Design of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Chandrashekhar P K Sachin Managuli Shashank A

Dept. of E & EE UG Student UG Student
Siddaganga Institute of Technology Dept. of E & EE Dept. of E & EE
Tumakuru, Karnataka, India Siddaganga Institute of Technology Siddaganga Institute of Technology
pkc@sit.ac.in Tumakuru, Karnataka, India Tumakuru, Karnataka, India

Abstract— In this paper design of a small scale Vertical Axis
Wind Turbine (VAWT) which is having combined characteristics
of Savonius and Darrieus wind turbines for is presented.
Increasing demand for electrical energy in remote areas enabled
the need for energy sources such as wind energy. Remote
residential areas requires small amount of energy for their
household applications such as lighting. To meet this requirement
a low speed hybrid VAWT is designed. Different VAWT rotor
designs commonly used for low speeds were analysed. The
analyses lead to the requirement of a combined design which is
having advantages of both Savonius and Darrieus models. At
lower wind speeds, the Savonius model is self-starting and creates
high torque. The Darrieus model is not self-starting, but has
higher efficiency compared to the Savonius model. The combined
design with advantages of these two model increases the power
generation capacity at lower wind speeds.
Keywords— Vertical axis wind turbine, combined model,
renewable energy, wind energy
of turbines the electricity is generated through the drag force
obtained by curved structure of blades.
In 1925 darrieus wind turbine model was initially
established by G. J. Darrieus who was a French Engineer. This
type of rotor model was working based on lift force. Darrieus
wind rotor model has two or three blades having thin curve
shape, air foil cross section profile and has constant chord
length. The basic working principle of the Darrieus wind
turbine is as illustrated in figure 2. There are many variants in
Darrieus type wind turbine. All these use lift force in order to
rotate the rotor thus generating electricity. From the
comparative study under the same operating condition, it is
witnessed that Savonius turbine with two blades is more
capable and has high power coefficient than the three blade
configuration [2]. Four possible variants of Darrieus VAWT
are as shown in figure 1.

I. INTRODUCTION
At low wind speeds, the vertical axis wind turbine which is
simpler in construction will provides self-starting and do not
require any yaw mechanism. Unlike horizontal axis wind
turbine (HAWT), VAWT does not require orientation towards
the direction of wind which makes it more suitable for power
generation for small scale application at urban and rural areas,
especially at remote locations. Presently work is progressing
towards increasing the power coefficient of VAWTs. The Fig. 1. Possible variants of Darrieus VAWT: (a) H-form (b)V-form
main aim of this work is to design a small scale VAWT for (c) Troposkien and (d) Gorlov form [3]
small remote applications.
A wind turbine is a rotating machine that converts kinetic
energy of wind into electrical energy. The basic classification
of wind turbines falls into two types. Horizontal axis (HAWT)
and vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). The main difference
between the two is the axis of the rotation. HAWT has a
horizontal axis of rotation and VAWT has a vertical axis of
rotation. The VAWT has the advantage of absorption wind in
all directions without the need for yaw mechanism. The blades
of VAWT do not require any compensation for fluctuations in
wind speed which makes it simpler to build and maintain than
the HAWT. Even the VAWT are generally less noisy than the
HAWT which makes it environmental friendly.
Among the available conventional energy resources
available, wind energy is the freely available most economical
and potential source of energy. As a way of providing
independent source of electrical power from wind energy, Fig. 2. Operation of a Darrieus model [4].
VAWT are mainly useful for small applications at urban and
rural areas such as individual and farm houses. There are two U. K. Saha et al. accompanied a test with single, two and
main types of vertical axis wind turbines; viz, Savonius and three stage Savonius turbine models having similar stage aspect
Darrieus type. Darriues type has different models as shown in ratio. They observed that two stage model performed better
figure 1. than the single and three stage models [5]. The study of
The Savonius type rotor vertical axis wind turbine was first features and performance of a Darrieus type model with NACA
developed by the Finland engineer S. J. Savonius in 1922 [1]. air foil blades was carried out by Young-Tae Lee et al.[6].
Earlier for many decades experiment was going on in Europe Numerical analysis was carried out with wind tunnel
with curved blades for vertical axis wind turbines. In this type experiment. They observed that Darrieus type model having a

