Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Design

Zheng, Howard; Arace, Anthony; Reynolds, Colin; Spence, Liam; Labaugh, Rowan

Student Work

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Design

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Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) operate with similar principles to the traditional horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), yet one of the drawbacks is that they generate power on a much smaller scale. A HAWT’s orientation enables its blades to cover a much larger surface area than its vertical axis counterpart due to its circular cross-section. This project explores the design and construction of a VAWT with flaps that can open and close to help improve the efficiency of the current VAWT designs. Four VAWT blade configurations and two flap orientations were designed and tested in a wind tunnel: Semi-Circle (flap vertically aligned), 143-degree Triangle (flap vertically aligned), 143-degree Triangle (flap open horizontally), and Arc (flap vertically aligned). The blades with horizontally aligned flaps failed to start at any of the tested wind speeds, making it the least efficient. The power efficiencies with respect to the Betz limit (59.3%) for the semi-circle, triangle, and arc were 4.47%, 1.29%, and 1.79%, respectively. These efficiencies were then used to estimate the rated power capacity of the full-scale model design. The result of this prototype provided an initial step in characterizing the performance of the full-scale model. Due to the constraints of the wind tunnel, the results lacked the power performance at higher wind speeds (>5 m/s). Better material selection, as well as geometric optimization can help improve the efficiency of the prototype.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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