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Dual Rotor Wind Turbine

Design, Analysis, Fabrication and Testing
Joel Varughese Kalarickal Dr. M. Sekar, M.E., Ph.D.
M-Tech Mechanical Engineering Professor & HOD
Karunya University Karunya University
joel.kalarickal@gmail.com sekar@karunya.edu
Mobile: +91 9207696435 / 0471 2371398 Mobile: +91 94878 46507

ABSTRACT

The present paper deals with the next generation wind generator system that can produce twice as
much as power than conventional wind generator. It consists of two rotors and hence the concept is named as
Dual Rotor technology. This technology can be used to improvise wind generator, hydraulic generators,
motors etc. which makes them more efficient. The Dual Rotor Wind Turbine (DRWT) is designed, analysed,
fabricated and was tested. The comparison between Wind Turbine Generator System (WTGS) and DRWT are
presented in this paper. The notable feature of DRWT is that it consists of two rotor systems, one of the rotor
rotating in one direction and the stator is also allowed to rotate in the opposite direction. Two stands are used
to support the rotor using pillow bearing to stabilise the rotation of both stator and rotor.

In this paper, the test results of DRWT obtained from Aerospace wind tunnel test lab is also presented.
The conventional wind turbine was also refabricated using the same generator and blades to conduct a
comparison study. The predictions was that it would produce electricity twice as much as the conventional but
its performance was much more than that. The blade pitch was positioned to its maximum efficiency, at
various wind speeds the voltage produced was tabulated. Finally new prototype models were made based on
the result. Using SolidWorks the flow simulation was done to predict and analyze the performance of the
DRWT.

Keywords: Renewable Energy, Windmill, Dual Rotor wind turbine, Modelling and Simulation, Fabrication.

1. INTRODUCTION

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic

energy from the wind. During the last decade, the wind
energy industry has seen a dramatic increase in the
installation of wind turbine generator systems (WTGS) all
over the world [1], and naturally the research and
development activities related to the WTGS have drawn a
renewed attention. A typical WTGS consists of rotors,
pitch hub, gear box and power train, generator, power
conditioning device, and software for control and
monitoring. Although the theoretical limit of WTGS
efficiency is known to be 59% [2], the practical
performance of WTGS has been steadily increasing mainly
due to the advancements in more aerodynamically
efficient blade design, modern control theory, and use of Figure 1 DRWT testing in Aerospace wind tunnel test lab
more powerful electrical components.
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On the other hand, Dual Rotor Wind Turbine (DRWT) is a next generation wind turbine which can
produce twice as much as power than the conventional wind generator using the technology called Dual Rotor
system. An experimental prototype of DRWT was designed and fabricated as shown in Fig. 1. It includes two
rotors, in which the stator is also allowed to rotate in the opposite direction; hence it is also called as Non
Stator Generator. Since most of the aerodynamic torque is generated from the tip portion of the blade, a
relatively small and auxiliary rotor positioned at the upwind location will compensate for the less effective
portion of the main rotor located downwind. But here same blade diameters are used for upwind and downwind
blades. This is because for small wind turbines the stator will support the entire weight, while the stand is
supported through a pillow bearing to the rotors shaft. This makes both rotor and stator to rotate. But as a
result rotor has to bear the weight of the six blades, blade connector and also the stator. Hence the sweep area
is made to its maximum.
The rotating directions of front blades and back blade are in the opposite manner which can be achieved
by twisting the front blades in one direction and back blades in the opposite. If both blades rotates in same
direction no cutting interaction takes place between the magnet and winding inside the generator. Current can
be produced even if anyone blade section does not rotate and if both rotates in the opposite direction more
current can be produced.
The distance between rotors is adjustable, determined to minimize the flow interference between them.
The generator is almost in the middle, supported by two stands on both sides to make it stable. Additional
Connecting Slider Brush and sliding ring are placed on the generator so that when the stator rotates the slider
transfers current through it.
The concept was first tested on a small motor to see if it
would work. In this experiment two motors were used motor 1
and motor 2 placed side by side of a small generator (cycle
Dynamo) supported at both ends. Belt are used to connect as
shown in Figure 2, motor 1 belted through the top of dynamo so Belt

