A Performance Comparison of Three Micro-Sized Blade Rotor Designs for Malaysia Wind Speed Condition

2015 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
pp. 310-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norzanah Rosmin ◽  
N.A. Rahman ◽  
A.H. Mustaamal

Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are known as the most suitable wind turbine for small-scale electrical generation. There are many types of VAWTs and each of it has different performances and efficiency. In this work, three types of VAWT systems (Savo-B2, Savo-B4 and Giro-B3) were designed, constructed and tested to investigate the amount of electrical power that could be generated under several constant wind speeds. The blade rotors were designed and built using 2 mm thickness of aluminum plate. The tip speed ratios, power coefficients, blade rotations for each blade rotor and the simplicity of the proposed designs were studied via an experimental setup. The experimental work demonstrates that Savo-B2 provides the highest power coefficient which is up to 0.32. Meanwhile, Giro-B3 offers the fastest rotational blade speed, up to 20.53 rad/s, among the three designs.

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidong Zhang ◽  
Kaiqi Zhu ◽  
Junwei Zhong ◽  
Ling Zhang ◽  
Tieliu Jiang ◽  
...  

The central shaft is an important and indispensable part of a small scale urban vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). Normally, it is often operated at the same angular velocity as the wind turbine. The shedding vortices released by the rotating shaft have a negative effect on the blades passing the wake of the wind shaft. The objective of this study is to explore the influence of the wake of rotating shaft on the performance of the VAWT under different operational and physical parameters. The results show that when the ratio of the shaft diameter to the wind turbine diameter (α) is 9%, the power loss of the wind turbine in one revolution increases from 0% to 25% relative to that of no-shaft wind turbine (this is a numerical experiment for which the shaft of the VAWT is removed in order to study the interactions between the shaft and blade). When the downstream blades pass through the wake of the shaft, the pressure gradient of the suction side and pressure side is changed, and an adverse effect is also exerted on the lift generation in the blades. In addition, α = 5% is a critical value for the rotating shaft wind turbine (the lift-drag ratio trend of the shaft changes differently). In order to figure out the impacts of four factors; namely, tip speed ratios (TSRs), α, turbulence intensity (TI), and the relative surface roughness value (ks/ds) on the performance of a VAWT system, the Taguchi method is employed in this study. The influence strength order of these factors is featured by TSRs > ks/ds > α > TI. Furthermore, within the range we have analyzed in this study, the optimal power coefficient (Cp) occurred under the condition of TSR = 4, α = 5%, ks/ds = 1 × 10−2, and TI = 8%.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Bagus Alit ◽  
Rudy Sutanto ◽  
I Made Mara ◽  
Mirmanto Mirmanto

Savonius turbine is a type of vertical-axis wind turbines. The turbine has a potential to be developed as it has a simple construction and is suitable for low wind speeds. However, the turbine is still rarely used because of the low efficiency of the turbine compared to other turbines. The low efficiency of the turbine is due to the negative moment. Some efforts have been done to reduce the negative moment such as by adding a wind concentrator. The wind concentrator can steer the incoming wind toward the turbine blades that generate positive moments, consequently, the generated power increases. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of the number and diameter of the Savonius blade wind turbine with an additional concentrator. The concentrator had a concentration ratio of 6:1 and it was tested at the lower wind speeds of 2-5 m/s. The result shows that adding a wind concentrator can increase the rotational speed of the rotor, power coefficient, and the turbine power. The Savonius turbine with two blades has the best performance compared to the three and four blades. The Savonius blade wind turbine with the rotor diameter of 12 cm is the best Savonius turbine for the concentration ratio of 6:1.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaprawi Sahim ◽  
Dyos Santoso ◽  
Dewi Puspitasari

