Coupled Time-Domain Investigation on a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Supported on a Floating Platform

The dynamic responses of a floating vertical axis wind turbine(VAWT)are assessed on the basis of an aero-hydro-mooring coupled model.The aerodynamic loads on the rotor are acquired with double-multiple stream tube method.First-and second-order wave loads are calculated on the basis of 3D potential theory.The mooring loads are simulated by catenary theory.The coupled model is established,and a numerical code is programmed to investigate the dynamic response of the semi-submersible VAWT.A model test is then conducted,and the numerical code is validated considering the hydrodynamic performance of the floating buoy.The responses of the floating VAWT are studied through the numerical simulation under the sea states of wind and regular/irregular waves.The effects of the second-order wave force on the motions are also investigated.Results show that the slow-drift responses in surge and pitch motions are significantly excited by the second-order wave forces.Furthermore,the effect of foundation motion on aerodynamic loads is examined.The normal and tangential forces of the blades demonstrate a slight increase due to the coupling effect between the buoy motion and the aerodynamic loads.

Studies on Performance of Distributed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine under Building Turbulence

As a part of the new energy development trend,distributed power generation may fully utilize a variety of decentralized energy sources.Buildings close to the installation location,besides,may have a considerable impact on the wind turbines’operation.Using a combined vertical axis wind turbine with an S-shaped lift outer blade and-shaped drag inner blade,this paper investigates how a novel type of upstream wall interacts with the incident wind at various speeds,the influence region of the turbulent vortex,and performance variation.The results demonstrate that the building’s turbulence affects the wind’s horizontal and vertical direction,as well as its speed,in downstreamplaces.The wall’s effect on wind speed changing in the downstreamarea is thoroughly investigated.It turns out that while choosing an installation location,disturbing flow areas or low disturbing flow zones should be avoided to have the least impact on wind turbine performance.

Effect of blade pitch angle on aerodynamic performance of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine

Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources, straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine(S-VAWT) appears to be particularly promising for the shortage of fossil fuel reserves owing to its distinct advantages, but suffers from poor self-starting and low power coefficient. Variable-pitch method was recognized as an attractive solution to performance improvement, thus majority efforts had been devoted into blade pitch angle effect on aerodynamic performance. Taken into account the local flow field of S-VAWT, mathematical model was built to analyze the relationship between power outputs and pitch angle. Numerical simulations on static and dynamic performances of blade were carried out and optimized pitch angle along the rotor were presented. Comparative analyses of fixed pitch and variable-pitch S-VAWT were conducted, and a considerable improvement of the performance was obtained by the optimized blade pitch angle, in particular, a relative increase of the power coefficient by more than 19.3%. It is further demonstrated that the self-starting is greatly improved with the optimized blade pitch angle.

Blade pitch control of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine

Collective pitch control and individual pitch control algorithms were present for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine to improve the self-starting capacity.Comparative analysis of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine(SB-VAWT) with or without pitch control was conducted from the aspects of aerodynamic force,flow structure and power coefficient.The computational fluid dynamics(CFD) prediction results show a significant increase in power coefficient for SB-VAWT with pitch control.According to the aerodynamic forces and total torque coefficient obtained at various tip speed ratios(TSRs),the results indicate that the blade pitch method can increase the power output and decrease the deformation of blade;especially,the total torque coefficient of blade pitch control at TSR 1.5 is about 2.5 times larger than that of fixed pitch case.Furthermore,experiment was carried out to verify the feasibility of pitch control methods.The results show that the present collective pitch control and individual pitch control methods can improve the self-starting capacity of SB-VAWT,and the former is much better and its proper operating TSRs ranges from 0.4 to 0.6.

A wind tunnel experiment of self-starting capability for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine

In this study,wind tunnel experiment was carried out to investigate the self-staring capability for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine.The flow visualization also was been performed at the rest of the rotor.The effect of the azimuthal angle of blade position relative to wind direction on the self-starting capability was discussed based on the results of flow visualization.The torque and centripetal force of the rotor when the self-starting behavior starts were roughly calculated with the flow visualization results of the rotor.It is suggested that there exists the condition of wind speed and configuration of the blade position of the rotor at the rest of rotor to the reach to situational rotation number.

A Review on the Evolution of Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine: Small Wind Turbines

Wind energy witnessed tremendous growth in the past decade and emerged as the most sought renewable energy source after solar energy. Though the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) is preferred for multi-megawatt power generation, Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) is as competitive as HAWT. The current study aims to summarize the development of VAWT, in particular, Darrieus turbine from the past to the project that is underway. The reason for the technical challenges and past failures are discussed. Various configurations of VAWT have been assessed in terms of reliability, components and low wind speed performance. Innovative concepts and the feasibility to scale up for megawatt electricity generation, especially in offshore environments are investigated. This paper is a modest attempt to highlight the state-of-the-art information on the ongoing developments focusing on decentralized power generation. This review is envisioned as an information hub for the major developments in VAWT and its technical advancements so far.