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NACA air foil blade produces higher power output by a drag force is created which will make the attached rotor to
adjusting design parameters. rotate. This is the basic working principle. Because of simpler
An investigation under different wind speeds was construction and good self-starting capacity at lower wind
conducted by Bavin Loganathan et al. on a domestic scale speeds this design is chosen. In this design three blade system
model which was having semi-circular shaped blades [7]. with three stage arrangements is chosen to make the wind
Initially a 16-blade model was designed. A wind tunnel with turbine self-starting.
different wind speed ranges was used to measure torque and
angular speeds. They introduced a new idea of cowling device
was to increase the efficiency of the turbine. The device was
guiding the air flow into the atmosphere which was coming out
from the rear blades. Another model with 8 blades was also
developed to identify the effect of change in number of blades
with respect to the power generation. The cowling deice was
studied for its aerodynamic characteristics. For each model the
variation of increased power with respect to different wind
speeds was established. The investigation revealed the 16
blade configuration can also be used for small scale power
generation using wind. The use of cowling device also
indicated that it has a good impact in increasing the power
generation by increasing the rotor speed.
K Pope et al. conducted a study on four different types of
wind energy systems [8]. The study included both horizontal
and vertical axis configurations for checking the performance
of blades. Selection of wind energy systems included
significant variations in designing the turbines and operating
constraints. In this study different wind energy systems were
compared with the help of first and second laws.
A collective experimental and analytical investigation was
carried out by Robert Howell et al. [9] to study the
aerodynamic and blade configuration of a domestic vertical
axis model. The complete performance of the model was
studied using wind-tunnel test. The aerodynamic performance
of the turbine model was understood by generating two as well Fig. 3. Isometric, Top, Front and Side view of Savonius rotor blade
as three dimensional unstable unsteady computational fluid
dynamics models. The rotational energy obtained from the wind can be
calculated using the below equation:
II. HELICAL TYPE VAWT 1
Being self- starting in nature these are most suitable and P= ρV AC … … … … (1)
2
commonly used type VAWT for small - scale applications. Where P = Power in watts.
These are well known for their high withstand capability ρ = density of air in kg/m3
against cross winds. This type of wind turbines extracts the V = Wind speed in m/s
wind from all direction and does not require to point in the A = Swept area in m2
particular direction of the wind. Due to increase in the torque C = Power coefficient
and blades solidity, the helical type models are self -starting.
B. Helical Type Vertical Axis Blades
These have less mechanical load, less noise and has better self-
starting performance compared to drag type Savonius model. While designing the blades of VAWT, maximum efficiency
is not only the aspect that needs to be considered. Along with
III. DESIGN OF PROPOSED VAWT MODEL maximum efficiency the protection of turbine from cross or
A. Savonius Rotor Blades high winds and other environmental hazards have to be
considered. In the present design the helical type rotor blades
The important feature of this type of rotor is its simpler are designed in order create funnel effect, resulting in an
design. The savonius rotor blade design is obtained by first increased airflow to the turbine. This increases the rotations per
dividing a cylinder into two half equally and then relocating the
minute of the turbine increasing the electrical output. This
two semi-cylindrical surfaces sideways. From top when viewed
the shape of blade looks similar to “S”. The rotors can have provides the means for eliminating cross winds and thus
two, three or more number of blade configurations and can be protects the turbine from possible environmental hazards. The
used as single or multiple staged arrangements. Because of the airfoil blades have been designed to bear the greater centrifugal
difference among the convex and concave shape of the blades, forces produced due to excessive wind speeds.

