DOI 10.

1515/secm-2012-0110      Sci Eng Compos Mater 2013; 20(4): 383–394

Changduk Kong* and Haseung Lee

Development of a high-efficiency and long-life

500W class H-Darrieus-type vertical axis wind
turbine (VAWT) system using skin-spar-foam
sandwich composite structure
Abstract: Since the focus on the energy crisis and environ- *Corresponding author: Changduk Kong, Department of Aerospace
mental issues due to excessive fossil fuel consumption, Engineering, Chosun University, 375 Seosuk-dong, Dong-gu, Kwangju
501-759, Republic of Korea, e-mail: cdgong@mail.chosun.ac.kr
wind power has been considered as an important renewa-
Haseung Lee: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Chosun
ble energy source. Recently, several megawatt-class large- University, 375 Seosuk-dong, Dong-gu, Kwangju 501-759, Republic
scale wind turbine systems have been developed in some of Korea
countries. Even though the large-scale wind turbine can
effectively produce electrical power, the small-scale wind
turbine has been continuously developed due to some
advantages; for instance, it can be easily built at a low cost Nomenclature
without any limitation of location, i.e., even in the city. In
B Number of blades
case of small-scale wind turbines, the vertical axis wind
Ct Tangential coefficient
turbine (VAWT) is used in the city despite having a lower Cp Wind turbine power coefficient
efficiency than the horizontal axis wind turbine. Further- C Blade chord length
more, most small-scale wind turbine systems have been CFD Computational fluid dynamics
designed at the rated wind speed of around 12 m/s. This dz  Length of blade element projected onto the leading edge
aim of this work is to design a high-efficiency 500W class FEM Finite element method
H Half-height of blade
composite VAWT blade that is applicable to relatively low-
K Total sets of applied load cycle
speed regions. With regard to the aerodynamic design of L The chord length
the blade, parametric studies are carried out to decide an nt Number of applied load cycles
optimal aerodynamic configuration. The aerodynamic P Power
efficiency and performance of the designed VAWT is con- 1
Q ρWu2
firmed by computational fluid dynamics analysis. The 2
structural design is performed by the load case study, ini- R Local radius
tial sizing using the netting rule and the rule of mixture, R Maximum blade radius
S  Projected frontal area of the vertical axis wind turbine
structural analysis using finite element method (FEM),
V1 Uniform wind velocity
fatigue life estimation and structural test. The prototype VAWT Vertical axis wind turbine
blade is manufactured by hand lay-up and the matched Wu Resultant air velocity relative to a blade element
die molding. The experimental structural test results are ηg Generator efficiency
compared with the FEM analysis results. Finally, to evalu- ηm Mechanical efficiency
ρ Air density
ate the prototype VAWT including designed blades, the
ω Angular velocity
performance test is performed using a truck to simulate
various ranges of wind speeds and some measuring equip-
ment. According to the performance evaluation result, the
estimated performance agrees well with the experimental 1 Introduction
test results in all operating ranges.
Since the focus on the energy crisis and environmental
Keywords: composite blade design; composite structure; issues due to excessive fossil fuel consumption has been
H-Darrieus type vertical axis wind turbine system; skin- emphasized, the wind power has been considered as an
spar-foam sandwich. important renewable energy source. Recently, several
megawatt class large-scale wind turbine systems have
384      C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type

been developed in some countries. Even though the and structural design procedure, shown in Figure 1, is
large-scale wind turbine can effectively produce electri- proposed to design a vertical wind turbine using the skin-
cal power, the small-scale wind turbine has been contin- spar-foam core sandwich structure having glass/epoxy
uously developed due to some advantages; for instance, skin and spar and a polyurethane foam core.
it can be easily built at a low cost without any limitation
of location, i.e., even in the city. In case of small-scale
wind turbines, the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is
used in cities having frequent wind direction change,
2 Aerodynamic design
even though it has a lower efficiency than the horizontal
The aerodynamic design of the Darrieus-type rotor includ-
axis wind turbine. The VAWT can be classified as a differ-
ing the H-type vertical wind turbine follows Templin’s
ential drag machine like the panemone, Lafond turbine,
theory [8–10]. Its maximal power is approximated by the
Savonious, screened machines, machines with flapping
following expression:
blades, machines with turning blades and machines with
fixed, movable or cyclic pitch blades such as Darrieus [1]. P = 0.25V2(1)
Among them, the Darrieus-type VAWT, first proposed by
where P, S and V are power (W), swept area (m2) and wind
Georges Jean Marie Darrieus, uses aerodynamic lift force.
speed (m/s), respectively.
The aerodynamics, light structure, fatigue and genera-
The swept area is given as a function of geometrical
tion system of the high-performance Darrieus-type wind
parameters by the expression:
turbines have been studied in the USA and Canada [2].
For instance, NCR developed the 4 MW class Darrieus- 8 RH
S= (2)
type VAWT in 1988 [3]. Recently, many studies have been 3 
performed on the improvement of bad starting behaviors
where R and H are the maximum radius and half of the
at low wind speed and lower efficiency relative to the hor-
rotor height, respectively.
izontal axis wind turbine system [4]. Furthermore, most
The tip speed ratio λ0 is approximately related to the
small-scale wind turbine systems have been designed at
ratio R/l by the expression
the rated wind speed of approximately 12 m/s, but they
have a great reduction of aerodynamic efficiency in low- 5R
λ0 = (3)
wind-speed regions [5–7]. b1

