Modeling Analysis and Experimental Research on a Combined-Type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Wei Kou, Xinchun Shi, Bin Yuan, Lintao Fan

Department of Electrical Engineering North China Electric Power University Baoding, China kouweichris@yahoo.com.cn
AbstractIn order to overcome the inherent shortcomings of onefold airfoil vertical axis turbine, this paper presents a design combines a two-stage Savonius (S-type) rotor with a three-fan straight bladed Darrieus (H-type) rotor through an overrun clutch. This hybrid vertical axis turbine has lower self-starting wind speed and better conversion efficiency. The multi-stream tube model has been used to analyze and calculate the performance of the combined type straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (CT-SBVAWT). A prototype whose sweeping area is 2.15m2 is designed and manufactured and the Preliminary performance test is carried out. At the 10 m/s wind speed, the turbine can reliably self-start even when the load torque is 3.1 Nm. When the wind velocity change from 0~12m/s, the experimental curve about output power vs. wind speed has the double features of both the drag-type vertical axis wind turbine and the lift-type vertical axis wind turbine, that is a good starting characteristics and better energy utilization at higher flow speeds. Keywords-combined-type blade; multi-streamtube; vertical axis; Savonius rotor; Darrieus rotor;

efficiency of S-Blade is low in higher wind speed, but it has good starting performance and effective use of a wide range of wind speed. H-Blade has high wind energy utilization, simple airfoil profile, low processing costs, but because of its structural limitations, the traditional H-Blade is more difficult to achieve self-starting. In order to give consideration to both self-starting and high efficiency, the paper presents a design of a combined type straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (CT-SBVAWT) capable of self-starting at the wind speed of 1.4m/s and producing overall mechanical power approximately 12% more than straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (SB-VAWT). II. STRUCTURE OF THE COMBINED BLADE

I.

INTRODUCTION

The rapid development of wind power generation reflects the global concept of environmental protection and sustainable development. Europes wind capacity could reach a staggering 60 billion watts by 2010, enough to serve 75 million people, according to the European Wind Energy Association. (By comparison, a large nuclear plant has a capacity of about one billion watts.) The wind turbine manufacturing technology, closely related with wind power generation, is also from emerging to mature. Wind turbine vane airfoil can be broadly split into two basic types: horizontal axis type and vertical axis type. The former has mature technology and industrialized and commercial production; the latter has been widely appreciated and extensively researched because of its high utilization rate of wind energy, regular geometrical construction, low generator installation height, low noise, omni-directional characteristics and many other advantages [3]1]. Savonius airfoil (S-Blade) and straight bladed Darrieus airfoil (H-Blade) are two typical representatives of the vertical axis airfoil blades [5]2]. The former is powered by the phenomenon of drag, the latter is lift. Because of the limited tip speed ratio (TSR), the wind-mechanical energy conversion

A. The Upper Savonius Blade S-blade is installed on the top of the wind turbine, using its larger starting torque at low wind speed to drive rotation of the spindle at first. S-blade consists of two (upper and lower) stages, which are set at 90qto each other. Each stage of Sblade is constructed of two semi-circular cylindrical blades. This design, two stage and four pieces of blade, ensures the full collection of different wind orientations. In the case of decentralized wind direction and low wind speed, S-blade can start automatically and drive the rotation of the lower H-blade. B. The Lower Darrieus Blade The H-blade, under the S-blade, is the main body of the CT-SBVAWT.H-blade consists of three straight bladed airfoils separated by 120qmounted on the vertical shaft at 0.56m from the shaft. The three-airfoil group design can significantly reduce the torque fluctuations and get well-balanced. The pitch angle of each airfoil can be adjusted through the little short lever for achieving optimal spin state. C. The Overrunning Clutch The overrunning clutch is installed between S-blade and Hblade and connects the two parts though the vertical shaft. At low wind speed, S-blade begins to turn firstly and then drive Hblade though the clutch, the two parts rotate in the same speed. With the wind speed increasing gradually, H-blade speed increase sharply and surpass the S-blade speed, thereupon the