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 The designed helical type VAWT model has 3 bars for
supporting each placed symmetrically at a distance of 120o
from its center reference axis. Additionally 2 supports each one
are placed at the bottom and top of the blades. The rotary
motion of the shaft is converted to electrical power by
connecting the supports to the inner shaft. The helical shape
design of the blade is obtained by twisting it by an angle of
120o. The twist begins at one bar of the upper support and gets
finished in the adjacent bar of the lower support. The blades are
made hallow to reduce additional weight.
C. Base Frame with Generator Coil
Instead of using readily available alternator or generator,
according to the requirement a handmade permanent magnet
generator is designed. To increase the output of the generator
with same size rotor the generator is designed with multi stage.
Each stage has 12 coils and 24 magnets.
conversion from mechanical energy into electrical energy there
will be losses which cannot be neglected. It is impossible to
convert entire available wind energy into useful work. Only
45% of total energy is converted into useful work. Part of
energy may get lost in conversion process. i.e. gear box,
transmission, bearings etc. The efficiency of wind turbine
while converting energy in the wind to electricity is accounted
using power coefficient C . The power equation is rewritten as:
1
P = ρAV C … … … … … (6)
2
Considering the maximum value of power coefficient as 0.45
for the Savonius wind turbine, the wind power equation
becomes:
P = 0.225ρAV … … … … … (7)
Aspect ratio is one of the important criteria to be considered
for calculation of aerodynamic performance of Savonius rotor.
Considering the height (H) and the diameter (D) of a rotor, the
expression for aspect ratio is given by
A. R = H D … … … … (8)
Tip speed ratio (λ) is another important data to be
considered while designing the wind turbine rotor. It is defined
as the ratio of linear rotor blade speed (ω x r) to the
undistributed speed of wind (V).
ω×r
λ= … … … … … (9)
V
The considered design parameters are as listed in the table I
below.

TABLE I. DESIGN PARAMETERS

Fig. 4. Base frame with designed generator Parameter Value

Swept area 0.25 m2
IV. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Air density (ρ)
The power output from the wind can be determined by the 1.225 kg/m3
(at sea level)
concepts of kinetics. The basic working principle of wind
turbine is converting kinetic energy into mechanical energy. Aspect ratio 1
Diameter-Height 0.5 m – 0.5 m
1
Kinetic Energy = mV … … … … (2) Number of blades 3
2
m = ρVA … … … … … (3) Generator Rating 100 Watts
where
m = mass of air traversing V. RESULTS
A = swept area of the rotating blades The theoretical values of the wind power output for the
ρ = Air Density corresponding average wind speed are as listed in the table II.
V = Air Velocity The isometric view of the assembly of the designed vertical
Substituting equation (3) in equation (2) axis wind turbine is as shown in figure 6. Figure 7 represents
1 the complete view of the assembly of designed vertical axis
P = ρAV … … … … … … (4) wind turbine.
2
Swept area (A) = Rotor diameter × Rotor height … (5) VI. CONCLUSION
From equation (4) it is observed that power output is directly The designed VAWT model offers feasible solution for
proportional to the swept area. Higher swept area means higher energy requirement of remote places which are away from the
output power. regular electricity grid systems. Design of wind turbine rotor
The wind power output in equation (4) is the ideal power blades plays an important role in performance evaluation and
output of Savonius wind turbine, where losses during the extraction of energy from turbine. To increase the use of
conversion process are neglected. Practically during the VAWT, the various associated problems such as poor self-

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starting, low initial torque, low power coefficient, poor
building integration have to be overcome. Using vertical axis
wind turbine placed in a location where moderate wind is
available and by optimizing blade parameters, design
specifications higher power generation can be achieved. For
remote areas, the designed VAWT will be serving as good
feasible energy generation unit.

TABLE II. THEORETICAL VALUES OF WIND POWER OUTPUT

Average wind speed Power output
in m/s in Watts
3.37 2.64
3.53 3.03
3.58 3.16
3.67 3.41
3.99 4.38
4.03 4.51
4.08 4.68
4.21 5.14
4.26 5.33
Fig. 6. Isometric view of designed vertical axis wind turbine
4.43 5.99
4.63 6.84
5.1 9.14

Fig. 7. Complete view of designed vertical axis wind turbine

Fig. 5. Theoretical values of wind power output
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aerodynamic performance of vertical axis wind turbines with leading-

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Warwick. Downloaded on May 23,2020 at 16:16:39 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
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