Renewable sources of energy, abundant in availability, are needed to be exploited with adaptable technology. For wind energy, the wind turbine is very well adapted to generate electricity. Among the different typologies, small scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) present the greatest potential for off-grid power generation at low wind speeds. The combined Darrieus-Savonius wind turbine is intended to enhance the performance of the Darrieus rotor in low speed. In combined turbine, the Savonius buckets are always attached at the rotor shaft and the Darrieus blades are installed far from the shaft which have arm attaching to the shaft. A simple combined turbine offers two rotors on the same shaft. The combined turbine that consists of two Darrieus and Savonius blades was tested in wind tunnel test section with constant wind velocity and its performance was assessed in terms of power and torque coefficients. The study gives the effect of the radius ratio between Savonius and Darrieus rotor on the performance of the turbine. The results show that there is a significant influence on the turbine performance if the radius ratio was changed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Erfort ◽  
Theodor W. von Backström ◽  
Gerhard Venter

Vertical axis wind turbines have a place in the small scale renewable energy market. They are not currently implemented on a commercial scale but have found a niche space in urban areas. Here, the turbulent wind conditions and limited space are more easily tapped into with a vertical axis wind turbine. However, the challenges facing these types of turbines have hampered deployment. One of these issues is the fluctuating torque experienced during operation, which can lead to over-designed power trains. Genetic- and gradient-based optimization is applied to an analytical model of a vertical axis wind turbine, in order to reduce the torque fluctuation while attempting to maintain a high power coefficient. The reduction in torque ripple is achieved through a sinusoidal pitching motion of the blades. The torque ripple can be reduced by 10% with a similar reduction in power coefficient.


2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 363-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Biswas ◽  
R. Gupta ◽  
K.K. Sharma

Savonius vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) have advantages over horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), such as simple construction, acceptance of wind from any direction without orientation, self-starting, inexpensive etc. These advantages make it a viable proposition for small-scale applications in developing countries. In spite of the above advantages, VAWT are not gaining popularity mainly because of their poor efficiency. Hence, a three-bucket Savonius model rotor, having 8 cm bucket diameter and 20 cm height, was designed, fabricated, and tested in a sub-sonic wind tunnel. Provisions for variations of ‘blade’ overlap were included. Experiments were conducted for overlap conditions in the range of 16% to 35%. From the experimental investigations, power-coefficients (Cp) were calculated with and without blockage correction factors for tunnel interference. In both analyses, the power-coefficient increased if there was overlap, with an optimum value at 20% overlap of 47% without blockage correction, and 38% with blockage correction.


Author(s):  
Jelena Svorcan ◽  
◽  
Ognjen Peković ◽  
Toni Ivanov ◽  
Miloš Vorkapić ◽  
...  

With wind energy extraction constantly increasing, the interest in small-scale urban wind turbines is also expanding. Given that these machines often work in adverse operating conditions (Earth’s boundary layer, vortex trails of surrounding objects, small and changeable wind speeds), additional elements that locally augment wind velocity and facilitate turbine start may be installed. This paper investigates possible benefits of adding an optimized flow concentrator to a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) rotor. Three-dimensional, unsteady, turbulent, incompressible flow simulations of both isolated rotor consisting of three straight blades and a rotor with flow concentrator have been performed in ANSYS FLUENT by finite volume method for several different operational regimes. This type of flow simulations is challenging since flow angles are high, numerous flow phenomena and instabilities are present and the interaction between the blades and detached vortices can be significant. The rotational motion of the blades is solved by the unsteady Sliding Mesh (SM) approach. Flow field is modeled by Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations with k-ω SST turbulence model used for closure. Both quantitative and qualitative examinations of the obtained numerical results are presented. In particular, the two computed power coefficient curves are compared and the advantages of installing a flow concentrator are accentuated.