National Ministry of Education(No.081005414)

978-1-4577-0321-8/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

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clutch separates S-blade and H-blade. At high wind speed, the two parts rotate separately. The overrunning clutch ensures the harmonious functioningone spindle, two speeds. The overrunning clutch has two functions: one is changing the speed. It ensures H-blade can rotate faster than S-blade on the premise of an unbroken kinematic chain between S-blade and H-blade. The other is preventing backspin. The one-way clutch transmits torque in a direction of rotation and run idle in the opposite direction. Like riding a bike, pedal drives the rear wheels uphill, when the bike goes downhill, the pedal and the wheels separate, the latter rotate rapidly while the former is at free. The specific designed structure is shown in Fig.1.

Figure 2. Hydrodynamics of the H-blade

Figure 1. Structure of the combined blade

To simplify the analysis, set the blade pitch angle (the angle between blade-section chord and linear velocity of the blade) of 0. Fig.2 shows the detailed aerodynamic load distribution of the blade element. R is the radius of the wind turbine (the radius of the radial arms which H-blades are fastened to). is the angular velocity of H-blade. is angle of attack of the blade element (the angle between relative wind speed and blade-section chord). is the angular position of the blade element. Vr , the velocity of wind relative to the blade, is defined as (3).

III.

AERODYNAMIC ANALYSIS

A. Analysis of H-blade This paper applies the multi-stream tube theory to analyze the H-blade. Multi-stream tube modeling considers the volume represented by the revolution of the rotor as a series of adjacent, aerodynamically independent stream tubes. In each tube, the wind and the blade element are in the same condition. Through analyzing the aerodynamic loads on the blade element, overall turbine performance can be calculated As Fig.2 shows, V is the speed of incoming flow (upstream wind), Va is speed of the inner flow through the rotor, and Vw is the wake speed (downstream wind), a is speed attenuation factor. According to the theory of momentum, Bernoulli's equation and continuity equation, we can get the following formula [3],

JJ G JJ G JG Vr = Va U

(3)

Where, Va is the speed of the inner flow through the rotor, U is the tip peripheral velocity of the rotor, U = R . The rotating H-blades under the action of airstreams will generate the aerodynamic lift and drag forces. The lift force is perpendicular to the direction of Vr , drag force is parallel to the Vr . The lift force and drag force can be decomposed into torque force along the axis of the radial arms and normal force along the direction of U .
1 f = c Cn Vr2 dz n 2 f = 1 c C V 2 dz t t r 2
Cn = Cl cos + Cd sin Ct = Cl sin Cd cos Where, f n = Normal force of the blade element f t = Torque force of the blade element = Density of air (kg/m3) c = Blade-section chord (m) Cd = Lift Coefficient

(4)

Va = V (1 a )
Vw = V (1 2a )

1 2

(5)

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Cl = Drag Coefficient Cn = Normal Coefficient Ct = Torque Coefficient Resolve lift and drag forces along the direction of Va , we can get the force acting on the blade element by wind,
dF = f n sin f t cos = 1 cVr2 ( Cn sin Ct cos ) dz 2

Where, ds = Rd sin 

From (7), the average wind power can also be defined as,
B c 2 Vr ( Cn sin Ct cos ) d 4

dF =

(13)

(6)

Combine (7) and (12) in order to arrive at speed attenuation factor a ,

Vr2 Bc ( Cn sin Ct cos ) 8 R sin V 2

From equation (5) we can get the average force acting on the H-blades along the direction of wind. B c H 2 2 Vr ( Cn sin Ct cos )d dz 4 0 0 BH c 2 2 Vr ( Cn sin Ct cos )d = 4 0

a (1 a ) =

(14)

F=

Introduce (1), (10) into (14)

(7)
a Bc = (1+ 2 + 2 cos ) (Cn sin Ct cos ) (15) 1 a 8 R sin

Where, H is the H-blade height in m, B is the number of Hblades (B=3). The average torque applied to the H-blades is,
B 2

Based on (15), the speed attenuation factor under an angular position of the blade element can be obtained with the iterative method, then the power output of H-blades can be calculated.
B. Analysis of S-blade The Savonius rotor, which developed very early and matured quickly, becomes popular among the design engineers and turbine manufacturers. There are a large number of reliable experimental data and valid conclusion. They serve as a basis of calculating output power of S-blade in this paper.

