from wind turbines.

How many times higher (in orders of magnitude)? ~10,000x [1000-50,000]

https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/do-wind-turbines-kill-birds (calculated 6470 [1460,28600])
iv) What are two strategies that wind turbine operators can use to protect animals?
Turn off the turbines in peak migration season, paint one blade black,
ultrasonic noisemakers

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ANSWER KEY

5. NATURAL GAS 🔥
a) Many natural gas power plants use a combined cycle that consists of two different ways of
generating electricity from this fuel. What are those two ways, and describe briefly how they
work. (Hint: these two energy generation methods are remarkably similar to the propulsion
systems for the major modes of cross-country transit in the United States in 1900 and 2000).

i) combustion of gasses to run the gas turbine - like a jet aircraft.

Turbine blades are very similar to a jet engine, and operate via the
pressure force created by combustion.

ii) boiling of water by the exhaust gasses of the gas turbine - like a
steam locomotive. This heat capture involves a heat recovery steam
generator, and the steam is then used to drive a steam turbine.

b) In case of a widespread electrical outage, most large power generating plants require
electricity to start again, so there must be a backup protocol to supply power to enable this to
happen.
i) What is this protocol called?

Black start
ii) Provide 2 reasons why natural gas generators are well-suited to be the first to restart.
Gas fuel lights quickly, does not require extra energy to move a gas
(so can sit on standby), fuel does not go bad (like diesel / gasoline), gas
outages are very rare, gas generators can be made into small
remotely-operated power units, little thermal mass (unlike a coal or
nuclear plant),

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ANSWER KEY

6. RECENT HISTORY

a) The second offshore wind farm in the United States recently opened near Martha's Vineyard.
​ i) What is its nameplate capacity per turbine, and how many turbines will be installed?
62 turbines, each 13.6MW

ii) Where does the submarine cable land on the mainland?

Barnstable, MA

iii) When (month / year) was the first turbine connected to the grid?
January 2024

iv) What potential environmental concern delayed construction?

right whale activity in the area, 1/2 credit for marine mammals

b) Many wind farms today in the United States occupy farmland that is also used to grow crops.
In the process of installing these wind turbines, some land is temporarily disturbed (for instance
to bury cables and park cranes to construct the turbine), and additional land is permanently
occupied (by the foundation of the wind turbines themselves).
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/45834.pdf
​ i) Roughly what percentage of this farmland is temporarily or permanetly disturbed?

3% (credit if in range [2 - 4])

​ ii) Roughly what percentage of this farmland is permanently occupied?

1% (credit if in range [0.5 - 2])

​ iii) In what US state is the most wind power (by GW) currently generated?

Texas
​ iv) What part of the US has the fastest wind for potential power generation? (Either name
a geographic region or list at least 3 more states)
Great Plains / Western interior
ND, KS, MO, SD, NB, OK, WY, MN, IA, CO, NM, MN

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ANSWER KEY

7. BATTERIES: old and new 🔋

a) A battery bank must be discharged at a total current of 10A for a time of 8 hours each day.
i) The available Pb-acid batteries have a rated standard discharge time of 110Ah at a
standard discharge rate of 1A until they are empty, and a Peukett constant of k=1.2. How long
will one battery last?
C = I^k t
Requires 10A draw. 110Ah = 10^1.2 *t ​ t= 6.9 hrs
ii) Assume that the battery bank is expanded to be 2 Pb-acid batteries in parallel. What
percentage of their original capacity will these 2 batteries have lost after 8 hours? (This value
may translate into a different voltage drop for different types of batteries).
Requires 5A draw. ​ C = 5^1.2 * 8​ = 55.2 Ah
%age of original capacity = 110Ah /55.2 Ah = 50.2%

​ iii) Assume that the number of cycles that these batteries can withstand before failure is

approximated by where DOD is the depth of discharge,

or the fraction of the original capacity that was lost. Find the number of cycles that the 2-battery
bank in part ii) can withstand until failure.
803 cycles

iv) Now assume the battery bank is expanded to 10 Pb-acid batteries in parallel. How
many cycles will this bank of 10 batteries last?
16.7% DOD, 1368 cycles

v) Replace this bank of 10 Pb-acid batteries with a single LiFePO4 battery with k=1.02
and the same rated discharge (110Ah @ 1A). How many cycles will this single battery last if it
obeys the same equation as in part iii)?
76.1% DOD, 8145 cycles

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ANSWER KEY

b) Ambri energy, a startup from MIT, has developed a

novel battery that works at very high temperatures using
liquid calcium and antimony.
​ i) Provide two reasons that the startup hopes that
their battery will eventually be cheaper and may last
longer than other batteries, given how lithium ion
batteries eventually degrade?

