Savonius wind turbine

type similar to the Flettner-type, but autorotationary. He

experimented with his rotor on small rowing vessels on
lakes in his country. No results of his particular investigations are known, but the Magnus-Eect is conrmed
by Knig.[1] The two Savonius patents: US1697574, led
in 1925 by Sigurd Johannes Savonius, and US1766765,
led in 1928.

2 Operation

Savonius wind turbine

Savonius wind turbines are a type of vertical-axis wind

turbine (VAWT), used for converting the force of the
wind into torque on a rotating shaft. The turbine consists of a number of aerofoils, usuallybut not always
vertically mounted on a rotating shaft or framework, either ground stationed or tethered in airborne systems.

Schematic drawing of a two-scoop Savonius turbine

Origin

The Savonius turbine is one of the simplest turbines.

Aerodynamically, it is a drag-type device, consisting of
two or three scoops. Looking down on the rotor from
above, a two-scoop machine would look like an S shape
in cross section. Because of the curvature, the scoops
experience less drag when moving against the wind than
when moving with the wind. The dierential drag causes
the Savonius turbine to spin. Because they are drag-type
devices, Savonius turbines extract much less of the winds
power than other similarly-sized lift-type turbines. Much
of the swept area of a Savonius rotor may be near the
ground, if it has a small mount without an extended post,

The Savonius wind turbine was invented by the Finnish

engineer Sigurd Johannes Savonius in 1922. However,
Europeans had been experimenting with curved blades
on vertical wind turbines for many decades before this.
The earliest mention is by the Italian Bishop of Czanad,
Fausto Veranzio, who was also an engineer. He wrote
in his 1616 book Machinae novae about several vertical
axis wind turbines with curved or V-shaped blades. None
of his or any other earlier examples reached the state of
development made by Savonius. In his Finnish biography there is mention of his intention to develop a turbine1

EXTERNAL LINKS

making the overall energy extraction less eective due to wind speed. Much larger Savonius turbines have been
the lower wind speeds found at lower heights.
used to generate electric power on deep-water buoys,
which need small amounts of power and get very little maintenance. Design is simplied because, unlike
with horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), no pointing
3 Power and rotational speed
mechanism is required to allow for shifting wind direction and the turbine is self-starting. Savonius and other
The maximum power of a Savonius rotor is given by vertical-axis machines are good at pumping water and
Pmax = 0.36 kg m3 h r v 3 , where h and r are the other high torque, low rpm applications and are not usuheight and radius of the rotor and v is the wind speed.
ally connected to electric power grids. They can sometimes have long helical scoops, to give smooth torque.
The angular frequency of a rotor is given by = v
r
, where is a dimensionless factor called the tip-speed The most ubiquitous application of the Savonius wind turratio. The range varies within is characteristic of a bine is the Flettner Ventilator, which is commonly seen
specic windmill, and for a Savonius rotor is typically on the roofs of vans and buses and is used as a cooling
around 1.
device. The ventilator was developed by the German airFor example, an oil-barrel sized Savonius rotor with h=1
m and r=0.5 m under a wind of v=10 m/s, will generate
a maximum power of 180 W and an angular speed of 20
rad/s (190 revolutions per minute).

craft engineer Anton Flettner in the 1920s. It uses the

Savonius wind turbine to drive an extractor fan. The vents
are still manufactured in the UK by Flettner Ventilator
Limited.[2]

Small Savonius wind turbines are sometimes seen used

as advertising signs where the rotation helps to draw attention to the item advertised. They sometimes feature a
simple two-frame animation.

Use

5 Tethered airborne Savonius turbines

Airborne wind turbines
Kite types
When the Savonius rotor axis is set horizontally and
tethered, then kiting results. There are scores of
patents and products that use the net lift Magnuseect that occurs in the autorotation of the Savonius
rotor. The spin may be mined for some of its energy
for making noise, heat, or electricity.

6 Gallery
Operation of a Savonius turbine
A Savonius rotor bladed WECS

7 References
[1] Felix van Knig (1978). Windenergie in praktischer
Nutzung. Pfriemer. ISBN 3-7906-0077-6.
Combined Darrieus-Savonius generator in Taiwan

Savonius turbines are used whenever cost or reliability is

much more important than eciency.
Most anemometers are Savonius turbines for this reason,
as eciency is irrelevant to the application of measuring

[2] Flettner

8 External links
Build your own model Savonius wind turbine

3
Windside Savonius Type Wind Turbines for use in
Extreme Environments
Forgen low power Savonius Type Wind Turbines for
Marine Applications
HelixWind Savonius Type Wind Turbine
Savonius turbines for dynamic environments www.
spinpower.org
How to build a Savonius wind generator
Notions of Wind Energy for the Complete Idiot

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Savonius wind turbine Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savonius_wind_turbine?oldid=677806108 Contributors: Michael Hardy,

Skysmith, GRAHAMUK, Rursus, Asparagus, Iain.mcclatchie, Tom harrison, Gecko~enwiki, Liberatus, Kjkolb, Polarscribe, Riana, Wtshymanski, M3tainfo, Woohookitty, Eyreland, BD2412, Fred Hsu, Quicksilvre, GBMorris, Bovineone, SmackBot, Mangoe, KVDP, Tex23,
Joefaust, Chendy, LeContexte, Cyhatch, Mion, SashatoBot, Jaganath, Rolfedh, MarphyBlack, Peter Horn, Jimdavis77, DrWhat, Cydebot, Teratornis, RottweilerCS, Alaibot, Mike1942f, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, JAnDbot, Peter4Truth, JaGa, Ugo14, Herbythyme, Uncle Dick,
NewEnglandYankee, Inwind, Tetris L, VolkovBot, WarddrBOT, Aicchalmers, Onetoremember, Rei-bot, Mazarin07, Bmaddy, Pvanheus,
ClueBot, Traveler100, Tompen, Hysocc, Mild Bill Hiccup, ChrisHodgesUK, XLinkBot, Addbot, Ark'ay, CUSENZA Mario, Margin1522,
GGByte, Mike1975, AnomieBOT, Papppfae, Xqbot, RibotBOT, D'ohBot, Elekhh, DexDor, ZroBot, Zero0297, Donner60, Ssgxnh,
ClueBot NG, K3-PX, McZusatz, Kalinco, Norton33, Dakota15smith, Mutley1989, CanonicalMomentum, A Certain Lack of Grandeur,
Mfarges and Anonymous: 67

9.2

Images

File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

File:Savonius_turbine.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Savonius_turbine.svg License: CC-BYSA-3.0 Contributors: This le was derived from Savonius turbine.gif: <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Savonius_
turbine.gif' class='image'><img alt='Savonius turbine.gif' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Savonius_
turbine.gif/50px-Savonius_turbine.gif' width='50' height='66' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/
Savonius_turbine.gif/75px-Savonius_turbine.gif 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Savonius_turbine.
gif/100px-Savonius_turbine.gif 2x' data-le-width='200' data-le-height='262' /></a>
Original artist: Savonius_turbine.gif: The original uploader was Jaganath at English Wikipedia
File:Savonius_wind_turbine.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Savonius_wind_turbine.jpg License:
CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Flickr Original artist: Toshihiro Oimatsu
File:Taiwan_2009_JinGuaShi_Historic_Gold_Mine_Combined_Darrieus_Savonius_Wind_Turbines_FRD_8638.jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Taiwan_2009_JinGuaShi_Historic_Gold_Mine_Combined_Darrieus_Savonius_
Wind_Turbines_FRD_8638.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Fred Hsu on en.wikipedia
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9.3

Content license

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