Design and field testing of a Savonius wind pump’s rotor blade for pumping water in rural areas

TLDR: In this paper, a Savonius rotor blade was developed and compared with the existing blades in terms of performance and production cost with a domestic fan and a wind speed of 6.94 m/s, which led to a conclusion that it was possible to locally develop a wind conversion technology that is affordable, efficient and adaptable for Kenya's average wind speed.

Abstract: Studies indicate that vertical axis wind turbines provide a more reliable energy conversion technology, as compared to horizontal axis wind turbines, especially in areas of lowly rated and/or uncertain wind speeds. The challenge however is the development of an efficient Savonius rotor blade which is affordable to low income earners in Kenya. The author researched on different technical design solutions and their advantages in terms of noise, shadows and impacts on birds and wildlife. The objectives of this research were thus to design and develop a Savonius rotor blade locally and compare its performance and production cost with the existing blades. From the developed blade, a laboratory test was conducted using a domestic fan and a torque of 15.46NM at a wind speed of 6.94 m/s was obtained which led to a conclusion that it was possible to locally develop a wind conversion technology that is affordable, efficient and adaptable for Kenya’s average wind speed of 4m/s.