A new vertical axis wind turbine design, integrated in the urban environment

Dora IONESCU University Transilvania of Brasov, Romania idora@unitbv.ro Ion VISA University Transilvania of Brasov, Romania visaion@unitbv.ro 2) In urban areas the wind profiles tend to be more turbulent and not along a single axis. The turbulent flow results from the interaction between wind and the buildings or other urban obstacles. The turbulence of the flow and the wind flowing over the buildings is accelerated by the buildings architecture with sharp forms (corners, edges), thus, changing the direction of the wind from horizontal to slightly upward. These imply enhanced performance for the turbines, with cut-in speed below 2.5 m/s, lower noise and vibrations, as well as aesthetics supporting the societal acceptance, thus innovative and appealing rotor designs that could be harmoniously implemented in the built environment. The vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) industry has bloomed in the last few years, being more suitable for the urban environment than the horizontal axis ones, as they are taking wind from any direction (Fig. 1). New designs are proposed, aiming at obtaining improved efficiency and safety, less noise, and a better performance-cost ratio.

Abstract
The paper presents a new rotor design for a small power, vertical axis wind turbine and focuses on the design requirements/issues raised by the urban environment integration. Considering these we propose a set of innovative, nature inspired rotor design concepts for vertical axis wind turbines, developed considering specific criteria. A conceptual design model was developed as a first step in the virtual prototyping platform workflow, followed by the CAD model and mechanism analysis. Finally the paper discusses aspects related to the optimum implementation location of the turbine with respect to an urban implementation site. Keywords: vertical axis wind turbines, rotor design, urban integration, small power wind turbines.

1. Introduction
The integration of small power wind turbines into the built environment is one of the biggest challenges when considering renewable energies in cities, a space that is more familiar to solar PVs and collectors. According to the AWEA (2010) [1], the market for small wind energy applications will continue to show robust growth for the next decade. In the built environment, due to the architectural objects, the air flow (wind) has particular properties and low wind speeds are expected, thus aesthetics and the turbine design has to fulfil specific requirements. The urban wind regime has two main characteristics [8]: 1) Lower Annual Mean Wind Speed (AMWS) - compared to rural areas - caused by the "rough uneven ground" created by buildings, street furniture and the other features from the urban landscape. The effect is the fact that the wind speed increases more slowly with height, above the ground.

Figure 1: Horizontal axis vs. Verical axis The survey on small power VAWTs today showed that there are still important aspects that need to be solved in order to integrate harmoniously the wind turbines into the cities. Among the disadvantages of the todays offer there are the relatively high cut-in speed (3-4 m/s), their rated power and experimental base which is uncertain, the overrated specifications which cannot be rigorously checked due to lack of standards; most of the solutions are too large for implementing in the street furniture

and also the aesthetical aspect is usually neglected in favour of efficiency.

5. Other aesthetic requirements (colour, texture, graphic). 6. Unconventionality/ degree of novelty. 7. Environmental impact (impact on birds, noise level etc). 8. The costs of the prototype. 9. Aesthetics. The ability to be easily integrated in any type of build environment (modern or historical) as kinetic sculpture.

2. VAWTs design criteria

In order to define the new design concepts, a multi criteria analysis algorithm was developed considering both functionally and aesthetics: efficiency in low or turbulent winds, noise level, vibrations, cost, aesthetics, environmentfriendly solutions (aiming to overcome the NIMBY statement), integration into hybrid PVwind systems. In terms of technical data, the turbines should be silent and efficient (to start at low wind speeds). This means that the cut-in speed should be lower than 2 m/s and the tip speed ratio should be around 1. Another highly discussed aspect regarding the turbines, the pay-back time, is important but can be surpassed by the aesthetics, if/when the turbine can be perceived as an art object. These turbines are designed for public spaces, and in less extent for residences or houses, therefore, the main customers are the public institutions and, in a larger approach the community. Thus, the investment combines the quest for green energy (renewable sources) with those for well-being, for a public, kinetic, work of art on the city sky, that transmit an idea, a state of mind, emotions, through shapes, colours, lights and textures. The turbines are designed for supplying either the street furniture with electricity especially for street lights, but also for bus stations, road signs, or to be implemented into the concept of Building augmented wind turbines (BAWTs) wind turbines that are using the building in such a way as to increase the performance of the wind turbines, for a specific place. Thus, the most important criteria supplementary formulated for urban integrated VAWT are: 1. Overall dimensions (aspect ratio, H/D) for obtaining 150W at 5m/s wind speed. 2. Rated power at a wind speed of 5m/s (for the tested turbines) or the Reynolds number at the same wind speed (for the untested turbines). 3. Cut-in speed lower than 2 m/s and tip speed ratio closer to 1. 4. Manufacturing cost.

