1

Dear Professor,

Attached is a review of Team 3’s Wind Turbine project.

The purpose of this project was to find the best blades of the wind turbine by testing the width, pitch and
the number of blades through Matlab application in order to obtain the best coefficient power that the
design could produce.
The final design of the blades was rectangular shapes, 0.2 m of the width, and 15 degree for the pitch.

Team 3 has 4 members as listed below with the responsibilities of each team member also listed below.

Malloy; Report: Overview of Final Design, Detailed Description of Final Design, Editor.
Ball; Report: Overview, Prototype, Testing, Results, Assessment, Next Pages, Editor.
Tran; Report: Letter of transmittal, Title Page, Executive Summary, Appendices, Editor
Muhammad A Nawab; Report: Problem Scope, Technical Review, Design Requirements, Editor.

Sincerely,

Tran Malloy Ball Muhammad Ali Nawab

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Engineering Clinic

Wind Turbine Report

Malloy, Ball, Tran, Muhammad Nawab — Group Number 3

December 18, 2020

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 4

Problem Definition 5

Design Description 9

Evaluation 10

Appendices 12
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this project is to find the best blade design of the wind turbine that could
produce the large amount of power. By using Matlab application, the best coefficient power was
13.607% with the 0.3 m of the width 15 degrees of the pitch, and 12 blades. However, the design
that was picked to build for the blades was 0.2 m of the width, 15 degrees of the pitch, and 6
blades. The coefficient power for built design was 7.286%. The problem of this project turned
out to be that the most produced power design was the width dimension of the blades were big to
combine with 12 blades. The problem was solved by decreasing the number of blades and the
dimension of the width. The reason for this was because the fewer of the blades with a decent
dimension of the width would increase the flow speed through the wind turbine, while the bigger
numbers of blades would decrease the flow speed of the blades. The wind turbine power was
produced by the rotation of the blades. In conclusion, the best design was 0.2m of the wind
turbine, 15 degrees of the pitch, and 6 blades. After testing, it was found that the wind turbine
generated approximately 1.5 W and the efficiency was 2.5%.
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Problem Definition
Problem Scope - what was the challenge given to you?
To design and build a wind turbine which can harness maximum amount of available
wind energy by designing the blades’ dimensions, quantity, chord length & angle of attack in
such a way that maximum lift and drag coefficients are achievable for efficient electrical power
generation.

Technical Review
Wind turbine is a form of electrical renewable energy with a significantly low number of
greenhouse gas emissions. Global warming and sustainable environment are the key topics of
discussions nowadays. Mankind has been using thermal energy to fulfil their needs for ages.
After a long period of time, humans have come to realize that saving Earth is important for future
generations. So, we as humans started looking for a more environmentally friendly source of
energy and out of many options available in nature, wind turbines are one of them.

A typical wind turbine has some aerodynamically designed blades which are there to take
the kinetic energy of wind available at the expense of a wind turbine. Yaw system of blades of a
typical wind turbine is used to keep the rotor aligned and orient the blades in the direction of
wind. It also contains a shaft at the central hub of the turbine which turns to drive the electric
generator and as a result electricity is generated. A gear system is attached to the rotor because
the angular speed of the wind turbine is not enough to drive the generator. Gear box serves its
purpose of taking a low angular speed and out it with high angular speed to drive the generator.
A step up transformer can be used to increase the voltage level to transmission voltage level for
this energy to be used in the interconnected grid system of the nation.

Wind turbines come in different sizes depending on the amount of energy needed. Wind
turbines are installed at high altitude or in the area where wind velocity is enough to drive the
turbine rotors. Although wind turbines seem like a great source of energy but there are some
downsides as well. According to a German physicist Albert Betz, no turbine can capture more
that 59.3% of the available wind energy. Achieving the Betz limit is an achievement in itself.
Practical wind turbines can achieve only 70-80% of Betz limit. This is because every turbine has
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a gear system and no gear system is without losses. Moreover, every turbine has a generator
which is again no ideal and can not have efficiency more than 70-80%. The factors discussed and
many more play their role in decreasing the efficacy of wind turbines.