The objective of this work is to design a high-efficiency
500W class composite VAWT blade that is applicable to where b and l are the number of blades and the chord
relatively low speed regions. In this work, an aerodynamic length, respectively.

Design
requirement
Structure design

Aerodynamic
design Analysis by FEM
Design Design
modification Aerodynamic modification
analysis Blade
manufacture

CFD Aerodynamic
analysis Strutural test

Load analysis Evaluation of structural

safety and fatigue life

Performance test

Finalization of
design

Figure 1 Proposed aerodynamic and structural design procedure.

 C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type      385

The power coefficient Cp is defined as In order to validate the proposed aerodynamic design
H 2π program, test results are compared with those of the
2p b1 W 2
Cp = = ∫ ∫ Ct
ρSV1 2 πs = H 0 V
3
ωrdzdθ u
2 (4) Uppsala University H-type VAWT, which can produce a
1
 power of 12  kW with three blades. It has an NACA0021
airfoil, blade length of 5 m, turbine radius of 3  m and
where Ct, Wu, V1, ω, r, z and θ are the parallel Lilienthal
chord length of 0.25 m at the rated wind speed of 12 m/s
aerodynamic coefficient, the tangential component of the
[10]. Figure 3 shows the comparison between the pro-
relative wind velocity, the upstream wind velocity, the
posed program results and the Uppsala University VAWT
rotor angular velocity, the vertical axis and the horizontal
test results. Through this comparison, it is confirmed that
location angle of the blade element.
the proposed program agrees well with the test results.
The aerodynamic power P and the electrical power Pe
The optimal aerodynamic design of the 500W class
become respectively by the following expression:
H-type vertical wind turbine rotor is carried out by the
2π
b1 proposed in-house program through a parametric study
2 πs ∫0
P= Ct q ωdθdz (5)
to find an optimal aerodynamic configuration having high


Pe = ηmηgP(6)
1 Data points
where q= , W is the relative wind velocity, ρ is the 0.30 4th order fitting
2 6th order fitting
Program result
air density, ηg is the generator efficiency and ηm is the Estimated Cp 0.25
mechanical efficiency. 0.20
An in-house aerodynamic design program based on
0.15
the theory above is newly coded using Visual Basic. If
the wind speed and design parameters are given as input 0.10

data, the program can calculate the tip speed ratio, power 0.05
coefficient and power considering Reynold’s number.
0
Here, the look-up table of the local Reynold’s number of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
TSR
each airfoil is obtained by computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) analysis. Figure 2 shows the front page of the aero- Figure 2 Front page of the proposed user friendly aerodynamic
dynamic design program. design program of VAWT.

Solidity 0.45
0.40 Airfoil
0.50 0.40 NACA0015
0.35
0.75 NACA0018
0.30 1.00 0.35
NACA0021
0.25 1.25 0.30
0.20 1.50 0.25
Cp

2.00
Cp

0.15 0.20
2.50
0.10 0.15
0.05 0.10 H/R:1.5
H/R:1.5 0.05 Blade number:5
0
Blade number:5
-0.05 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
TSR TSR

Blade number 0.45 H/R

0.45 2 0.50 0.75
0.40
0.40 3
4 0.35 1.00 1.25
0.35
5 0.30 1.50 2.00
0.30 6
0.25 7 0.25 2.50
Cp
Cp

0.20 0.20
0.15 0.15
0.10 H/R:1.5 0.10
Solidity:1.5 Blade number:5
0.05 0.05
Solidity:1.5
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4
TSR TSR