Figure.2: Multi criteria analysis. Criteria importance - Level. Obviously, the 19 criteria are not fully independent. Their inter-connection is presented in Figure 2 and allows deciding on the importance of each criterion. The results show that the main aspect that has to be considered, regarding the new VAWT designs, is the aesthetical one (score 7.5), considering that the turbines are to be implemented in urban areas, and the visual impact is very high, with strong influence on their acceptance. The following two criteria are also related to aesthetics: colour, texture, graphic (criterion 5) and Unconventionality/ degree of novelty (criterion 6). The next criterion, in order of importance is the one related to lower cut-in speed and tip speed ratio value (criterion 3), which, besides aesthetics is one of the main design objectives when designing an urban wind turbine. Related to the previous criterion is the next one (criterion 2) which considers the rated power of the turbine at a wind speed of 5 m/s. The criteria 1 and 7 have the same values, and are about: 1 - the needed overall dimensions of the wind turbine (depending on the blades design) in order to obtain 150w at 5 m/s wind speed; 7 - the environmental impact of the wind turbine design.

The manufacturing cost (criterion 4) is among the least important criteria that were taken into consideration in the early stages of our new design, as will be shown further in this paper. The last criterion is the one related to manufacturing costs of the real prototype.

that, at a city level, is not only related to mobility itself, but it comprises the whole idea of innovation, of modernization, the need of change and embracement of modern solutions and sustainable development. b) The turbines are designed for supplying the street furniture with electricity especially for street lights, but also for bus stations, road signs etc. c) To have low cut-in speed and low noise level.

3. New VAWT rotor design

Based on the multi-criteria analysis results a new VAWT rotor design is presented, considering both the efficiency of the wind turbine and the aesthetics. The designs correspond to a three bladed, Savonius type vertical axis wind turbine design, the Poppy turbine. Mimicking nature represents a pre-requisite for societal acceptance, therefore nature was chosen as an inspiration source for the vertical axis turbine design, considering the fluidity of the shapes, the colours, the movement; the novel design is inspired by the shape of the poppy pods and by the colour of the poppy flower. The Poppy Turbine is part of a series of innovative, organic shaped VAWT rotor design concepts, implementable in urban areas that we developed to answer the requirements which were neglected so far; this set of new rotors further include the Diamond Turbine, the Ginkgo Turbine and the Maple Turbine. The design process started from standard vertical axis wind turbines rotors (Darrieus and Savonius), and considered the recent research results from several groups and the existing wind turbines on the market. The following aspects are considered for the new design: a) Aesthetics: the products should make people aware and also gain their acceptance towards renewable energies. It isnt just a matter of functionality, but the product has to be also beautiful, to express more than its functional role, to create a modern and colourful atmosphere, a graphic play with colours and shapes, to become part of the urban culture and, in particular to give identity to the urban open space. Wind turbines, once implemented in a city, are not single volumes that spin above our heads, but dynamic structures that create a volume made of form and emptiness, thus by placing a row of turbines, along a street or in a park, an urban rhythm and identity is created. Wind suggests, and usually is inducing movement - movement

Figure 3: Poppy turbine concept We developed several design concepts: with three or five blades (Figure 3). and two different aspect ratios; this paper presents the results for the three blades design. A conceptual design model was created (see Figure 4) before creating the CAD model, explaining the parts and their connections within the mechanical system. The CAD model, (Figure 5), was defined using the CATIA software and it comprises the detailed design for all the turbine assembly parts (Rotor blades and shaft, alternator assembly, bearings, mast), considering that the turbine rotor has a diameter of 1m and is directly coupled to the alternator. In Figure 6 a realistic rendering of the Poppy turbine is presented, while in Figure 8 the CAD models of the mast and of the alternator assembly are shown. The overall dimensions of the new design are shown in Figure 7.

