Beruflich Dokumente
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Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural
applications
A. Suresh a,⇑, S. Rajakumar b
a
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Varuvan Vadivelan Institute of Technology, Dharmapuri 636703, Tamilnadu, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University Regional Campus, Tirunelveli 627007, Tamilnadu, India
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: In this study, a 2 kW small scale horizontal axis wind turbine with rotor radius of 1.8 m and Tip Speed
Received 25 March 2019 Ratio of 6 was designed to work at low wind speed for rural applications. Aerodynamic analysis was per-
Received in revised form 2 June 2019 formed on 10 airfoils, viz Aquila, BW-3, E387, FX63-137, NACA0012, NASA LS-0413, RG-15, S1223,
Accepted 3 June 2019
SD7080 and SG6043 using QBlade software. These airfoils were used to analyze Lift Coefficient, Lift to
Available online xxxx
Drag ratio, with different angles of attack and compared with one another. From Numerical simulation,
SD7080 was the most suitable airfoil to start producing high power in low wind speed applications.
Keywords:
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd.
Small horizontal axis wind turbine
Airfoil
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Advanced Materials for Clean Energy
BEMT and Health Applications (AMCEHA).
Wind turbine blade
Numerical simulation
QBlade software
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Advanced Materials for Clean Energy and Health Applications (AMCEHA).
Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
2 A. Suresh, S. Rajakumar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Nomenclature
up performances at lower wind speed. The experiments were car- by varying of the field current from the generator. From their
ried out in an open circuit wind tunnel at Reynolds numbers of results, it was observed that the designed wind turbine produced
38,000, 75,000, 1,28,000 and 2,05,000 on the revised airfoil output power of 1105 W and power coefficient (CP) of 0.14 at a
(AF300). The flow around the airfoil was evaluated by the utiliza- medium wind speed of 10 m/s [8].
tion of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) along with smoke flow Mini wind turbine blades with NACA profiles were manufac-
visualization. At different angles of attack (a), the drag and lift tured and the power coefficients and rotation rates were studied
forces were measured with a dynamometer and pressure distribu- by Vardar and Alibas et al. From their investigation, it was found
tion over the airfoil surface was studied. Finally, a CFD analysis was that the power coefficient is effective for the best rotor blade mod-
also performed to obtain additional data on the flow characteris- els with high rotation rate, while the best rotor models with high
tics. The experimental outcomes showed that, a maximum lift power coefficients generate considerable results in terms of rota-
coefficient values of 1.72, 1.81 and 1.86 were obtained at the tion rates. Furthermore, it was found that NACA 4415 profiles with
Reynolds numbers of 75,000, 1,28,000 and 2,05,000 respectively four blades, 18 grade blade angle and 0 twisting angles produced
at the stall angle of 140. The lift coefficient increased from 0.41 the highest power coefficient and NACA 4412 series with two
to 1.05 in a range of 0–180, and no stalling was recorded at Rey- blades, 5 grade blade angle and 0 twisting angles had the maxi-
nolds number Re = 38,000. The flow visualization of smoke and mum rotation rate [9]. The startup performance of a three blade,
PIV results demonstrated that, at Reynolds number as small as 2 m diameter HAWT was studied in field tests and correlated with
56,000 the flow stayed perfectly connected to the airfoil surface the results of quasi-steady blade element analysis. From the
at an angle of attack of 80, although the flow was fully attached results, it was observed that the maximum starting torque was
for Reynolds number as low as 75,000 up to a = 140 [4]. generated closer to the hub and power production was more at
The combination of CFD & BEM method is used to analyze the the tip region [10].
flow field around the wind turbine rotor (S809 airfoil) to determine The main aim of this work is to design and perform analysis of
the aerodynamic performance (Power curve diagram, force, & 2 kW small horizontal axis wind turbine to be used for low wind
moments). This approach consists of two parts: calculation of 2D speed applications. In the present work, aerodynamic analysis of
aerodynamic coefficient of several span wise sections of the blade 10 airfoils was carried out at Reynolds number of 81,712 using Q
by CFD method and secondly simulation of 3D flow field of wind Blade software. The blades were designed for the selected airfoils
turbine using BEM technique. The CFD method requires less com- based on BEMT. Further, simulation of the selected models at Re
putational time and memory while compared with 3D simulation of 81,712 was carried out to determine the power coefficients.