that the entire stator can rotate in one direction while motor 2
rotates the rotor.
At first only motor 1 was powered keeping the rotor fixed,
so that only the stator will rotate. The bulb glue a little, then again
motor 2 was power keeping motor 1 off then also the bulb glued
a little. Then combining both motor rotating in opposite direction Figure 2 block diagram of concept
together the bulb glue brightly. This was the beginning of the
concept of dual rotor system. It was also found that when rotating motor 1 and motor 2 in the same direction
the bulb want glow as the magnetic cut between the winding was reduced.
In this paper Dual Rotor technology is used in wind generator as we can visually see how it works, its
economy, efficiency, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during the operation, and uses little land.

In order to assure proper working of the Dual rotor generator, an extensive study of the blades and
stand was done. These studies consist of simulating the model in Solidworks, loads and forces that acts on the
small generator was analysed. Then with Ansys the von Mises forces and displacements were calculated, and
the results were analysed to find the optimal solution.

2. DRWT MODELING

This model gives sufficient room for the rotation of all the blades. On further analysis there were no issues
found. It was also designed keeping in mind the possibility of tilting the blades to its maximum. So that during
the test efficient strike angle can be obtained. Even back blade came be moved forward and backward to find
the optimum position.
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Front Blade Back Blade

rotating in rotating in
Anti-clockwise clockwise
direction direction

Figure 3 detailed Drawing of DRWT Figure 2 SolidWorks Rendered Image

The figure 3 shows the final rendered view of DRWT with the direction of rotation the front blades
rotates anti-clockwise and the back blades rotates clockwise. The Stand is designed in such a way that the
entire DC generator is made to rotate freely. Slider rod is used to complete the circuit as it will allow the
current to flow through as well as provides free rotation to the DC generator. While the other end of the wire
is connected through the shaft.

3. FLOW SIMULATION OF AIR

Using Solidworks Flow Simulation software flow pattern was created. Here we can see how the air
slides through the front blade gets diverted and hits the second blade in the back. The blade is analyzed to
determine the deformations and the von Misses tensions of the blades. But changing the distance
between the back blade it was found that the back blade have to be kept as close as possible to achieve
maximum efficiency from the front blades. Even the Pitch angle were varied for both blade and found
that the front blade angle should be 60-70 degrees and the black blades at an angle of 75-80 degree to
get the best energy out of the wind speed.

Figure 4 Flow Simulation using SolidWorks

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4. FABRICATION

A 6v 500rpm DC generator was bought from Bharath Electric Motors. Using CNC machine the shaft
was extended at the other end. In the Lathe Lab the remaining parts were fabricated. The complicated part was
the stand, it had to be simple, assembly of both wooden and PVC blade had to be done in than single stand
and finally it had to bear the load of the DC generator and blades.
Direct connection cannot be given as the stator is also rotating. So for that the positive terminal of the
wire was soldered as shown in figure 6 (left) so that the entire shaft is now positively charged. Then the
negative wire is connected using a ring and a slider as shown in figure 6 (right). This might result in some loss
of power if the sliding is not proper.

Figure 6 DC generator connections

Two Pillow bearing were used to hold the DC generator. Inside one bearing another 9mm inner dia.
bearing is placed to hold the back shaft. The bearing are placed as close to the generator to reduce the stress
acting on the shaft. By doing so the rotor can rotate smoothly in one direction and the stator can also rotate in
the opposite direction. There is only a small gap between the bearing and the generator as it is place as close
as possible. There is a screw to tighten the bearing with the shaft so that it want move here and there during
operation. For the stand proper spacing have to be provided between the blade else the blades may hit the
stand. Even height adjustable mechanism is made used so that after assembling the horizontal axis can be
adjusted to make it level.
Blades were made out of PVC which are cheap and easy to cut it into blades. Inner diameter of 160mm
and height 20mm PVC pipe was used which were cut into six pieces. Among the six pieces three pieces were
selected which will form the frond three blades. Similarly another six blades cut on another pipe but this time
the cutting will be done in the opposite direction of the other blade so that those blade can be placed on the
back side rotating clockwise. For best performance the ratio of height vs diameter has to be 5:1 but as it is
being tested in front of the wind tunnel at small ratio the width of the blade increases.
All fabrication works Lath operation, welding, drilling, milling and power cutting operation was
carried in our Lath Workshop itself. It took around three months to complete the fabrication. The testing was
done in our Aerospace Lab where there in a wind tunnel test machine rating of 3 phase, AC induction motor
7.5 hp, 1440 rpm, 415 V, 10.5A producing maximum wind speed of 10m/s.