Figure 4: Conceptual design of the wind turbine assembly.

Figure 7: Poppy turbine rotor overall dimensions

Figure 5: CAD model of the wind turbine

Figure 8. CAD model of the mast, alternator and bearings Regarding the rotor aerodynamics of the, and the similarities with traditional VAWT rotors,

Figure 6: Poppy turbine - CAD model

the blades of the Poppy turbine (made of glass fibre reinforced resin) are a combination of scoops with the traditional Savonius rotor. A small scale model was developed in the early design stages, allowing optimising the shape of the blades and the performance of the new rotor was compared with that of an equivalent Savonius rotor. The results were encouraging, as the Poppy turbine provided better performance (see Table 1).

bodies, 4) bodies with more than two connections and 5) bodies with applied forces. The vertical axis Poppy Wind Turbine may be modelled as an MBS system with two bodies: one fixed and the other linked to it by a rotational joint. Even if the real system is three dimensional (S=6), we may consider it, as well, as a planar system, with the (S=3). The MBS model contains two bodies with a rotational joint between them (Figure 9 and Figure 10). The first body (1) which is the fixed body comprises the mast, outer rings of the bearings, alternator case and stator. The second body (2) comprises the rotor blades, rotor shaft, inner rings of the two bearings and the alternator rotor.

Table 1: Poppy turbine vs. Savonius rotor

4. Multi-body analysis of the new VAWT

The aim of the Multi-body System (MBS) modelling is to simplify the mechanical model in order to accomplish the virtual testing, dynamic analysis and the optimisation of the model. In MBS, the multibody systems are defined as containing bodies subjected to geometrical restrictions and kinematical restrictions [9]. The analysis is made in a planar system (spatiality S being 3) or in a spatial system (S=6). The geometric restrictions are of two types [9]: simple (a kinematical joint, as the R-rotation) or compound (with a linking element between bodies that has at both ends kinematic joints, as the RR rotation-rotation). The kinematic restrictions are cancelling the remaining degrees of freedom after imposing the geometrical restrictions between bodies. It takes into consideration the imposed relative movement between bodies. The total number of kinematical restrictions is equal with the mobility of the mechanism associated to the multibody system. The algorithm for determining the minimum number of bodies consists by the following steps: 1) fixed body; 2) input bodies, 3) output Figure 9. MBS sketch model.

Figure 10. 3D MBS model exploded with the two parts and rotation joint.

Therefore, the mobility of the MBS system is:

Where: m represents the efficiency of the mechanical transmission (m=0.95 0.97); e efficiency of the electric components (e=0.97 0.98); a aerodynamic efficiency (depends upon the environmental characteristics of the testing area and has the maximum value: a=0.59). C p = 0.96 0.97 0.59 = 0.549 For cut-in speed: If t= 0.72 rad/sec = 6.8 RPM then, according to equation 2:
= 0.5 1.1 0.52 1.83 0.549 = 1.9 [ ] 0.72

M = S ( n 1) r = 3 1 2 = 1
Where: S spatiality of the system n number of bodies r restrictions

(1) [10]

The mechanisms simulation was developed using MD Adams (see Figure 11) and the CAD corresponding files of the blades, and of the rotor shaft. Considering the wind speed and the wind turbine assembly geometry and materials, a simulation of the previously discussed mechanism was developed, in order to select the appropriate alternator cogging and resistant torque for the wind turbine.

If t= 1.5 rad/sec and v=2m/s then, according to equation 2: = 0.47 [ ]

If t= 34 rad/sec and v=15 m/s then, according to equation 2: = 23.5 [ ]

We chose an alternator which has the resistant torque (Tg): for 650 RPM = 11.2 [Nm], for 325 RPM = 8.9 [Nm], cogging torque = 0.2 [Nm]. Based on these data and the selected alternator we obtain a self-starting turbine, as the cogging torque is very low. In order to test the theory, were conducted a series of CFD analyses for determining the input values for our mechanism simulation. In Figure 12 are shown the results for the CFD simulations when considering an air velocity of 15 m/s.

