Investigation and analysis of wind pumping system for irrigation in Bangladesh

Abstract

An experimental investigation of performance characteristics of horizontal axis wind turbines has been conducted. Wind characteristics of various regions of Bangladesh have been analysed and hence a compatible design of horizontal axis wind turbine applicable to the pump has been performed. The available wind data collected by the meteorological department of Bangladesh for a period 16 years on 20 stations at different height between 5m to 10m have been converted for the 20m hub-height using power law. From these data monthly average speeds have been calculated. It is observed that for few regions of Bangladesh, there is reasonable wind speed available throughout the year to extract power. For a prospective regions of Bangladesh a design of wind turbine for water pumping has been performed based on the requirement of water of that region. The design incorporates the generalized procedure for determination of rotor and pump sizes. Thus it can be used for any other region as well. To present a generalized design for Bangladesh, a nomogram and an empirical relation have been developed for the rotor and the pump sizing for a particular region of Bangladesh. An extensive experimental investigation of the performance of the designed wind turbine model have been conducted in the wind tunnel. Thewind turbines with 2 blades, 3-blades and 4-blades for linearized chord and twist angle have been considered for the experimental investigation. The experimental investigation was performed for each turbine at various blade pitching. Finally the calculated results of the wind turbine have been compared with the .experimental results and in most of the cases good correlation were observed.