Considering all the factors discussed above, we still want to use wind turbines because of
their low green gas emissions, because they are enabling us to leave a sustainable environment
for our generations to come.

History
In the early age, the wind turbine concept was being used but it had a different name back
then. People used to call it a wind wheel. Wind wheel was created by A Greek engineer, Heron
of Alexandria for the very first time. Wind wheels were used for pumping sea water and grinding
flour etc.

In 1887, the very first wind turbine used to generate electricity was made by Prof. James
Blyth of Anderson’s College, Glasgow. After the great use of wind wheels to generate
electricity, people started taking interest in wind turbines. Many states turned towards this new
renewable source of energy rather than burning coal and using steam engines to do the same
task.

Wind turbines provided safe, readily available and free of cost electricity. After decades
of Prof. James Blyth’s invention, universities started wind turbines as a course for students.
People stated learning more and more about this form of energy and with learning came
advancements. Scientists designed many possible types of turbines with variable efficiencies and
uses.

In 2020, the world’s capacity of wind energy is at 650.8 GigaWatts. Which is a huge
contribution by wind turbines. In the future, it’s predicted to go high. Wind turbines are widely
used but still it has a long way to go. The more the world will understand the need for a healthy
environment , the more they will come towards renewable energy sources like wind turbines.
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What it’s used for

Large wind turbines are used for electricity generation. Different utility companies own
their separate wind farms. Usually, wind turbines are installed at a location where wind flow is
good most of the time. They come in different sizes ranging from a few kilowatts to several
megawatts.

Small wind turbines located near load centers or in community areas are for household
uses, telecommunication equipment, water pumping stations etc.

Sometimes turbines are used in remote windy areas to power the electrical equipment
uninterruptedly. They can be used to power batteries, small generators etc.

Design Requirements
Maximization of power output

There are a number of factors playing there in maximization of power output of a wind
turbine. We’ll discuss each and every one separately in detail in the following paragraphs.

Lift and drag coefficients are the most important factors of wind turbines. We desire a
high lift coefficient as high lift force enables wind turbine’s blades to turn more. The more the
blade will the more will be the generated power. There are two types of wind turbine based on
the mechanism used to generate electricity. Some are drag based wind turbines and some are lift
based steam turbines. Lift and drag coefficients depend upon airfoil shape, angle of attack, wing
area, air speed, and air density.

Angle of attack is the angle at which blades are set to bear the incoming wind energy.
Angle of attack set in a way that lift and drag coefficients are maximums. In our design the
optimum angle of attack is 12-16 degrees.

Increasing the number of blades increases the amount of power generated but we can not
increase no of blades to that value where they will start to overlap and become difficult to change
angle of attack. We also do not want the blades to be less in quantity, that would be simply
useless to install a wind turbine with one or two blades because it will simply not harness enough
wind energy available.
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Blade length is another factor to consider. Increasing blade length also increases the
output power. If the blades are too lengthy that they start to bend towards the pole of the wind
turbine, it can cause damage to the turbine as well as the surroundings.

Increasing the number of blades and blade area may not be desirable for lift based
turbines as it also increases the solidity(closed vs open area) of wind turbines. High solidity
turbines use more material and are less efficient. Whereas low solidity turbines are cheap, use
less material and are more efficient.