Figure 11: MSC ADAMS analysis The aerodynamic torque was first calculated with the following formula [3], if the Cp is known:

Tturb =

R 2 v 3c p ( , ) / t

(2)

Where: = is the air density [kg/m ] (1.1kg/m , at 15 C at 500m height)

3 3 o

R= rotor radius (0.5m) v=2 m/s and 15 m/s wind speed

Figure 12: CFD analysis, v=15 m/s Firstly the turbine was tested in a virtual wind tunnel with 2 m/s air velocity and considering the alternator resistant torque of 0.2 Nm. The values for the angular velocity and torque of the turbine rotor are shown in Figure 13.

C p = m e a ,

5. Urban wind turbines

The output of any wind turbine depends on the following main factors: rotor swept area, wind speed (as the power output is proportional to the cube of wind speed), overall system reliability and total power conversion efficiency from wind to electricity. In the built environment average wind speeds are generally low, of 2-4 m/s. When urban sites are considered, the low wind speeds should be considered in relation to the start-up and cut-in wind speeds of the turbine - the wind speeds at which the rotor begins turning and, respectively, when the turbine begins to generate power. For most small turbines, the start-up wind speed is less than that of its cutin wind speed. So, the cut-in speed of the turbine is the one that must be below 2 m/s wind speed [7, 8, 12]. The great advantage of urban wind turbines is that they produce energy near the place where it is used, consequently, needed most. Building augmented wind turbines (BAWTs) - Figure 15 [1, 5, 6, 11]- are wind turbines integrated into the buildings, in such a way as to use the building architecture as a concentrator of wind, thus increasing the wind speed at the turbine hub.

Figure 13: Angular velocity and torque at v=2 m/s The average value of the torque, in this case (2m/s air speed and 0.2 Nm resistive torque) is 0.4 Nm. Secondly, the input values for the CFD analysis were changed to v=15 m/s and resisant torque 8.9 Nm (Figure 14).

Figure 15: BAWTs The Brasov area has relatively low wind speeds and implementation of wind turbines is a real challenge. Before implementing a wind turbine, a complex study of the wind behaviour was done, allowing to select the appropriate implementation location. The location site is represented by the R&D Institute of the Transilvania University of Brasov (Figure 16). The Institute consists of 12 buildings with three levels (half-ground, ground st and 1 floor), with a regular height of 10 m above ground and rectangle prismatic shape (14 m x 31 m).

Figure 14: Angular velocity and torque at v=2 m/s The average value of the torque, for the second case is 14 Nm.

The small power, vertical axis wind turbines will be implemented as part of the urban furniture and street lighting system, at a height of 8 m; the velocity vectors profile at this height are presented in Figure 18. The areas highlighted in red (with the highest wind speed) are thus recommended. Too high wind speed may be temporarily exhibited near the student hall faade therefore, this location should be carefully analysed if selected for implementation.

Figure 16: The Implementation site the R&D Institute of the Transilvania University of Brasov The buildings are linked by two spines starting from the central point represented by the Atrium (a building with an egg-shape ceiling and a height of 13 m). The CAD model of the buildings was developed using CATIA V5 software (Figure 17). It is a simplified model of the buildings and it was used to determine the wind flow patterns in a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software [4]. The CFD analysis also took into consideration the position of the Students Hall.

Figure 18. CFD analysis of the wind pattern

Figure 19. Streamlines along central axis

6. Conclusions
This paper brings up a new approach on small power, vertical axis wind turbines design. The turbines, beside their functional role (providing electricity for the street furniture, and making people aware of the sustainability), are kinetic works of art on the city sky. They transmit an idea, a state of mind, emotions, through shapes, colours, lights and textures. The Poppy turbine concept is a design that is suitable for urban environment integration on its own or integrated into the street furniture. The relatively small overall dimensions (1m rotor diameter) of the VAWT rotor allows the implementation in the street furniture.

Figure 17: CAD model of the R&D Institute of the Transilvania University of Brasov buildings

The CFD results and mechanism analysis show that the turbine is self-starting and the small number of components (it doesnt have a gear box) increases the Poppy turbine reliability. In the future we will develop a detailed study of the new turbine design models - by means of a virtual prototyping platform workflow which has been developed to evaluate the performance of the wind turbine (complex mechanical simulationsand CFD analysis etc) - in order to obtain the virtual prototypes for technological transfer. Also after optimising the design will be performed several wind tunnel testings.

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References
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