DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PITCHED-PLATE VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE FOR DOMESTIC POWER GENERATION

Abstract: Wind energy is identified a promising energy resource in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is important to use proper technologies for efficient energy capturing in order to minimize cost of energy. Small scale wind turbines are usually installed in constricted places (particularly in urban areas) where wind flow is turbulent and difficult to predict. Savonious type vertical axis wind turbines are important due to several reasons such as good response to turbulent winds, high initial torque, low cost, low noise, less maintenance.In this study, a modified flat plate type Savonius wind rotor was proposed to cost effectively harness wind energy in constricted places. Generally, vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) are less efficient than horizontal axis wind turbines, one reason behind this issue is wind force difference between the 2 sides of the axis is small and due to this reason torque is small and power generation capacity is less.A prototype of the proposed VAWT was fabricated and the performance was determined by acquiring experimental data. Artificial wind blow which was generated by a huge fan was used to measure rotational speed and torque characteristics at varying wind speeds. Data were collected with 1-second sampling time and a data acquisition system was developed under this study. In the proposed design one side of the turbine blades are facing the wind direction in order to capture maximum force while other side is edging the blades to have minimum opposite torque. With this concept it is expected to maximize the torque of the axis and generate more power. A sort of a passive pitch mechanism is therefore utilized in order to save energy and simplify the system. Turbine blades are simple flat plates and it eliminates usage of complex aero foils. Due to the simplicity of this design it would be possible to use this turbine for domestic electricity generation at affordable costs.Nowadays, net metering systems are being promoted in Sri Lanka and it would be beneficial to introduce low cost VAWT which operates at low winds as well as turbulent wind conditions. Based on typical household hourly load profile, viability of proposed vertical axis wind turbine was evaluated by considering rural and urban wind regimes in Sri Lanka. The costs of wind energy at two selected locations were determined in the context of net metering.