Chord length of a wind turbine’s blade is an important deciding factor. Many turbines
used commercially have their blades aerodynamically designed to give maximum power. A
blade can be a fixed chord or variable chord. However, the blades used practically are variable
chord type. Variable chord length has aerodynamic benefits when air strikes on the blade.
Variable chord blades generate more lift than constant chord blades.
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Design Description
The purpose of a wind turbine is to catch wind and slow it down just enough so that it can
convert its kinetic energy to mechanical or rotational energy so it can be used for different
purposes. The final design that the group decided on was to have a 6-bladed rectangular shaped
wind turbine with each blade being 0.438 m long with a width of 0.20 m and at a 15 degree
angle. This was chosen as the best option because of the results it gave from running the Matlab
code/ simulation compared to the others; because it was decided to use less blades and a
shorter width, the flow speed should be faster so that the rotation of the turbine will generate
more power. The Cp that was calculated from running the Matlab code for these specific
features was 7.286%. Given the calculated Cp and that the number of blades being used will be
6, the turbine should be very effective and work properly.

Figure 1: Dimensional drawing of wind turbine blades with a front view of blade, and
all six blades on the rotor at 15 degree angle
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Figure 2: Final wind turbine design

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Evaluation
The final design for the wind turbine was agreed upon through collaboration and
numerous MATLAB tests. After some thought, the team unanimously agreed upon using
rectangular blades as this was the most recommended and simplest option. Every other
parameter of the design was decided based on the results of the MATLAB tests. It was decided
to use an angle of 15° for the angle of attachment for the blades because the MATLAB results
consistently proved that using this angle gave the best possible CP(%) for every other possible
combination of rectangular blades. It was decided to use a blade width of 0.20 m and to use a six
bladed turbine over the twelve bladed turbine, even though the latter produced better CPs(%),
because it was determined that using this combination would create better flow speed compared
to that of twelve blades with a width of 0.30 m, thus, allowing for greater power generation.
Due to time constraints and project requirements, only one prototype was developed for
testing. The prototype had the following constraints as listed above: six rectangular blades
attached at an angle of 15° with a blade width of 0.20 m. The blade length was no more than
0.438 centimeters long to make it so that with the center of the turbine included, the total
diameter of the turbine would be exactly 1 m, which was a constraint for this project. The
projected CP(%) of this prototype is approximately 9.508%.
It is predicted that the turbine with the previously listed constraints would generate the
most power. It is also predicted that the design should perform relatively close to what is
expected from the MATLAB tests and that the turbine should ultimately produce a power output
of about 4 Watts.
The results of the test generated a power output of 1.5 Watts with an efficiency of 2.5%.
This is considerably lower than the expected value. It should also be noted that when the
generator was turned on, putting an electrical load on the turbine, the rotational speed of the
turbine slowed down significantly. This could be due to the fact that the generator was causing
too much resistance, indicating flaws in the design or construction of the turbine.
These results will lead to a better and more efficient final design by allowing for the team
to examine the potential deficiencies of the wind turbine design as it is being tested, thus
allowing for the revision of the design parameters and the overall betterment of the design.
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One potential weakness of the design is that it compromises efficiency in favor of power
generation and flow speed. However, in that sense, that is also the strength of this design. It
trades out complexity and efficiency for pure power generation. Another potential weakness of
the design/construction is that the wings were not as secure as possible, leading to a wobble that
could have negatively impacted the experiment, potentially causing the decrease of rotational
speed when the generator was turned on.
If given more time to complete this project, the team could’ve possibly ran more tests for
different numbers of blades to see if another combination had a better flow speed than the
prototype that was tested. The team also could’ve experimented with different blade shapes to
see which one had better efficiencies of the standard rectangular blades. If the team was able to
do this, the results likely would’ve turned out to be better than what was received.