Author(s):  
Jim Shih-Jiun Chen ◽  
Zhi Chen ◽  
Saroj Biswas ◽  
Jiun-Jih Miau ◽  
Cheng-Han Hsieh

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) have been valued in recent years for their low manufacturing cost, structural simplicity and convenience of applications in urban settings. Despite their advantages, VAWTs have several drawbacks including low power coefficient, poor self-starting ability, negative torque and the associated cyclic stress at certain azimuth angles. Using pitch control ideas, our research is aimed at solving the above problems. In this study, a small-scale Giromill VAWT using three NACA-0015 airfoils with a cord length of 0.09 m and a wind turbine radius of 0.6 m is investigated. During each rotation, the angle of attack depends on the wind velocity, angular velocity and current azimuth angle for each turbine blade. Negative torques at certain angles are attributed to the inherent unsteady aerodynamic behavior at high angles of attack. Without optimal pitch control, the Double-Multiple Streamtube (DMS) model predicts negative torques at certain azimuth angles and very low power coefficients for tip speed ratios below 2.5. The unfavorable negative torques are eliminated using an optimal pitch control strategy, which maximizes the tangential force coefficients and thus the torque coefficients by iterations of all possible relative angles of attack for various tip speed ratios. As a result, the power coefficient is significantly improved especially at low tip speed ratios in the range of zero to three (λ = 0 – 3). Blade pitch control can also solve the self-starting problem and reduce the vibration of vertical axis wind turbines.


Author(s):  
Sukanta Roy ◽  
Prasenjit Mukherjee ◽  
Ujjwal K. Saha

The Savonius-style wind turbine, a class of vertical axis wind turbines, can be a viable option for small scale off-grid electricity generation in the context of renewable energy applications. A better self-starting capability at low wind speeds is one of the major advantages of this turbine. However, as reported in open literature, the power coefficient of the conventional design is found to be inferior as compared to its counterparts. In this regard, a new blade design has been developed. In the present investigation, the aerodynamic performance of this newly designed turbine is assessed under an oriented jet. This is affected by installing deflectors upstream of the turbine blades. The intention of this study is to maximize the utilization of wind energy at the exhaust systems of several practical applications. Experiments are carried out in a low speed wind tunnel at a wind speed of 6.2 m/s. The gradual loads applied to the turbine, and the corresponding rotational speeds are recorded. Power and torque coefficients are calculated at various mechanical loads. Further, all the estimated data are corrected by a suitable correction factor to account for the wind tunnel blockage effects. The results obtained are compared with the experimental data of modified Bach and conventional designs. The results have shown a significant improvement in the performance of newly designed Savonius-style wind turbine under the concentrated and oriented jet.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 63-71
Author(s):  
Yui-Chuin Shiah ◽  
Chia Hsiang Chang ◽  
Yu-Jen Chen ◽  
Ankam Vinod Kumar Reddy

ABSTRACT Generally, the environmental wind speeds in urban areas are relatively low due to clustered buildings. At low wind speeds, an aerodynamic stall occurs near the blade roots of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), leading to decay of the power coefficient. The research targets to design canards with optimal parameters for a small-scale HAWT system operated at variable rotational speeds. The design was to enhance the performance by delaying the aerodynamic stall near blade roots of the HAWT to be operated at low wind speeds. For the optimal design of canards, flow fields of the sample blades with and without canards were both simulated and compared with the experimental data. With the verification of our simulations, Taguchi analyses were performed to seek the optimum parameters of canards. This study revealed that the peak performance of the optimized canard system operated at 540 rpm might be improved by ∼35%.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 404-415
Author(s):  
H. Abu-Thuraia ◽  
C. Aygun ◽  
M. Paraschivoiu ◽  
M.A. Allard

Advances in wind power and tidal power have matured considerably to offer clean and sustainable energy alternatives. Nevertheless, distributed small-scale energy production from wind in urban areas has been disappointing because of very low efficiencies of the turbines. A novel wind turbine design — a seven-bladed Savonius vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) that is horizontally oriented inside a diffuser shroud and mounted on top of a building — has been shown to overcome the drawback of low efficiency. The objective this study was to analyze the performance of this novel wind turbine design for different wind directions and for different guide vanes placed at the entrance of the diffuser shroud. The flow field over the turbine and guide vanes was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on a 3D grid for multiple tip-speed ratios (TSRs). Four wind directions and three guide-vane angles were analyzed. The wind-direction analysis indicates that the power coefficient decreases to about half when the wind is oriented at 45° to the main axis of the turbine. The analysis of the guide vanes indicates a maximum power coefficient of 0.33 at a vane angle of 55°.


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