(BEM) of wind turbines [5]. From the simulated results, the best blade was selected and ana-
Optimization of chord and twist parameters of three micro scale lyzed for different Re values, to be utilized in small horizontal axis
wind turbines for power output values of 0.5kw, 0.75kw, 1kw has wind turbines operated at low wind speeds.
been accomplished by Pourrajabian et al. While taking measures to
improve the performance of the wind turbines designed to run at
low wind speeds starting time was also considered as an objective. 2. Methodology
The larger values of the chord and twist at the root of the blade are
necessary for the improved performance when the wind speed is 2.1. Airfoil selection
low. Finally, they concluded that, the blade size and increase in
the number of blades improve both the starting performance and In this study, 10 airfoils viz, Aquila (9.3%), BW-3, E387,
the power output [6]. FX63-137 (13.7%), NACA0012, NASA LS-0413, RG-15, S1223,
A comprehensive review of different profiles of turbine blades SD7080 (9.2%), SG6043 were selected from literature in view of
and optimization process of aerofoil geometry to obtain higher low Reynolds number applications. Aquila airfoil works in low Rey-
coefficient of power in small wind turbines with Reynolds number nolds number conditions with a good (CL/CD) ratio over an
below 5x105 have been conferred by Karthikeyan et al. They extended range of angles of attack (a) [11]. They showed soft stall
inferred that the performance of noise, lift and drag ratios and behavior and its maximum CL/CD ratio occurred within a range of
starting characteristics are affected by the modifications of airfoil CL values less than or equal to CLmax [4]. BW-3 airfoil with
trailing edge, camber line, and thickness. Moreover, an optimized pultrudable section was designed for small wind turbine systems
size-reduced rotor blade can produce power equivalent to a larger by Bergey wind power. This section yielded a relative thickness
less optimized blade [7]. A 3KW three blade airfoil was designed of 5% [12]. Richard Eppler designed E387 airfoil in early 1960s
using Blade element momentum theory and analysis done by for model sailplanes, which became rapidly successful and is still
design X-FOIL software with tip speed ratio (k) of 3. A prototype used for low Reynolds number applications. It is now a benchmark
wind turbine was controlled by variable pitch angle method and used to compare low-Reynolds-number airfoil analysis results of
Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
A. Suresh, S. Rajakumar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3
various wind tunnel equipments. Wortmann developed an 7°. For angles of attack above 7° the CL for S1223 airfoil rapidly
FX 63-137 airfoil and used it for various low-Reynolds-number decreases. CLmax of 1.41 occurs at a of 9° for BW-3. Airfoils Aquila
applications because of its high-lift, soft-stall characteristics in (9.3%), NASA LS-0413, E387, RG-15 and NACA 0012 have CLmax of
addition to its overall good performance [13]. 1.35, 1.31, 1.23, 1.06 and 0.93 respectively at a of 10°. Similarly
NACA0012 airfoil has been extensively examined and typically SD 7080 (9.2%), SG6043 and FX 63-137 (13.7%) generate CLmax val-
used for various low Reynolds applications. It is symmetrical along ues of 1.17, 1.60 and 1.73 at a of 11°, 13° and 15° respectively. The
the camber line and thus it provides simplicity in construction and airfoils SG6043, Aquila (9.3%) and SD7080 (9.2%) revealed the soft
minimizes the possibility of manufacturing related defects. In addi- stall behavior in the a range of 7–16°, 4–11° and 7–20° respec-
tion, the blade is twisted largely near the root than the tip, also the tively. Finally, It can be concluded that SD7080 (9.2%) airfoil is
great twist near the hub substantially provides higher starting tor- most suitable for low wind speed applications due to its large
que, and thus it helps the turbine to start at lower wind speed range of soft stall behavior compared with other airfoils.
[14]. S1223 airfoils were the best candidates for optimization due Fig. 3. Shows the variation of Lift to drag ratio (CL/CD) for differ-
to their lower values of CL and CL/CD ratios [4]. SD7080 profile has ent airfoils at a Re value of 81,712. From the plotted graph, it was
a slightly lower maximum lift and at low lift coefficients and high observed that the values of lift to drag ratio varies with respect to
Reynolds numbers the drag is quite low, which provides good wind the changes in the angle of attack.
