Dynamic Characteristics of a Vertical Axis Vane Type Wind Turbine

Abstract

The present research work concerns with the dynamic conditions of vertical axis vane type rotor at different Reynolds number. The investigation on wind loading and aerodynamic effects on the four, five and six bladed vertical axis vane type rotors have been conducted with the help of a subsonic wind tunnel together with the experiment set-up of the vane type rotor and a spring balance. The experiment was carried out in the open circuit subsonic wind tunnel by placing the rotor at its exit section. For different bladed rotor the flow velocities were varied from 5 m/s to 9 m/s covering the Reynolds numbers up to 1.2 x 105. For the purpose of analyzing the dynamic conditions of rotor, the rpm of multi-bladed rotor at different loading conditions and the difference in tensions between two ends of the friction belt for different Reynolds number were measured. Finally, from these data, the changes in Tip Speed Ratio, Power coefficient and Torque coefficient with the increase in load were determined at different Reynolds number of multi-bladed rotor. The nature of predicted dynamic aerodynamic characteristics has been analyzed by comparing them with existing research works. For comparison power coefficient versus tip speed ratio of the present measurement and previous researcher’s works has been plotted on the same graph. It is seen that there is a close correlation between the present result and those obtained from the existing research works and the nature of all compared curves are similar to previous ones.