Figure 3: The graph of coefficient power (Y-axis) for 6 blades, 0.2 m width, and 15 degrees
pitch.
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Appendices
Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)
10 0.05 3 1.150
15 0.05 3 1.185
20 0.05 3 1.117
25 0.05 3 1.007
30 0.05 3 0.889
35 0.05 3 0.759
40 0.05 3 0.637
Table 1: Datas table for coefficient power results with 3 blades and 0.05 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.10 3 2.226
15 0.10 3 2.265
20 0.10 3 2.155
25 0.10 3 1.954
30 0.10 3 1.727
35 0.10 3 1.488
40 0.10 3 1.250
Table 2: Datas table for coefficient power results with 3 blades and 0.10 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.15 3 3.152
15 0.15 3 3.297
20 0.15 3 3.136
25 0.15 3 2.867
30 0.15 3 2.537
35 0.15 3 2.173
40 0.15 3 1.823
Table 3: Datas table for coefficient power results with 3 blades and 0.15 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.20 3 4.052
15 0.20 3 4.200
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20 0.20 3 4.048
25 0.20 3 3.715
30 0.20 3 3.284
35 0.20 3 2.841
40 0.20 3 2.387
Table 4: Datas table for coefficient power results with 3 blades and 0.20 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.25 3 4.787
15 0.25 3 5.094
20 0.25 3 4.873
25 0.25 3 4.478
30 0.25 3 4.021
35 0.25 3 3.429
40 0.25 3 2.907
Table 5: Datas table for coefficient power results with 3 blades and 0.25 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.30 3 5.542
15 0.30 3 5.853
20 0.30 3 5.715
25 0.30 3 5.211
30 0.30 3 4.659
35 0.30 3 4.042
40 0.30 3 3.403
Table 6: Datas table for coefficient power results with 3 blades and 0.30 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.05 4 1.514
15 0.05 4 1.557
20 0.05 4 1.474
25 0.05 4 1.332
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30 0.05 4 1.176
35 0.05 4 1.011
40 0.05 4 0.843
Table 7: Datas table for coefficient power results with 4 blades and 0.05 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.10 4 2.858
15 0.10 4 2.969
20 0.10 4 2.824
25 0.10 4 2.565
30 0.10 4 2.277
35 0.10 4 1.949
40 0.10 4 1.638
Table 8: Datas table for coefficient power results with 4 blades and 0.10 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.15 4 4.052
15 0.15 4 4.202
20 0.15 4 4.048
25 0.15 4 3.715
30 0.15 4 3.284
35 0.15 4 2.841
40 0.15 4 2.388
Table 9: Datas table for coefficient power results with 4 blades and 0.15 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.20 4 5.070
15 0.20 4 5.364
20 0.20 4 5.191
25 0.20 4 4.774
30 0.20 4 4.425
35 0.20 4 3.682
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40 0.20 4 3.075
Table 10: Datas table for coefficient power results with 4 blades and 0.20 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.25 4 5.946
15 0.25 4 6.390
20 0.25 4 6.201
25 0.25 4 5.729
30 0.25 4 5.110
35 0.25 4 4.443
40 0.25 4 3.744
Table 11: Datas table for coefficient power results with 4 blades and 0.25 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.30 4 6.776
15 0.30 4 7.286
20 0.30 4 7.136
25 0.30 4 6.645
30 0.30 4 5.953
35 0.30 4 5.186
40 0.30 4 4.367
Table 12: Datas table for coefficient power results with 4 blades and 0.30 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.05 6 2.226
15 0.05 6 2.265
20 0.05 6 2.156
25 0.05 6 1.968
30 0.05 6 1.728
35 0.05 6 1.489
40 0.05 6 1.250
Table 13: Datas table for coefficient power results with 6 blades and 0.05 m width.
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Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.10 6 4.052
15 0.10 6 4.202
20 0.10 6 4.048
25 0.10 6 3.715
30 0.10 6 3.284
35 0.10 6 2.841
40 0.10 6 2.388
Table 14: Datas table for coefficient power results with 6 blades and 0.10 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.15 6 5.547
15 0.15 6 5.864
20 0.15 6 5.715
25 0.15 6 5.258
30 0.15 6 4.687
35 0.15 6 4.069
40 0.15 6 3.423
Table 15: Datas table for coefficient power results with 6 blades and 0.15 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.20 6 6.776
15 0.20 6 7.286
20 0.20 6 7.136
25 0.20 6 6.646
30 0.20 6 5.953
35 0.20 6 5.186
40 0.20 6 4.367
Table 16: Datas table for coefficient power results with 6 blades and 0.20 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