penetration [15]. SG6043 profile with thickness of 10 percent has the A Maximum lift to drag ratio (CL/CD) of 56.40 appeared at a of 8°
highest lift coefficient and upgraded lift-to-drag performance for for SG6043 airfoil followed by BW-3 airfoil with 51.56 at a of 4°
low Reynolds number applications. Further, SG6043 airfoil yields and E387 airfoil with 50.98 at a of 8°. The S1223, FX63-137
the best energy capture in the presence of leading-edge roughness (13.7%), RG-15, Aquila (9.3%), SD7080 (9.2%) and NASA LS-0413 air-
elements applicable for small variable-speed wind turbines [16]. foils displayed the CL/CD ratios of 47.46, 46.65, 46.34, 42.38 46.30
The Geometry shape of different airfoils are shown in Fig. 1. and 42.25 at a of 2°, 9°, 5°, 10°, 5° and 6° respectively. NACA0012
airfoil shows the lowest value of a CL/CD ratio 33.43 at a of 5° com-
pared with other airfoils. Finally, from the obtained results it was
2.2. Analysis of airfoils found that SD7080 (9.2%) airfoil has a wide range of CL/CD ratios
and showed a soft stall behavior in the a range of 4–9°. Therefore,
The Q Blade software based on the x-foil tool was used to test SD7080 airfoil is the best profile for small wind turbine to produce
the selected airfoils at the Reynolds number of 81,712 and the maximum power. Maximum lift coefficients and lift to drag ratio at
angles of attack (a) ranging from 0° to 20° with increments of 2°. maximum Reynolds numbers of 81,712 for various airfoils are
The obtained results are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The selected shown in Table 1.
airfoils are compared with one another based on the factors of
maximum lift coefficient and maximum lift to drag ratio.
Fig. 2. Shows the variation of Lift coefficient (CL) with respect to 2.3. Rotor blade design by BEMT method
different angles of attack for the selected airfoils at Re = 81,712.
From Fig. 2, it was observed that the lift coefficient values are For blade design, the various parameters like, power, tip speed
strongly influenced by the angle of attack (a). From the graph it ratio, chord, and twist are studied and the details are given below.
can be detected that, S1223 airfoil produces CLmax of 1.77 at a of The small-scale wind turbines have considerably different
Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
4 A. Suresh, S. Rajakumar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Table1
Maximum lift coefficients and lift to drag ratio at maximum Reynolds numbers of 81,712 for selected airfoils.
Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
A. Suresh, S. Rajakumar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5
formance of a wind turbine and is given by the Eq. (1). Parameter Range
The specification of the rotor blade for the design of small hor- The performance of a wind turbine is evaluated by determining
izontal axis wind turbine is listed in Table 2. its power coefficient or coefficient of performance (Cp). The power
Table 2 has all the design specification of the small horizontal coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio (shown Fig. 4) depicts
axis wind turbine and a rotor radius of 1.8 m, rated wind speed the response of BEMT-blades at Re = 81,712.
Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
6 A. Suresh, S. Rajakumar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 5. Power Coefficient versus tip speed ratio at Re = 81,712 for selected BEMT-blades.
Fig. 6. Power Coefficient versus tip speed ratio of SD7080 BEMT-blade at various Re values.
From Fig. 5, it can be observed that the Cp values initially ratio from k = 3 to k = 10 for 2KW small horizontal axis wind tur-
increase with the increase in the value of tip speed ratio (k), bine at Re = 81,712.
reaches the maximum, and then decreases. Furthermore, the blade
rotors with a wider range of tip speed ratios offer high power coef- 3.2. Power coefficient analysis of SD7080 blade at different Re values
ficients. From the graphical representation, the BEMT-blades viz
Aquila (9.3%), BW-3, FX 63-137 (13.7%), S1223 and SG6043 have Numerical simulation of SD7080 blade which was carried out at
the Cp = 0.36, 0.36, 0.36, 0.38 and 0.38 at k = 5. The blades viz various Re values and variation of the power coefficient with
E387, NACA 0012, NASA LS 0413, RG-15 and SD 7080 generates respect to the different tip speed ratio (k) are shown in Fig. 6.
Cp values of 0.35, 0.28, 0.34, 0.33 and 0.34 at k = 6 respectively. From the results, It was found that the maximum values of
Finally from the numerical simulation, SD7080 BEMT-blade was Cp = 0.19, 0.29, 0.31, 0.33, 0.33 and 0.34 were reached at k = 6 for
selected as the optimum blade due to its wide range of tip speed Re = 30642, 40856, 51070, 61, 284, 71,498 and 81,712 respectively.
Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008
A. Suresh, S. Rajakumar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 7
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References
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Please cite this article as: A. Suresh and S. Rajakumar, Design of small horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed rural applications, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.008