M =

f t Rdzd =

BRH c 2 CtVr2 d 4 0

(8)

The output power of H-blades is, PH = M = BRH c 2 2 0 CtVr d 4

(9)

If C p is the wind energy utilization coefficient of S-blade then the power ( PS ) can be obtained from speed is [4], 1 CP AS V 3 2

In order to plot the curves of the output power versus the wind speed (P-V curves), the expressions of Vr and need to be derived. Using the law of cosines, we can get,
Vr = Va 1 + 2 + 2 cos (10)

PS =

(16)

Where,
PS is the output power (W)

= tan 1
The tip speed ratio, =

cos sin +

(11)

is the density of water (kg/m3)

As = (HeightDiameter) = ( H s DS ), is the swept area of S-blade (m) V is the speed of wind (m/s)

Va V blade, is the angular velocity of H-blade].

[R is the radius of H-

In the multi-streamtube model, speed attenuation factor ( a ) changes with the angular position of the blade element (). According to Betz theory, the average push power loaded on the blade element in the stream tube is, 1 (V 2 Vw2 ) ds = 2 a (1 a ) V 2 ds 2

A large number of experimental data of S-blade shows that wind energy utilization coefficient ( C p ) is a function of tip speed ratio ( ). Corresponding to the designed airfoil profile in this paper, the functional relationship is [5],

dF =

(12)

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2 0.5 0.2 CP = 0.53( 0.2)(1.7 )

0 < < 0.9 0.9 < 1.6

(17)

IV.

PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS

Calculation of Actual Example Due to its structural limitations, the maximum tip speed ratio of S-blade is limited to 1.6 or so and its output power levels are restricted. While the tip speed ratio of H-blade can reach a higher value (7~8), and H-blade will start in concurrence with S-blade for the hybrid turbine. The total output power of the hybrid turbine has been found by using equation (10) and (11) respectively,
PH + PS P total = PH 0 < < 1.6 1.6 < 8

C.

The designed turbine has been built (see Fig.4) and tested in the engineering Training Center of North China Electric Power University for initial experiments. Prototype has height of 1.97m, diameter of 1.04m, the upper S-blade are made of aluminum alloy material, the lower H-blades are wooden blades, and the remaining accessories are rigid materials. Experimental wind speed is 0~12m/s, using hand-held electric anemometer measure the wind speed. Infrared tachometer is used to measure the spindle rotating speed.

(18)

Specifications for both blades in their hybrid configuration have been given at Table.
TABLE I. Thumbnail image H-blade S-blade SPECIFICATIONS FOR H-BLADE AND S-BLADE Mechanical Parameters Airfoil Section (Ah) Rotor height (Hh) Chord length (c) Rotor diameter (Dh) Number of Blades (B) Rotor height (Hs) Nominal diameter of the paddles (di) Diameter of the shaft (a) Rotor diameter (Ds) Overlap ratio () Swept area (As) Value NACA0012 800mm 175.3mm 1m 3 200mm 305mm 25mm 540mm 0.15 0.18 m2

Figure 4. Entire structure of the prototype

The output power characteristics and start-up performance of the prototype is the focus of the experiment. Taking into account mismatch between the generator and the blades that may affect the output power [6], a magnetic particle brake has been used to provide the central shaft with variable load torque 0~15Nm in place of wind turbine generators (see Fig.5). Magnetic particle brake is an automatic control device with excellent capability. Its actuating medium is magnetic particle. It can be controlled to the desired braking torque or transmission torque by the excitation current. The correlation of output torque and exciting current is good linear and has nothing to do with speed or slip. The linear relation is expressed as follows,

m2 With the help of computer programming and calculation, we can plot the curves of the output power (P) versus the wind speed (V) by using (9), (16) and these parameters. Expected output power of the hybrid turbine and H-blade turbine is shown in Fig.3 below,

M = 17.1 I

(19)

Where M is the load torque given by magnetic particle brake in Nxm, I is the excitation current in A. The output power of prototype can be calculated as [7],

P=

M n 9550

(20)

Figure 3. Expecte Output Power of Hybrid Turbine and H-blade Turbine

Where P is the output power (W), n is the central shaft rotating speed (rpm).