Figure 3 Comparison between the aerodynamic performance calculation results by the proposed and the test results of Uppsala
University VAWT.
386      C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type

efficiency in both low and high wind speed regions with Table 1 Aerodynamic design results of VAWT.
the following design parameters: number of blades, solid-
ity, airfoil, height-to-radius ratio, etc. Figure 4 shows the Rated aerodynamic power (electric power) 600 W (500 W)
Rated wind speed (m/s) 8
parametric case study results with solidity, airfoil, number
Rated rpm 168
of blades and height-to-radius ratio. Table 1 and Figure Number of blades 5
5 show the optimal aerodynamic design results and the Radius (m) 0.9
designed configuration using the parametric case study. Blade length (m) 2.56
Figure 6 shows the performance estimation of the power Blade chord length (m) 0.27
Airfoil NACA0018
coefficient vs. tip speed ratio and the power vs. wind speed.
Prior to the performance test, the designed wind
turbine is numerically analyzed using a commercial CFD
code, ANSYS CFX. Figure 7 shows the flow pattern obtained
3 L oad case analysis and structural
by CFD analysis using this code. In the analysis, input data design
as an operating condition are the rotational velocity of
167  rpm and the rated wind speed of 8 m/s at sea level. According to IEC 61400-2 design requirements for small
In order to consider the rotating position of the blade, wind turbines [12], a total of eight load cases are defined.
the dynamic moving mesh method is applied. Separate However, this work considers three extreme load cases
disconnecting zones are used for expressing the rotating at normal operation, cutoff condition and standstill and
and stationary regions. The shear stress transport (SST) storm conditions among eight load cases. The main loads
turbulence model based on the κ-ω model is used [11]. acting on the blade are the aerodynamic load and the cen-
The analysis ω shows that the calculation power of 663 W trifugal force. The centrifugal force can be simply calcu-
meets closely the design target rated output of 600 W. lated from rotational speed, and the aerodynamic loads

Figure 4 Parametric case study results with solidity, airfoil, blade number and height to radius ratio.
 C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type      387

Figure 7 Stream line distribution for fluid flow analysis using

Figure 5 Designed 500 W VAWT configuration. ANSYS.

Table 2 Definition of load cases considered in structural design.

A 0.45
0.40 Load case
0.35
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
0.30
0.25 Reference wind speed (m/s) 8 20 55.0
Cp

0.20 Gust condition  ± (20 m/s, 40°) Without gust With gust Storm
0.15 Rotational speed 167 rpm 353 rpm Stop
0.10
0.05
0
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 where N, T and cn/ct are the normal aerodynamic force, the
TSR
chordwise aerodynamic force, and the normal tangential
B 1200 aerodynamic coefficient, respectively.
1000 The shear forces and the bending moments can be
defined by integrating the normal and chordwise aero-
800
dynamic force component distributions acting on each
Power (w)

600 section of the blade depending on the wind speed and the
incidence angle in various operating conditions. Table 2
400
shows the definition of various aerodynamic load cases
200 having gust conditions and centrifugal body forces con-
- sidered in the structural design. According to load case
0 2 4 6 8 10
analysis, load case 2 is found to be the most severe condi-
Wind speed (m/s)
tion. Therefore, the structural design is performed in con-
Figure 6 Performance calculation results of the designed wind sideration of load case 2.
turbine. In the structural design, the blade adopts the skin-
spar-foam core sandwich structure concept. The glass
fabric/epoxy composite material, which is supplied by a
defined as the following expressions can be calculated at domestic company, is used for both skin and spar. The
three load cases mentioned in Table 2. bending force is endured by the spar flange layered with
The components of the aerodynamic force in the the ply angle of 0°/90°, and the torsion is endured by the
chordwise direction and normal to the blade element are upper and lower skins layered with the ply angle of  ± 45°.
Figure 8 shows the blade structural design concept with
dN = Cnqldz(7)
skin-spar-foam core sandwich. The material properties for
dT = Ctqldz(8) skin, spar and core are presented in Table 3.
388      C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type