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10 0.25 6 7.786
15 0.25 6 8.497
20 0.25 6 8.383
25 0.25 6 7.880
30 0.25 6 7.095
35 0.25 6 6.204
40 0.25 6 5.219
Table 17: Datas table for coefficient power results with 6 blades and 0.25 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.30 6 8.617
15 0.30 6 9.508
20 0.30 6 9.500
25 0.30 6 8.972
30 0.30 6 8.123
35 0.30 6 7.072
40 0.30 6 5.997
Table 18: Datas table for coefficient power results with 6 blades and 0.30 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.05 12 3.622
15 0.05 12 4.200
20 0.05 12 4.048
25 0.05 12 3.715
30 0.05 12 3.279
35 0.05 12 2.841
40 0.05 12 2.388
Table 19: Datas table for coefficient power results with 12 blades and 0.05 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.10 12 6.774
15 0.10 12 7.286
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20 0.10 12 7.136
25 0.10 12 6.645
30 0.10 12 5.953
35 0.10 12 5.186
40 0.10 12 4.367
Table 20: Datas table for coefficient power results with 12 blades and 0.10 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.15 12 8.617
15 0.15 12 9.508
20 0.15 12 9.500
25 0.15 12 8.971
30 0.15 12 8.123
35 0.15 12 7.072
40 0.15 12 5.996
Table 21: Datas table for coefficient power results with 12 blades and 0.15 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.20 12 9.823
15 0.20 12 11.060
20 0.20 12 11.321
25 0.20 12 10.802
30 0.20 12 9.878
35 0.20 12 8.654
40 0.20 12 7.370
Table 22: Datas table for coefficient power results with 12 blades and 0.20 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.25 12 10.507
15 0.25 12 12.178
20 0.25 12 12.629
25 0.25 12 12.230
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30 0.25 12 11.250
35 0.25 12 9.983
40 0.25 12 8.500
Table 23: Datas table for coefficient power results with 12 blades and 0.25 m width.

Degree Width(m) Number of Blades Cp(%)

10 0.30 12 10.976
15 0.30 12 12.864
20 0.30 12 13.607
25 0.30 12 13.300
30 0.30 12 12.403
35 0.30 12 10.987
40 0.30 12 9.428
Table 24: Datas table for coefficient power results with 12 blades and 0.30 m width.