It indicates a quick self starting behavior of the Hybrid turbine comparing with the H-blade alone.

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V.

CONCLUSION

Preliminary work on the design, aerodynamic analysis, manufacture and experiment of a combined type straightbladed vertical axis wind turbine has been presented. The results of modeling analysis and prototype experiment prove excellent performance of the hybrid vertical axis turbine, that is a good starting characteristics and better energy utilization at higher flow speeds. However, due to experimental conditionality, including, Wind speed grade is given and the wind velocity can not be adjusted freely Windstream area is limited, can not fully contain the Airfoil Area
Figure 5. Protutype testing system

And the negative factors of Prototype itself, including, Large mechanical friction and bearing friction S-blade material is not enough light The pitch angle of H-blade is inappropriate The expected performance of the prototype has not been achieved. The wind energy utilization of the prototype can improve so much more. Further work will involve S-blade redesign, replacing the blade material by fibre glass reinforced plastics and lubricating the bearing. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Authors are thankful to Engineering Training Center of North China Electric Power University as well as HuaTeng Machine Factory for their help in building the prototype and experimental rig. We also appreciate the ceaseless effort of Dr. Li Qi, Zhang Weidong. REFERENCES
[1] Yan Li; Fang Feng; Shengmao Li; Yongjun Han, Computer simulation on the performance of a combined-type vertical axis wind turbine, IEEE Computer Design and Applications (ICCDA), 2010 International Conference on, pp. V4-247 - V4-250, June 2010. Tian Haijiao, Wang Tielong, Wang Ying, Summarize of the development of the vertical-axis wind turbine, Applied Energy Technology, 2006(11), pp22-27. Ye Hang-ye, WTG control technology, China Machine Press, 2002. Md. Jahangir Alam, M.T. Iqbal, Design and development of hybrid vertical axis turbine, IEEE Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2009. CCECE '09., pp.1178-1183, May 2009. Ian J. Ross, Wind Tunnel Blockage Corrections: An Application To Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines, Masters thesis, University of Dayton, May 2010, pp.8-24. Guoying Feng, Zhizhang Liu, Bao Daorina, Zheng Gong, Experimental Research on Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, IEEE Power and Energy Engineering Conference, 2009. APPEEC 2009, Asia-Pacific, pp.1-4, March 2009. Fan Zheng-ping, Wang Xin-chen, Du Hua-xia,Wang Ya-jun, An innovative design of vertical-axis wind turbines for home use, Energy Technology, 2007(10), pp279-282.

A. Start Performance Experiment At 10m/s wind speed, adjust the load torque to changes between 1.2~2.3Nm, conduct the start performance experiment of the prototype. In testing, we found in the load torque of 2.3 Nm, the CT-SBVAWT could still self-start. When only test the lower H-Blade part without S-blade, even the load torque is reduced to 1.2 Nm, the SB-VAWT still can not start. It comes to the conclusion that the designed CT-SBVAWT has a better start-up characteristic than traditional SB-VAWT. B. Output Power Experiment Wind speed change from 0~12m/s,the output power of CTSBVAWT and SB-VAWT in different wind speed were tested respectively, then plot the speed-power curves of CTSBVAWT and SB-VAWT, as is shown in Fig.6.It turns out, in no load torque, 1.4m/s wind can make CT-SBVAWT start, while 4.7m/s wind is needed for SB-VAWT. The hybrid vertical axis turbine has greater range of available wind speed and higher wind energy utilization than traditional SB-VAWT. It makes the lower H-blades into the high-speed rotating state faster and produces overall mechanical power 11.8% more than SB-VAWT.

[2]

[3] [4]

[5]

[6]

[7] Figure 6. The experimental P-V curves

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