Optimized Design of H-Type Vertical Axis Wind Airfoil at Multiple Angles of Attack

Numerical simulations are conducted to improve the energy acquisition efficiency of H-type vertical axis wind turbines through the optimization of the related blade airfoil aerodynamic performance.The Bézier curve is initi-ally used tofit the curve profile of a NACA2412 airfoil,and the moving asymptote algorithm is then exploited to optimize the design of the considered H-type vertical-axis wind-turbine blade airfoil for a certain attack angle.The results show that the maximum lift coefficient of the optimized airfoil is 8.33%higher than that of the original airfoil.The maximum lift-to-drag ratio of the optimized airfoil exceeds the maximum lift-to-drag ratio of the ori-ginal airfoil by 11.22%.Moreover,the power coefficient is increased by 12.19%and the torque coefficient of the wind turbine is significantly improved.

CFD-Based Performance Analysis and Experimental Investigation of Design Factors of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines under Low Wind Speed Conditions in Thailand

This paper presents effects of design factors on mechanical performance of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs), and an experimental investigation of optimal VAWT performance under low wind speed conditions in Thailand. Design factors include types of wind turbines, number of blades, types of materials, height-to-radius ratios, and design modifications. Potential VAWT models with different design factors are numerically analyzed within a virtual wind tunnel at various wind speeds by utilizing XflowTM?Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. The performance curves of each VAWT are obtained as plots of power coefficients against tip speed ratios. It is found that the type of wind turbine, number of blades, and height-to-radius ratio have significant effects on mechanical performance whereas types of materials result in shifts of operating speeds of VAWTs. Accordingly, an optimal VAWT prototype is developed to operate under actual low speed wind conditions. The performance curve from experimental results agrees with the CFD results. The proposed methodology can be used in the computer design of VAWTs to improve mechanical performance before physical fabrication.

Performance analysis of 20 Pole 1.5 KW Three Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator for low Speed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

This paper gives performance analysis of a three phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) connected to a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). Low speed wind condition (less than 5 m/s) is taken in consideration and the entire simulation is carried in Matlab/Simulink environment. The rated power for the generator is fixed at 1.5 KW and number of pole at 20. It is observed under low wind speed of6 m/s, a turbine having approximately1 mof radius and2.6 mof height develops 150 Nm mechanical torque that can generate power up to 1.5 KW. The generator is designed using modeling tool and is fabricated. The fabricated generator is tested in the laboratory with the simulation result for the error analysis. The range of error is about 5%-27% for the same output power value. The limitations and possible causes for error are presented and discussed.

Characteristic Aerodynamic Loads and Load Effects on the Dynamics of a Floating Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

The development of offshore wind farms in deep water favors floating wind turbine designs, but floating horizontal axis wind turbines are facing the challenge of high cost of energy(CoE). The development of innovative designs to reduce the CoE is thus desirable, such as floating vertical axis wind turbines(VAWTs). This study demonstrates the characteristics of aerodynamic loads and load effects of a two-bladed floating VAWT supported by a semi-submersible platform. Fully coupled simulations are performed using the time-domain aero-hydro-servo-elastic code SIMO-RIFLEX-AC. It is found that thrust, lateral force, and aerodynamic torque vary considerably and periodically with the rotor azimuth angle. However, the variation in the generator torque can be alleviated to some extent by the control strategy applied. Moreover, the variations of platform motions and tensions in the mooring lines are strongly influenced by turbulent winds, whereas those of tower-base bending moments are not. The towerbase bending moments exhibit notable two-per-revolution(2P) response characteristics.

Vertical axis wind turbine with omni-directional-guide-vane for urban high-rise buildings

A novel shrouded wind-solar hybrid renewable energy and rain water harvester with an omni-directional-guide-vane(ODGV) for urban high-rise application is introduced.The ODGV surrounds the vertical axis wind turbine(VAWT) and enhances the VAWT performance by increasing the on-coming wind speed and guiding it to an optimum flow angle before it interacts with the rotor blades.An ODGV scaled model was built and tested in the laboratory.The experimental results show that the rotational speed of the VAWT increases by about 2 times.Simulations show that the installation of the ODGV increases the torque output of a single-bladed VAWT by 206% for tip speed ratio of 0.4.The result also reveals that higher positive torque can be achieved when the blade tangential force at all radial positions is optimized.In conclusion,the ODGV improves the power output of a VAWT and this integrated design promotes the installation of wind energy systems in urban areas.