Matlab Code:
Cfunc
%define chord length in [m]
function [c] = cfunc(r)
c = .03+.1*r; %equation for chord length [m]
Roto_Calcs
function [Cp,x] = roto_calcs(B,beta,dr,U,R,rho,w,allowedError)
Cx = 0.01;
Cy = 0.01;
for i = 1:1:40
Q = 0; %initializing torque
for r = 0.075:dr:R
c = cfunc(r);
sigma = B*c/(2*pi*r); % solidity ratio - closed vs open area
a = 1/3; % axial induction factor initialization
aprime = 0; % radial induction factor initialization
for q = 1:1:50
W = sqrt((U*(1-a))^2 +(w(i)*r*(1 + aprime))^2); % relative wind
velocity
phi = real(asin(U*(1-a)/W)); % angle between relative wind and
the wind at infinity
alpha = (phi - beta) * 180/pi; % angle of attack (deg) - btwn
incoming air flow and cord of airfoil
% chec if alpha is negative
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z = 1;
if alpha < 0
z = -1;
alpha=abs(alpha);
end
% finding Cl (lift coef) & Cd (drag coef)
if alpha <= 8
Cl = -0.0001*alpha^5 + 0.0016*alpha^4 -
0.0093*alpha^3 + 0.0219*alpha^2 + 0.0928*alpha + 0.0006;
Cd = -.00001*alpha^3 + 0.0003*alpha^2 - 0.0003*alpha
+ 0.0134;
elseif alpha <= 27
Cl = -.00001*alpha^2 + 0.0542*alpha - 0.5037;
Cd = -.0000000004*alpha^5 + .0000002*alpha^4
- .00003*alpha^3 + 0.0018*alpha^2 - 0.0196*alpha + 0.1616;
elseif alpha <= 90
Cl = -.00000009*alpha^4 + .00003*alpha^3 -
0.0036*alpha^2 + 0.1761*alpha - 1.8521;
Cd = -.0000000004*alpha^5 + .0000002*alpha^4
- .00003*alpha^3 + 0.0018*alpha^2 - 0.0196*alpha + 0.1616;
else
Cl=0;
Cd = -.0000000004*90^5 + .0000002*90^4 - .00003*90^3
+ 0.0018*90^2 - 0.0196*90 + 0.1616;
end
% evaluating a and aprime induction factors
% Burtons equations, using equations derived by Will
%Variables for checking acceptable error
cxOld = Cx;
cyOld = Cy;
Cx = Cl*cos(phi)+Cd*sin(phi); %axial lost due to flow parallel
Cy = Cl*sin(phi)-Cd*cos(phi); %normal causes rotation
cxComp = abs((cxOld-Cx)/cxOld*100);
cyComp = abs((cyOld-Cy)/cyOld*100);
a = (1-a)*sigma/(4*sin(phi)^2)*(Cx - sigma/(4*sin(phi)^2)*Cy^2);
aprime = (sigma*Cy)/(4*sin(phi)^2*(w(i)*R/U)*(r/R))*(1-a);
%Acceptable Error check
if cxOld ~= a
if( (cxComp)<allowedError && (cyComp)<allowedError )
break;
end
end
end
Cl = z*Cl; % evaluating lift for the negative alpha
if (a >= 0.5 || aprime < 0 || a < 0 || aprime >= 1)
dQ = 0;
else
dQ = 0.5*rho*W^2*B*c*r*dr*(Cl*sin(phi) - Cd*cos(phi)); %
differential torque by the segment
end
Q = Q + dQ; % summation to the total torque
end
P(i) = Q*w(i); % power generated
x(i) = w(i); % assigning to another vector
end
Cp = (P/(0.5*rho*U^3*pi*R^2))*100; % coefficient of power
 22

Wind Turbine_Main
% commands to clear variables, workspace, close figures
clear all
close all
clc
% Defining parameters
%cfunc is called within roto_calcs.m
%BEGIN FIXED PRAMETERS - DO NOT CHANGE
U = 5;
% wind velocity at infinity [m/s]
R = 0.438;
% blade radius/length/span [m]
rho = 1.225;
% density of air [kg/m3]
w = [0.1:0.5:20];
% Omega, Rotational speeds [radians/second]
dr= .01;
% length of the blade segments/elements [m]
allowedError = 0.5; %
Threshold for iterative error [%] in cX cY of roto_calc
%END FIXED PARAMETERS
%BEGIN USER DEFINED PARAMETERS
B= input('Number of blades being used:
'); % number of blades
beta= input('Insert the pitch(degrees):
')*pi/180; % blade pitch [radians]
%Writes results to csv file with given
filename. Name stored for save of
%figure generated
filename = input('Enter desired filename:
','s');
%END USER DEFINED PARAMETERS
tic
%THE FOLLOWING FUNCTION 'roto_calcs'
PERFORMS ALL CALCULATIONS
%All information is passed from the
definitions above.
%Remember, the chord, c, is set in the
seperate function/file 'cfunc'.
[Cp,x] =
roto_calcs(B,beta,dr,U,R,rho,w,allowedError);
disp(' Solution ');
Work Cited
Wang, SH., Chen, SH. Blade number effect for a ducted wind turbine. J Mech Sci Technol 22,
1984–1992 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-008-0743-8
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