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

http://www.iust.ac.ir/files/ee/kalantar_921e9/ISI_Journals/ISI%20[18].pdf

Dynamic behavior of a stand-alone hybrid power generation system of wind turbine, microturbine, solar array and battery storage

Optimal blade shape of a modified Savonius turbine using an obstacle shielding the returning blade

Performance tests on helical Savonius rotors

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

Experimental investigations on single stage modified Savonius rotor

The performance of single stage (rotor aspect ratio of 1.0), two stage Savonius rotor with rotor aspect ratios of 1.0 and 2.0 (stage aspect ratios of 0.50 and 1.0) and three stage Savonius rotor with rotor aspect ratios of 1.0 and 3.0 (stage aspect ratios of 0.33 and 1.0) are studied at different Reynolds numbers and compared at the same Reynolds number. The results show that the coefficient of power and the coefficient of torque increase with the increase in the Reynolds numbers for all the rotors tested. The coefficient of static torque is independent of the Reynolds number for all the rotors tested. The performance of two stage and three stage rotors remains the same even after increasing the stage aspect ratio and the rotor aspect ratio by a factor of two and three, respectively. For the same rotor aspect ratio of 1.0, by increasing the number of stages (stage aspect ratio decreases), the performance deteriorates in terms Cp and Ct. However, at the same stage aspect ratio of 1.0 and same Reynolds number, two and three stage rotors show the same performance in terms of coefficient of power and coefficient of torque. The variation in coefficient of static torque is lower for a three stage rotor when compared with the variation of coefficient of static torque for two stage or single stage rotor. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Experimental investigations on single stage, two stage and three stage conventional savonius rotor

The torque of a conventional Savonius rotor is studied experimentally for overlap ratio from 0.10 to 0.70, blade edge condition (flat and round) and the change in Reynolds number. The results indicate that the coefficient of static torque improves marginally for round edged rotors for rotor angles up to 45°. The coefficient of static torque decreases as the overlap ratio is increased to 0.70 from 0.50 and is independent of the Reynolds numbers studied in the range between 120000 to 200000. Wind tunnel blockage ratio is studied. The power coefficient increases with the increase in the Reynolds number, whereas the coefficient of static torque is independent of the Reynolds number in the range studied. The coefficient of power, torque coefficient and coefficient static torque are independent of blockage ratios at a given Reynolds number.

Experimental investigations on the effect of overlap ratio and blade edge conditions on the performance of conventional Savonius rotor

Wind machines convert kinetic energy of the wind into usable form of mechanical energy or electrical energy. The Savonius rotor is a vertical axis wind machine which is simple in design. High starting torque characteristics make it suitable for standalone power generation as well as water pumping applications. This paper reviews the literature on the performance characteristics of the Savonius rotor. Multi-bladed rotor, multistage rotor, shape of the blade, use of deflecting plate, guide vanes and nozzle augmentation are several ways to enhance the performance characteristics. This review would help an engineer in building an improved Savonius rotor for a given application.

M. A. Kamoji

Papers

Experimental investigations on single stage modified Savonius rotor

Performance tests on helical Savonius rotors

Experimental investigations on single stage, two stage and three stage conventional savonius rotor

Experimental investigations on the effect of overlap ratio and blade edge conditions on the performance of conventional Savonius rotor

Review on Savonius Rotor for Harnessing Wind Energy