The initial design of the composite blade is carried out PCOMP four-node shell elements, which can have good
using the netting rule and the rule of mixture, which were composite structural behaviors. In the FEM analysis, the
used in the previous study [5–7], and then the designed aerodynamic loads calculated by the developed in-house
feature is repeatedly modified by structural analysis results code for the aerodynamic design are directly applied to
using a commercial finite element method (FEM) code, the FEM model, and the centrifugal body force is applied
NASTRAN. The blade section profile shape is constant to the model by the centrifugal body force application
along the spanwise direction because it has the same rela- method of MSC NASTRAN using rotational speed, the cen-
tive wind velocity and angle of attack during operation. The tripetal center and blade mass. The aerodynamic loads
thicknesses including lamination sequences for skin, spar are applied on the aerodynamic centers of the spanwise
and core are the same for easy manufacturing and design. distributed blade airfoils, and the boundary condition is
Therefore, its weight may increase a bit. The lamination assumed as a fixed condition at the joint part between the
sequences of skin, spar and core are shown in Table 4. connection support and the blade root. Figure 9 shows
In the FEM analysis, stresses, strains, tip deflections, the FEM mesh generation results using PCOMP four-node
buckling loads and natural frequencies are found. Skin, shell elements.
spar and core of the blade structure are meshed by 3584 The results show that the highest stresses occur at the
1st ply of the skin and the 13th ply of the spar, respectively.
Skin: Figure 10 shows the spanwise (y axis) stress contour on
Glass/Epoxy fabric
±45° 7ply
the blade illustrated by FEM analysis. Table 5 shows struc-
tural analysis results of the fiber direction at the 1st ply of
the skin and the 13th ply of the spar. In order to check the
resonance possibility, eigenvalue analysis is performed
Spar: Polyurethane foam using FEM code MSC NASTRAN. Figure 11 shows the esti-
Glass/Epoxy fabric mated natural vibration mode shapes and frequencies. To
0/90° 13ply
check the possibility of resonance, the Campbell diagram
Figure 8 Structural design concept of blade with skin-spar-foam is drawn. Because all the five low natural frequencies do
core sandwich. not coincide with the operating rotational speed of 167
rpm, resonance may not occur during operation shown as
Table 3 Mechanical properties of materials used for blade.
Figure 12.
Wind turbine blades should withstand the repeated
Materials
fatigue loads during the required fatigue life operation. In
Glass/epoxy Polyurethane this work, the load spectrum is obtained using the aero-
Property fabric foam
dynamic design program and the wind speed data were
E1, Young’s Modulus 0° (N/mm2) 10,500 60.86 measured at Ganyeoam, Yeosu, Jeollanam-do in Korea.
E2, Young’s Modulus 90° (N/mm2) 10,500 59.86 The measured wind speed data are divided into 13 inter-
G12, In-plane Shear Modulus (N/mm2) 1450 19.18
vals. In the load spectrum analysis, it is assumed that the
ν12, Major Poisson’s Ratio 0.27 0.2
Xt, Tensile Strength 0° (N/mm2) 283.9 2.63 rotor blade load is not produced at a wind speed of  < 2 m/s
Xc, Comp. Strength 0° (N/mm2) 184.6 1.41 as well as more than 20 m/s. The rotational speed and
Yt, Tensile Strength 90° (N/mm2) 283.9 2.49 the blade load at various wind speeds are calculated with
Yc, Comp. Strength 90° (N/mm2) 184.6 1.41 the proposed aerodynamic design program. The 20-year
S, In-plane Shear Strength (N/mm2) 15.0 0.71
cycles at each wind speed region are calculated from the
Density (g/cc)
rotational speed and the required fatigue life. The normal-
S, In-plane Shear Strength (N/mm2) 1.705 0.1197
Density (g/cc) ized cycles at each wind speed region are obtained from
Ply thickness (mm) 0.25 12.5 the cycles during 20  years divided by the cycles during
maximum wind speed region of 20–40 m/s. Table 6 shows
the load spectrum obtained by the aerodynamic design
Table 4 Designed lamination sequence and thickness. program and the wind data measured in a local Korean
province, and Figure 13 shows the load spectrum calcu-
Lay-up sequence Thickness (mm)
lated by the proposed load spectrum estimation program
Skin  ± 457 (Glass/epoxy fabric) 1.75 with the previously explained procedure using EXCEL.
Spar (0/90)13 (Glass/epoxy fabric) 3.25 The required fatigue life is more than 20 years, and
Core (Polyurethane foam) 40.5 (max)
the fatigue life is estimated by Miner’s rule [12–16]. The
 C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type      389

Figure 9 FE mesh generation results using PCOMP 4-node shell elements.