Materials are cheaper/ more abundant

In old Li-ion batteries, the finely structured
nanomaterials had coarsened. Further studies revealed
that the lithium ions responsible for shuttling electric
charge between the electrodes had diminished on the
cathode and had permanently lodged on the anode.
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808b-what-causes-li-ion-to-die
Liquid surface between the elements is more permanent / less
prone to damage than a physical barrier.

ii). Label the anode and the cathode in the above diagram.

Cathode - Sb (blue)
Anode - Ca (red

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ANSWER KEY

c) The curve below represents the demand remaining for fossil fuel energy remaining after
subtracting variable renewable generation.

​ i) What time of day is net demand the lowest? Why?

~11am to 4pm - this is when solar power is at its peak, also few
people are cooking dinner / doing laundry / heating or cooling
their home in the middle of the day when they are away at work.
(only need 1 reason)

​ ii) What hour is the net demand the highest? Why is it higher than in the morning?

~8pm - cooking dinner takes more power than breakfast, using

AC to cool home for sleeping takes more energy than heating
home overnight during spring in California (only need 1 reason).
​ iii) Over what time interval would it make the most sense for grid-scale batteries to
charge up in California? Over what time interval should they discharge?

Charge during the day: 8am to 6pm

Discharge over night: 7pm to 7am

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ANSWER KEY

8. THE US POWER GRID

a) A current map is drawn below:

i) How many miles of high-voltage power lines does this grid contain?
160,000 to 200,000
ii) Name the two major and single minor interconnections shown on this figure.

Eastern, Western, Texas

​ iii) Define what an interconnection means regarding the characteristics of AC electricity

a grid interconnection ties a network of local grids

together at a synchronized frequency
​ iv) Are interconnections electrically joined together to form a single system? If so, how?

Yes - via DC ties or variable-frequency transformers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmission_grid
​ v) What is a typical power loss % in the US grid from transmission and distribution?

~5 %
https://www.nrdc.org/bio/jennifer-chen/lost-transmission-worlds-biggest-machine-needs-update

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ANSWER KEY

b) In a 2016 article in the journal Nature Climate, researchers MacDonald et. al. ran a computer
simulation that optimized electricity systems in the US for lowest cost. They showed that by
2030 solar and wind could represent the dominant share of electricity at 38%, natural gas
contributes 21%, solar PV 17%, and the remainder is fulfilled by nuclear and hydroelectric (16%
and 8%, respectively), significantly reducing US CO2 emissions.

i) Trace over the thickest gray lines in the figure above, which represent 12GW HVDC
transmission cables.
13 segments total - give credit if they identify > 5 correctly and < 5 incorrectly
ii) This core network of potential power transmission largely delivers energy to which major
cities with few nearby green energy sources (list two):

New Orleans, Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston

iii) iii) The cost-optimized model did add a single 22 MW offshore wind installation, halfway
down the Maine coastline. Why might the computer have chosen to install so little offshore
wind?

Offshore wind installations require submarine power

cables, which are very expensive.

20
ANSWER KEY

c) Power losses through transmission.

i. One form of power loss is observed in both AC and DC transmission systems that are

under constant power supply and load. This power loss is called: Resistive Loss
ii. A mathematical equation for resistive power loss is:

P = I2R ​ or ​ P = IV​ ​ or ​ P = V2/R

iii. Two methods to reduce this resistive power loss are:

thicker wire or wire made of less resistive metal

shorter wire (generation closer to the customer)
higher voltage (lower current) to transmit the same power
iv. Two other types of power loss are unique to AC systems. What are these losses called?

inductive, capacitive

v. One of these AC-only power losses involves an electric field that is repeatedly formed
between the transmission wire and the ground. What is a simple way to reduce the strength of
this electrical field, and thus reduce that form of AC transmission loss?

move the transmission wire higher up off the ground

vi. All of the above power losses occur continuously in the electrical grid’s operation and
at relatively low levels. Describe a power loss that may occur quite suddenly and lead to a grid
blackout.

contact between a power line and a tree, short circuit

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ANSWER KEY

d) A model grid

Label each part of the following ideal grid. Note that there are three types of customers on this
model power grid: transmission customer, primary customer, secondary customer

i) Generating station / power plant v) Substation step-down transformer

ii) Generator step up transformer vi) Primary customer

iii) transmission customer vii) Distribution transformer (utility pole)

iv) (high-voltage) transmission tower viii) Secondary customer

ix) The device labeled ii) has 112 coils on the left side. How many coils must be on the right?