Dynamic Circulation Control for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine using Virtual Solidity Matching

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) with fixed pitch blades have a limited power capture performance envelope as the Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) changes. Circulation Control (CC) has been proposed and simulated to possibly increase power capture of a VAWT using constant CC jet momentum, but a practical method of minimizing CC usage has yet to be explored. In addition, VAWTs are typically limited in power capture performance either by a maximum peak at a small set of TSR or wide operating TSR at fractions of the peak performance based on the design solidity. Both the reduced jet usage and solidity limitation were addressed by developing a method of dynamically using CC to perform a virtual solidity change. The developed method described within this work used CC to change blade aerodynamics to specifically match a maximum performing static solidity or wake shape at a given TSR. Simulation results using an existing aerodynamics model indicated a significant reduction in the re-quired CC jet momentum compared to a constant CC system along with control over power capture for a CC-VAWT.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Aerodynamic Performance of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Models with Various Blade Designs

Due to the importance and advantages of Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) over traditional horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs), this paper is implemented. Savonius turbines with drag-based rotors are adopted from the two more extensive arrangements of vertical wind turbines because of their advantages. In this paper, six diverse rotor plans with measure up to cleared regions are analyzed with exploratory wind burrow testing and numerical reenactments. These proposed models incorporate a conventional Savonius with two different edges criteria and 90 degree helical bend models with two, three and four sharp edges. The models were designed using SolidWorks software then the physical models were 3D printed for testing. A subsonic open-sort wind burrow was utilized for Revolution per Minute (RPM) and torque estimation over a scope of wind speeds. ANSYS Fluent reenactments were utilized for dissecting streamlined execution by using moving reference outline and sliding lattice display methods. A 3-dimensional and transient strategy was utilized for precisely tackling torque and power coefficients. The five new rotor geometries have important advantages such as making a focal point of weight advance from the hub of revolution and causing more noteworthy torque on the turbine shaft contrasted with the customary Savonius turbine. Our new models with the names of CC model and QM model display cross-areas lessen the aggregate scope of negative torque on the edges by 20 degrees, contrasted with the customary Savonius demonstrate. Helical plans are better spread the connected torque over a total transformation resulting in positive torque over every single operational point. Moreover, helical models with 2 and 3 cutting edges have the best self-starting ability in low wind speeds. Helical VAWT with 3 edges starts revolution of 35 RPM at only 1.4 m/s wind speed under no generator stacking. The most noteworthy power coefficient is accomplished, both tentatively and numerically, by the helical VAWT with 2 sharp edges.

Analysis of static structural mechanics of vertical axis wind turbine with lift-drag combined starting structures

The finite element analysis was carried out for a composite vertical axis wind turbine with lift-drag combined starting structures to ensure the structure safety of a vertical axis wind turbine(VAWT).The static and modal analysis of rotor of a composite vertical axis wind turbine was conducted by using ANSYS software.The relevant contour sketch of stress and deformation was obtained.The analysis was made for static structural mechanics,modal analysis of rotor and the total deformation and vibration profile to evaluate the influence on the working capability of the rotor.The analysis results show that the various structure parameters lie in the safety range of structural mechanics in the relative standards.The analysis showing the design safe to operate the rotor of a vertical axis wind turbine.The methods used in this study can be used as a good reference for the structural mechanics′analysis of VAWTs.

Performance Improvement by Control of Wingtip Vortices for Vertical Axis Type Wind Turbine

The present paper describes control of wingtip vortices generated by vertical type wind turbine. The wind turbine consists of three circular cylinders. Each cylinder rotates on its own vertical axis and moves in orbit. It is known that wingtip vortices give rise to decrease of power generation performance as well as aerodynamic noise. Therefore, the goal of the study is to control wingtip vortices and to improve power generation performance. Numerical study was conducted for 14 models to find out control factors to suppress wingtip vortices. Numerical simulation visualized wingtips by streamlines as well as pressure distribution on the circular cylinder for evaluating Magnus effect. As a result, the following findings were obtained: 1) Installation of fully covered protection plates at both ends of the circular cylinder blades is greatly effective to suppress the wingtip vortices. 2) Curved wings attached to each cylinder are more effective to enhance power generation efficiency than flat ones, due to great increase in Magnus effect caused by large pressure difference on both sides of the curved wing. The power efficiency of the optimized model was improved up to 2.8%, which means 11 times that of the original model.