Figure 10 Spanwise (Y-axis) stress contour on the 13th ply of spar for load case 2 (MPa).

cumulative damage is calculated using the S-N curve of From stresses calculated by the load spectrum and
the applied composite materials and the obtained load the S-N curve used for spar shown as Figure 14, the fatigue
spectrum. The fatigue life can be estimated using Miner’s life Ni at average stress level Si can be estimated. If the
rule. number of applied load cycles ni at average stress level
390      C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type

Table 5 Stress analysis results of small VAWT blade. k n k n

If ∑ i=1 N <1 is safe from the fatigue, while ∑ i=1 N ≥1 is
Analysis result Blade components unsafe from the fatigue. In the present study, the number
of cycles and fatigue loads are obtained from the previ-
Spar Skin Connection support
ously obtained fatigue load spectrum, and the fatigue life-
Max stress (MPa) life Ni at stress Si is calculated by the S-N diagram of the
 Ten. 12.4 94.4 259 glass/epoxy composite material. Therefore, because the
 Comp. 21.1 92.8
calculated value of 0.7 is less than 1, the designed wind
Max stress failure criterion
 Ten. 0.04 0.3 0.91 turbine blade has more than the required fatigue life of
 Comp. 0.11 0.5 20 years.
Tsai-Wu failure criteria 0.23 0.78

4 M
 anufacturing of prototype blade
A B C
and structural test
In manufacturing, the hand lay-up and the matched die
molding methods are applied [3]. In the manufacturing
process, the styrofoam mold is first manufactured using
steel plate templates and hot wires due to economic
reasons, and then glass fabrics for the second mold are
layered up on the styrofoam mold with a special coating.
Again the glass fabrics are layered on the second mold for
the final mold, and then glass fabrics for the upper and
1st mode (1.4 Hz) 2nd mode (4.8 Hz) 3rd mode (5.7 Hz) lower surface skins of the blade are layered on the final
mold according to the structural design result. The cured
D E F upper and lower surface skins are bonded by epoxy, and
then the polyurethane foam is injected into the space
between the upper and the lower skins. After the blade
is completely cured, the proper coating is applied. The
manufacturing process and the first prototype blade are
shown in Figure 15.
The design loads for the static structural test are sim-
ulated by the three-point loading shown in Figure 16. The
test is performed by the structural test equipment shown
in Figure 17. The test results are compared with FEM
structural analysis results. The deflection measured at
4th mode (7.7 Hz) 5th mode (16.6 Hz) 6th mode (17.6 Hz) the blade center is 51 mm, and the estimated deflection at
the same position is 54 mm. The upper and lower surface
Figure 11 Natural vibration mode shapes and frequencies.
spanwise strains measured at 50  mm from the blade
center are 1060 με and 870 με, respectively. Estimated
results at the same locations are 1010 με and 762 με,
Si is given, the required 20-year fatigue life can be con-
respectively. Figure 16 shows static strength test loads
firmed by Miner’s rule: If the blade is accumulatively used
simulated by the three-point loading method, and Figure
at average? stresses Si during ni times, its fatigue life safety
17 shows a picture of the static structural test using three-
is evaluated by the following formula:
point loading. In the structural experimental test, the
k
ni aerodynamic loads are simulated using the three-point
∑ N <1
i= 1
(9)
loading method shown in Figure 15 because the loading
i

actuation system is limited. Therefore, the simulated
where k; total sets of applied load cycles at constant stress bending moment is slightly different from the aerody-
level Si. namic bending moment. It is surmised that the mesured
 C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type      391

25 Mode 1 (1.4 Hz)

Mode 2 (4.8 Hz) 6 P.R.O
Mode 3 (5.7 Hz)
Mode 5 (7.7 Hz)
20 5 P.R.O
Mode 5 (16.6 Hz)
Mode 6 (17.6 Hz)

15 4 P.R.O
Hz

3 P.R.O
10

2 P.R.O

5
1 P.R.O

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
RPM

Figure 12 Campbell diagram to check resonance possibility.

Table 6 Load spectrum obtained by the aerodynamic design program and the wind data measured at Ganyeoam, Yeosu, Jeollanam-do in
Korea.