Vs/Vp=Ns/Np​12kV/336kV = Ns/112 , so Ns= 4

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ANSWER KEY

9. EXOTIC ENERGY STORAGE DEVICES

a) One lesser-known energy storage system is compressed air storage.

However, this process is inherently less efficient than most battery storage,
because of adiabatic expansion and compression of the gas. But the
Ontario-headquartered energy storage company Hydrostor may have found
a way to limit this inefficiency. Let’s imagine the compressed air is stored
in an air pocket within an underground cavern submerged 800m below a
lake.
​ i) As the air is quickly compressed, its temperature

_ increases__, and then this energy cannot be recovered during a

later decompression because it is gradually lost to

______ heating the surroundings (diffusion)______________________

then, as the air decompresses, it must be released via an exhaust at the same

_____ pressure_____ as the air was originally captured.

Adiabatic (reversible) gas changes follow the following equations, with the variable 𝛾 =7/5, the
adiabatic index for air:

Assume that a 1m3, 1.19 kg volume of air at 25°C and atmospheric pressure (101.3kPa) is
compressed adiabatically in one step to the pressure of the underground air pocket reservoir,
which has 800m of water sitting above it.
​ ii) What is the new volume of this parcel of air?
P1 = 101.3kPa + 800m * 9.81m/s^2 = 7949.3kPa
P0 * V0 ^ ℽ = 101.3kPa * 1 = 101.3
101.3 = 57949.3 * V1 ^ 7/5
0.0127 = V1 ^ 7/5​ ​ V1 = 0.04432 m^3

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ANSWER KEY

​ iii) What is this parcel of air's new temperature immediately after compression?

1037K

​ iv) How much work was done on this parcel of gas to compress it? (This is the negative
work done by the gas at this step).

627.6 J

Hydrostor’s critical efficiency innovation is to use a heat exchanger to extract the adiabatic heat
immediately after it is compressed and before it is pumped to the underground cavern. Let’s
suppose they use a one stage compressor which extracts heat to generate molten salt. Then just
prior to decompression, the molten salt is used to re-heat the air. Both of these heat exchanging
processes occur at the approximately constant high reservoir pressure. Let’s assume that the
molten salt has a working temperature of 1000K, including thermal losses during the
compression-decompression cycle.

Note: The actual Hydrostor design calls for multiple stages of compressors which extract heat into hot water, not salt.

​ v) Assume that this temperature difference from the post-compression air to the molten
salt is the same as the temperature difference from the molten salt to the pre-decompression air.

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ANSWER KEY

How much heat work has been lost in the pre-decompression air relative to the post-compression
air, taking the same parcel that was compressed in part ii)?
Note Cp= 1.15 kJ/kg/K in this temperature and pressure range.
74K temperature change,
so 101.3 J has been lost to the environment

​ vi) What is the cycle efficiency of this compressed air storage system?
Lost efficiency 101.3 J / 627.6 J
Cycle efficiency = 1- losses = 0.84

b) Rank the following energy storage systems by discharge time from shortest to longest:

💨
Li-ion battery, high-power superconductors, flywheels, pumped hydro, compressed air

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (milliseconds)

​ i) high-power superconductors
​ ii) flywheels
​ iii) Li-ion battery
​ iv) compressed air
​ v) pumped hydro
🦥 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (months)

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ANSWER KEY

10. How Electricity Moves

a) Derek from Veritasium has created the following simple circuit, consisting of a battery, a light
build, a switch, and two 300,000km loops of wire. The circuit is shown below.

(Note c is the speed of light, or 2.998 *108 m / s)

i. ) How soon after the switch is thrown will the light bulb (partially) turn on? (multiple choice)
a)​ 1m / c = 3.33564095 *10-9 s d)​ 2s
b)​ 0.5s e)​ Depends on current & wire diameter
c)​ 1s f)​ None of the above
ii) What causes the electrons to move down the wire far from the battery?
a)​ Electrons pushing further electrons along based on their drift velocity
b)​ An electrical field due to differences in charge density on the surface of the wire
c)​ An electrical field due to differences in charge density within the wire
d)​ A magnetic field created by the changing electric field

iii) Add "virtual" components to the circuit diagram below which explain these effects (Hint: this
is the distributed element model of a transmission line). Assume the ideal wire has 0 resistance.

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