5. Calculate the power:

Assume that the density of air is 1.225 kg/m3 (kilograms per cubic metre) and calculate the power of the wind
that is available to the wind turbine:
1
Power (watts, W) = 2 x area swept by blades (m2) x density of air (kg/m3) x wind speed3 (m3/s3)

5.1 Experiment 1: Test on Conventional Wind Turbine:

The three blades of the wind turbine are connected to a DC generator. As the blades rotate due to wind
from the tunnel, the DC generator turns on.
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Procedure:

1. Start the Induction Motor (IM) of the wind tunnel system. Adjust the speed of the IM to a particular
wind speed from the tunnel.

2. Measure the wind speed.

3. Vary the electrical load on the generator in steps by adjusting the rheostar. For each load setting,
measure the turbine speed, output voltage and output current.

4. Tabulate the reading and calculate the efficiency of the wind energy conversion system. The value of
Cp for different values of tip-speed ratio can be found out using the graph given below:

Graph 1 Cp vs. tip-speed ratio

OBSERVATION &TABULATION:

Wind Speed (v) = 6 m/s; Rotor Radius (r) =0.57 m; A = 2 =1.02 m2; Density of air = 1.225 /3 (avg.
value); N =220 rpm (23.09 rad/sec)

Observation
Sl. Wind speed N (rpm) Vout Iout Pe
No (m/s) (volts) (A) (W)
1 2.5 112 0.98 .052 0.05
2 4 152 1.35 .062 0.602
3 6 220 2.26 .075 1.361
4 6.5 240 2.42 .088 1.739
5 7.5 282 3.06 .102 2.606

Table 1 Tabulation of WTGS

Model Calculation:

Observation

In South India average wind speed is about 5 to 6 m/s. Hence lets calculate the power for Wind Speed (v) = 6
m/s. At this speed the rotor rotated at N = 220 rpm producing a voltage V=2.26 v and I=.075.
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Calculation
1 1
Pw = 2 3 = 2 1.225 1.02 63 = 134.946 watts

23.09 .57
= = = 2.19; Cp = 0.4
6

1 1
Pm = 2 Cp 3 = .4 1.225 1.02 63 = 53.97 watts
2

Pe =Vout Iout = 0 .169 watts

5.2 EXPERIMENT 2: Test on Dual Rotor Wind Turbine:

DRWT

Wind tunnel
Wind

A
R
v h

Figure 7 Block Diagram of flow of wind in DRWT

he three blades of the wind turbine are connected to a DC generator rotor same as above experiment
and also another three blade are connected to the stator in such a way that the entire DC generator is free to
rotate by connecting bearings to the rotor and making the rotor to support the entire weight of DC generator
and the Blades.

Applying same parameters for DRWT:

Wind Speed (v) = 6 m/s; Rotor Radius (r) =0.57 m; A = 2 =1.02 m2; Density of air = 1.225 /3 (avg.
value); N =220 rpm (23.09 rad/sec)

Observation Power
Sl. Wind Nfront Nback Ntotal Vout Iout
No speed (m/s) (rpm) (rpm) (rpm) (volts) (A) Pe (W)
1 2.5 97 110 207 1.72 .068 0.117
2 4 138 182 320 3.79 .159 0.602
3 6 205 297 502 5.87 .232 1.361
4 6.5 226 334 560 6.64 .262 1.739
5 7.5 267 373 640 7.62 .321 2.446

Table 2 Tabulation of DRWT

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While calculating the rpm of DRWT, you may notice that the front and the back rpm are added to get
Ntotal and corresponding voltage produced. The graphical representation given below illustrates that
calculation performed are valid and helps to analyse and compare with the WTGS.

