This book presents the papers given at a workshop on wind turbines. Topics considered at the workshop included aerodynamics, load conditions, Darrieus rotors, composite materials, turbine blades, fabrication, fiberglass, vibrations, wind power plants, control systems, data acquisition systems, performance testing, horizontal axis turbines, vertical axis turbines, tornado turbines, electric generators, and wind turbine arrays.

Wind energy systems

Meeting future world energy needs while addressing climatic changes has led to greater strain on conventional power sources. One of the viable sustainable energy sources is wind. But the installation large scale wind farms has a potential impact on the climatic conditions, hence a decentralized small scale wind turbines is a sustainable option. This paper presents review of on different types of small scale wind turbines i.e., horizontal axis and vertical axis wind turbines. The performance, blade design, control and manufacturing of horizontal axis wind turbines were reviewed. Vertical axis wind turbines were categorized based on experimental and numerical studies. Also, the positioning of wind turbines and aero-acoustic aspects were presented. Additionally, lessons learnt from various studies/countries on actual installation of small wind turbines were presented.

A review on small scale wind turbines

This paper presents a review on the performance of Savonius wind turbines. This type of turbine is unusual and its application for obtaining useful energy from air stream is an alternative to the use of conventional wind turbines. Simple construction, high start up and full operation moment, wind acceptance from any direction, low noise and angular velocity in operation, reducing wear on moving parts, are some advantages of using this type of machine. Over the years, numerous adaptations for this device were proposed. The variety of possible configurations of the rotor is another advantage in using such machine. Each different arrangement of Savonius rotor affects its performance. Savonius rotor performance is affected by operational conditions, geometric and air flow parameters. The range of reported values for maximum averaged power coefficient includes values around 0.05–0.30 for most settings. Performance gains of up to 50% for tip speed ratio of maximum averaged power coefficient are also reported with the use of stators. Present article aims to gather relevant information about Savonius turbines, bringing a discussion about their performance. It is intended to provide useful knowledge for future studies.

A review on the performance of Savonius wind turbines

Optimum design configuration of Savonius rotor through wind tunnel experiments

https://vawt.ro/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/savonius-test.pdf

Experimental investigations on single stage modified Savonius rotor

Fifteen configurations of a Savonius rotor wind turbine were tested in the Vought Corporation Systems Division 4.9- x 6.1-m Low Speed Wind Tunnel to determine aerodynamic performance. The range of values of the varied parameters was as follows: number of buckets, 2 and 3; nominal freestream velocity, 7 and 14 m/s; Reynolds number per meter, 4.32 x 10/sup 5/ and 8.67 x 10/sup 5/; rotor height, 1 and 1.5 m; rotor diameter (nominal), 1 m; bucket overlap, 0.0 to 0.1 m. The measured test variables were torque, rotational speed, and tunnel conditions. It is concluded that increasing Reynolds number and/or aspect ratio improves performance. The recommended configuration consists of two sets of two-bucket rotors, rotated 90 deg apart, with each rotor having a dimensionless gap width of 0.1 to 0.15.

/pdf/wind-tunnel-performance-data-for-two-and-three-bucket-15aa2ffxt9.pdf

Bennie Francis Blackwell

Papers

Wind tunnel performance data for two- and three-bucket Savonius rotors