AAS Capstone Assig

AAS CAPSTONE ASSIG (Ideation)
Student:
Professor:
Course title:
Date:
Overview of the technology selected
The selected new, innovative technology is vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) that can be utilized at every household in order to generate electricity and thereby make households become electricity independent and stop relying on electricity companies. This technology is novel and is currently not available in the United States market. VAWT is basically understood to mean a kind of wind turbine wherein the main rotor shaft is set in a vertical manner and the key components are situated at the turbine’s base (Shires, 2013). VAWTs have several advantages in regards to noise, power generation, as well as bird-friendliness making it a superior technology relative to the commonly used horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs). VAWTs are able to catch wind from any direction and this makes the technology particularly advantageous in small-scale situations like rooftop or urban settings. In general, vertical-axis wind turbines are more effective compared to horizontal-axis turbines since they are more inexpensive, their sizes are relatively small making them easier to be mounted at ground level, are safe for the birds and are portable. These advantages, along with the fact that they have lower costs of maintenance make them the best solution for home use (Bedon et al., 2013).
Ideation process for vertical-axis wind turbine technology and the alternative concepts considered
Ideation process is basically understood as the creative process used to generate, develop and communicate new ideas. The process consists of all the phases involved in a thought process: innovation, development and actualization. In coming up with VAWT technology, the following ideation process was used. (i) Defining objectives and goals – the objectives and goals for the developing the new technology were clearly identified and defined. In developing the new product, the objectives and goals included the following: to develop a wind turbine using novel technology that would be more efficient and designed for household use. This is meant to reduce dependence of households on the costly electricity supplied by national utility firms. At present, the vast majority of households are dependent on utility or power companies to supply them with electricity. The designers/innovators wanted to save the users electricity costs and also give them reliable electricity by providing them with local, free-for-use solution powered by nature's wind (Chong et al., 2013). The other objective is to develop an alternative to the commonly used horizontal-axis wind turbine, and to give buyers a better, alternative choice.
(ii) Generating ideas: A number of ideas were developed following extensive research regarding how to best develop the technology. These ideas were generated through face-to-face workshops, crowd-sourcing techniques, and holding discussions with experts in the area of vertical-axis wind turbine technology. (iii) Listing possible product features: After ideas were generated, the possible features of the product were listed including such things as: turbine that produces 2,000 kilowatts of electricity per year, which is adequate for residential use; reliable and can work continuously under normal operating conditions and with a mean time between failures (MTBF) of six months. It should work with low airspeeds of at least 4 m/s. It should be cost-effective and cheap costing about $300. It should be easily maintained and requiring regular maintenance occasionally of 2 months between maintenance. It should be constructed using components and materials that are available locally primarily for easy replacement parts meaning that about three quarters of total product materials need to be locally available (D...