6
Voltage

5 Single Rotor voltage

4 Dual Rotor voltage

Linear (Single Rotor voltage)
3
Linear (Dual Rotor voltage)
2

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
rpm

Graph 2 Voltage vs rpm of DRWT and WTGS combined

To understand the correlation between the wind blower rpm vs. the voltage generated the following
study and experiments were carried out. In the initial stage, the single front blade alone was analysed so as to
understand the power that it produced. This represent the conventional wind turbine technology currently
used. Accordingly the readings and the voltage produced where formulated and chartered.

As the wind blower rpm was gradually raised to 650rpm, the experimentation encountered a situation
in which the support stand vibrated due to the increasing wind speed and as it approached 700rpm the blades
detached. Therefore the design was again displaced and reinforced with better safety measures to avoid any
further breakdown.

The experiment proved that the modified design was a tremendous success as it showed a significant
rise in the power produced and the efficiency of the wind turbine. The data obtained where formulated to
conclude that the proposed design was much more efficient to produce an efficient and effective power supply
than the previous design.

In the graph you can also see linear dotted lines of DRWT and WTGS which are both lying on the
same path. This clearly indicates that the rpm taken for DRWT is the summation both front and back blades.
During the experiment the rpm of frond blade and back blade cannot be easily found out so using a camera
the rotation of blades were captured for I minute and after that the video is played in slow motion and the
number of rotation made by the front and the back blades were noted. This was the best method for finding
the rpm of both blades in the accurate way.
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6. COMPARISON STUDY

6.1 COMPARISON 1: WOODEN BLADES VS. PVC BLADES

Figure 8 wooden blades vs. PVC blades

Test between wooden blade and PVC blade was taken at a constant wind speed of 4 m/s and found
that the wooden blade were no performing well. At 4 m/s wind speed wooden blade produced 2.4volts, while
the PVC blades was producing 3.79volts. Due to this the remaining experiments were carried out using PVC
blades only.

6.2 COMPARISON 2: FRONT BLADE ONLY-STATOR FIXED VS BACK BLADE ONLY-ROTOR

FIXED.

Figure 9 Front blade only - stator fixed Figure 10 back blade only-rotor fixed

Just like conventional wind turbines the stator was made fixed while the frond rotor rotates. At various
wind speed the results were entered and the graph was plotted.

For the next test back blade was mounted on top of the stator and the rotor was not allowed to rotate.
The same test was done keeping the blade angle same as above experiment which was at its maximum
efficiency of the PVC blade. The test results were plotted and it was found out that in this setup the back blade
mounting with rotor fixed produced more voltage than the outer.
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Voltage
3

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Blade Rpm
Front blade only back blade only

Graph 4 Front blade only-stator fixed vs back blade only-rotor fixed

The result shows an increase of 1.58volts just by inverting the concept of wind turbine where rotor
becoming stator and stator becoming rotor. This is an entire new concept being found in wind turbines.

6.3 COMPARISON 3: FRONT BLADE ONLY-STATOR FIXED (OR WTGS) VS DRWT

In this test both front and bank blades were fixed allowing both stator and rotor to rotate. The
performance was noted and the graphs were plotted. It was found that there was a huge increase in voltage
produced by DRWR.

While comparing the assembly of other experimental setup DRWT was difficult to assembly. But
once assembled the performance became very high. The comparison graph had been plotted as shown in Graph
5. A big difference was obtained initially at 3.5 m/s wind speed WTGS produced 1.23volts while the other
started producing voltage of 3.132volts which is even greater than the maximum value of WTGS producing
only 3.062volts at 7.5m/s wind. DRWT produced voltage more than 8.1voltage at 7.5 m/s. This simply means
that a much higher performance can be achieved using DRWT system.