Roadside Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT): An Effective Evolutionary Design for Australian Highway Commuters with Minimum Dynamic Stall

There are multiple approaches of design for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) that have been studied by engineers and leaps have been made in high performing innovations. By harnessing the energy from these wind turbines, the problem of roadside lights shortage can be solved. This can help to prevent the accidents while providing clean energy. The importance of coastal areas like Australian beaches regarding wind turbines cannot be neglected as a higher number of people like to live near coastal vicinity. Also, most of the freeways in Australia expand across the sea. In this paper, one such design has been analyzed to implement across the highways. But still with many advancements in technology, an immense gap is present in the research of implementation of VAWTs. The design discussed in the current study is a VAWT which can be installed on the side of the highway roads to provide clean and cheap energy for illuminating the roads. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was conducted on the blades of the turbine to analyze its performance under operating conditions. Furthermore, the paper elaborates the generation of drag and lift on the blades of the turbine. A wind speed of 60 km/h just produced 6.1 N force on the turbine blades as a result of drag. The cost analysis showed the cheap production of such mechanism that can provide longer service when installed.

Structural Design Optimization of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Seismic Qualification and Lightweight

Recently, there is a growing interest in seismic qualification of ridges, buildings and mechanical equipment worldwide due to increase of accidents caused by earthquake. Severe earthquake can bring serious problems in the wind turbines and eventually lead to an interruption to their electric power supply. To overcome and prevent these undesirable problems, structural design optimization of a small vertical axis wind turbine has performed, in this study, for seismic qualification and lightweight by using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) subject to some design constraints such as the maximum stress limit, maximum deformation limit, and seismic acceleration gain limit. Also, the structural design optimizations were conducted for the four different initial design variable sets to confirm robustness of the optimization algorithm used. As a result, all the optimization results for the 4 different initial designs showed good agreement with each other properly. Thus the structural design optimization of a small vertical-axis wind turbine could be successfully accomplished.

A Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with a Directed Guide Vane Row-Effect of Guide Vane Geometry on the Performance-

The objective of this study is to show the effect of guide vane geometry on the performance. In order to overcomethe disadvantages of vertical axis wind turbine, a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (S-VAWT) witha directed guide vane row has been proposed and tested by the authors. According to previous studies, it wasclarified that the performance of the turbine can be improved by means of the directed guide vane row. However,the guide vane geometry of S-VAWT has not been optimized so far. In order to clarify the effect of guide vanegeometry, the effects of setting angle and gap between rotor blade and guide vane on power coefficient and startingcharacteristic were investigated in the experiments. The experimental study of the proposed wind turbinewas carried out by a wind tunnel. The wind tunnel with a diameter of 1.8m is open jet type. The wind velocityis 8 m/s in the experiments. The rotor has three straight blades with a profide of NACA0018 and a chord lengthof 100 mm, a diameter of 0.6 m and a blade height of 0.7 m. The guide vane row consists of 3 arc plates.

Wind Tunnel Test and Numerical Computation on Ice Accretion on Blade Airfoil for Straight-bladed VAWT

To invest the condition of ice accretion on the blade used for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine （SB-VAWT）, wind tunnel tests were carried out on a blade with NACA0015 airfoil by using a small simple icing wind tunnel. Tests were carried out at some typical attack angles under different wind speeds and flow discharges of a water spray with wind. The icing shape and area on blade surface were recorded and measured, Then the numerical computation was carded out to calculate the lift and drag coefficients of the blade before and after ice accretion according to the experiment result, the effect of icing on the aerodynamic characteristics of blade were discussed.

Effects of Offset Blade on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Small-Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

A new way of connecting blade to rotor shaft named offset blade method was proposed for straightbladed vertical axis wind turbine(SB-VAWT) in this study. In order to invest the efficiency of this method and effects of main parameters including offset length and blade airfoil on improving the output power performance and static starting characteristics, numerical simulations and wind tunnel tests were carried out. Four kinds of blade airfoil including NACA0012, NACA0018, NACA0024 and S809 were selected to analyze the influence of blade thickness and symmetry on SB-VAWT with offset blade. Numerical simulations were firstly carried out on output power for the rotor with 6 kinds of offset length for each airfoil. Wind tunnel tests were also carried out to compare with the results of simulations. The flow fields of rotor with different offset lengths were simulated and the effects of offset blade were analyzed. The optimum offset length among all studied for output power performance was found. Furthermore, the static starting torque and aerodynamic force characteristics of the rotor with optimum offset length were researched. According to the results, appropriate offset length can improve the output power characteristics and smooth the fluctuations of the static torque during one rotational period. The best offset length varies with the airfoil.