Wind speed Operating Load/max load Cycles during Normalized cycles (divided by cycles
(m/s) time years (h) 20 years during max wind speed region)
Max Min

2–3 1151 0.006 -0.004 8 × 107 12

∼4.5 935 0.13 -0.01 1 × 108 14
∼6 1022 0.023 -0.018 1 × 108 21
∼7.5 926 0.036 -0.028 2 × 108 30
∼9 881 0.052 -0.04 2 × 108 23
∼10.5 770 0.071 -0.054 2 × 108 24
∼12 626 0.092 -0.071 2 × 108 26
∼13.5 524 0.117 -0.09 2 × 108 25
∼15 400 0.144 -0.111 1 × 108 21
∼16.5 213 0.175 -0.134 8 × 107 12
∼18 127 0.208 -0.167 6 × 107 8
∼20 100 0.244 -0.187 4 × 107 7
20–40 97 0.009 0 6 × 106 1
Total 7772 1 × 109

600
400
Load (N)

200
0
0 50 100 150 200
-200
-400
Normalized cycle

Figure 13 Normalized load spectrum calculated by the proposed load spectrum estimation program.
 392      C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type

1.1

1.0
Normalized maximum stress (S/So)

0.9

0.8
R=0.1 R=0.5
0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2
100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107
Cycles to failure
R=0.1 R=0.5
IEC 450/06

Figure 14 S-N diagram for composite materials of spar [10].

deflection at the blade center is a bit smaller than the

estimated deflection due to the constraint of the loading
actuator, but the measured strain on the 50-mm position
from the blade center is slight higher than the estimated
results due to the simulated loading and incorrect dimen-
sion and surface treatment by unskilled hand lay-up
manufacturing experience.

5 P
 erformance test of prototype
small VAWT
To evaluate the target design performance, the perfor-
mance test of the prototype small VAWT is done using a
test purpose tower, generator, electrical loader, perfor-
mance measuring instruments, etc. Because the wind
tunnel for the aerodynamic test of the full-scale wind
turbine system is not available, a truck is used for the per-
Figure 15 Applied manufacturing process and the first prototype formance test. In order to simulate various wind speeds,
blade.

1000
Aerodynamic load
500 Total static test load
Moment (N.m)

0
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

-500

-1000
Distance from blade tip (m)

Figure 16 Static strength test loads simulated by the 3-point loading method.
 C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type      393
Figure 17 Static structural test of the prototype blade using the
3-points loading.
[RPM measurement]
[Generator]
[Wind gauge] [Photo sensor]
[Resistance] [Rectifier]
Figure 18 Test setup for performance test of prototype small VAWT.
the truck is specially controlled by various speeds. The
simulated speed range on the truck is 3–11 m/s. However,
even though some errors in wind speed are expected due to
measurement at a different location from the wind turbine
blades, they are negligible because the measuring location
is near the test machine.
To measure the electrical power produced by the
wind turbine, a gearless generator SYG-A208-600-570
[14], which has some advantages such as simplicity due
to lack of gears, easy blade mounting and low noise, is
used. Additional test devices are a rectifier, resistances
for electrical loading, a multimeter and a photosen-
sor and an instrument to measure the blade rotational
speed. Figure 18 shows the test setup for performance test
of the prototype VAWT. Figure 19 shows the comparison
between experimental test results and estimation results
of electrical power produced by the prototype VAWT. In
the test, the wind turbine starts to produce the electrical
power from approximately 3 m/s, and the power is limited
at approximately 700  W due to the limited power of the
500-W generator and its power control system. However,
1200
Measure power
1000
Estimated power
800 Calculated power
Power (w)
6th order fitting
600
400
200
0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Wind speed (m/s)
Figure 19 Comparison between test results and estimation results
of electrical power produced by prototype small VAWT.
the developed wind turbine produces the design power of
500W at the rated wind speed of 8 m/s. This result reveals
that the test result agrees well with the estimation result in
all operating ranges.
6 Conclusion
In this work, the aerodynamic and structural design pro-
cedure of a high-efficiency 500W class composite VAWT is
proposed. In the aerodynamic design of blade, parametric
studies are carried out to decide an optimal aerodynamic
configuration.
The aerodynamic efficiency and performance of the
designed VAWT is confirmed by CFD analysis. The struc-
tural design is performed by the load case study, the initial
sizing using the netting rule and the rule of mixture, the
structural analysis using FEM, the fatigue life estimation
and the structural test. The prototype blade is manufac-
tured by the hand lay-up and matched die molding. The
experimental structural test results are compared with the
FEM analysis results.
Finally, to evaluate the prototype VAWT including
designed blades, the performance test is done using a
truck to simulate the various wind speeds and some meas-
uring equipment. According to the performance evalua-
tion result, the estimated performance agrees well with
the experimental test results in all operating ranges.
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by research
funds from Chosun University, 2013.
Received September 18, 2012; accepted March 18, 2013; previously
published online May 1, 2013
394      C. Kong and H. Lee: Development of a high-efficiency and long-life 500W class H-Darrieus-type
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