Figure 11 testing of dual rotor wind turbine

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Comparision result b/w DRWT and WTGS

9

8 7.5, 8.1

7, 7.312
7
6.5, 6.64
6 6, 5.872
Voltage Produced

5.5, 5.334
5
5, 4.75
4.5, 4.202
4
4, 3.79

3 3.5, 3.132 7.5, 3.062

7, 2.666
6.5, 2.422
2 6, 2.268
5.5, 1.992
5, 1.79
4.5, 1.496
1 4, 1.356
3.5, 1.23

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Wind Speed
WTGS DRWT

Graph 5 comparison WTGS vs. DRWT

The results shows that initially 1.902volt difference is produced at 3.5 m/s wind speed, than at 6 m/s the
difference was 3.88volt difference then finally at 7.5 m/s wind speed 5.038volts difference was obtained. This
clearly means that performance of DRWT is not just producing Twice performance but more than that.

Even at low wind speed it was observed that the frond blades were not rotating but the front blades were
diverting the wind to the back blades making the back stator only to rotate.

7. Summary and Comments on Future Works

This paper introduced a dual rotor wind turbine generator

system, which consists of two rotors: front rotor rotating the rotor and
back rotor rotating the stator. Using SolidWorks Modelling and Flow
Simulation was analysed. A 6v DC generator was using for the
experiment as it was affordable and so the power was less. By using a
better high voltage DC generator much better results can be achieved.
Comparison study between Conventional Wind turbine and Dual rotor
wind turbine shows positive result that DRWT will perform much
better using higher voltage generators and good aerofoil blades. It
became evident experiments that keeping the three blade fixed at the
back of the stator can deliver more power than keeping the three
VDRWT
blades at the front. Further analysis has to be compile to find the exact
reason of the increase in performance. The DRWT was found to be Figure 11 Vertical DRWT
the most efficient among all other combinations of the designs.

Based on further studies a new prototype was designed which can reduce the disadvantages found in
horizontal DRWT, it show in figure 11 vertical DRWT. It has not been tested but as per my studies and
calculation this can perform much better than the horizontal DRWT as wind rotating the blade are independent
to each other and has a gear system to increase the rpm of generator. Vertical-axis wind turbines (VWT) have
the main rotor shaft arranged vertically. Key advantages of this arrangement are that the turbine does not need
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to be pointed into the wind to be effective. This is an advantage on sites where the wind direction is highly
variable, for example when integrated into buildings. The key disadvantages include the low rotational speed
with the consequential higher torque and hence higher cost of the drive train, the inherently lower power
coefficient, the 360 degree rotation of the aerofoil within the wind flow during each cycle and hence the highly
dynamic loading on the blade, the pulsating torque generated by some rotor designs on the drive train, and the
difficulty of modelling the wind flow accurately and hence the challenges of analysing and designing the rotor
prior to fabricating a prototype. It should be borne in mind that wind speeds within the built environment are
generally much lower than at exposed rural sites, noise may be a concern and an existing structure may not
adequately resist the additional stress.The works presented in this paper are not complete in the sense that
more refined modelling is to be done in blade diameter, structural support and appearance of DRWT.

8. REFERENCES

1. Wind Force 12. A blueprint to achieve 12% of the worlds electricity from wind power by 2020,
Greenpeace; 2005.

2. Cueva A, Sanz-Andres A. The extended BetzLanchester limit. Renewable Energy 2004.

3. http://www.treehugger.com/wind-technology/future-wind-power-9-cool-innovations.html

4. http://www.dualrotor.com/

5. http://easywindenergy.blogspot.in/2013/04/twin-rotor-turbine-is-generating-11-mw.html

6. http://windsystemsmag.com/article/detail/357/a-departure-in-turbine-design

7. http://www.windpowerengineering.com/design/twin-rotor-11-mw-turbine-closer-to-physical-prototype/

8. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148109000561

9. http://www.yourgreendream.com/diy_pvc_blades.php

10. http://www.windandwet.com/windturbine/turbine2/blades.php

11. http://www.bharathelectricmotors.com/dc_generators.htm

12. http://windpower.org.za/bladecalcs/blades.php

13. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/solar-wind/4324331