Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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Wind energy systems: Analysis of the self-starting physics of vertical axis

wind turbine
⁎
M. Douaka, Z. Aouachriab, , R. Rabehic, N. Allamb
a
Université Kasdi Merbah Ouargla, Algeria
b
Laboratory of Applied Energetic Physical, Faculty of Material Sciences, Univ. Batna 1, Algeria
c
Department of physics/laboratory of energy physics, University of Constantine 1, Road of Ain El Bey 25017, Constantine, Algeria

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: The aim of our study is to project an optimized wind turbine Darrieus type capable to start at low wind speeds.
Darrieus turbine This type of the turbine is characterized by a low starting torque compared with the Savonius rotor. To allow
Pitch angle, self-starting them, to operate for a long period, we consider a system enabling a self-start at low wind speeds. The study
Wind energy consist in three parts: first, a system of monitoring and control of the angle of attack that allows a self-starting at
low wind speeds is presented, second part presents a general method for obtaining a profile with good starting
torque and third part presents experimental study of the impacts of the angle of attack, the solidity and the wind
velocity on the lift, grad forces and torque. The study continues to extend to other configurations namely that
parabolic shape.

1. Introduction
The wind continued to be a major source of energy in world the
period just prior to the Industrial Revolution, but began to recede in
importance after that time. According to the report published by the
Global Wind Energy Council in April 2016 [1], the new global total for
wind power at the end of 2015 was 432.9 GW and the world's new
installations were 60 GW, which increased by about 8.3 GW compared
with that of 2014 (51.7 GW). China's total cumulative wind power
installations in 2015 were 145.362 GW, accounting for 33.5% of the
global wind energy market, ranking the first in the world, which
exceeded the United States (74.471 GW) by 71.149 GW and more than
in all of the European Union (141.578 GW); By the end of 2015 the
first eight countries were China (145,362 MW), the US (74,471 MW),
Germany (44,947 MW), India (25,088 MW), Spain (23,025 MW), UK
(13,603 MW), Canada (11,205 MW), and France (10,358 MW). Wind
continued to be the major source of energy and is one of the most
promising and potential alternative of renewable energy [2]. In
addition, to growing economic attractiveness of the wind energy, there
are more ecological arguments for its use: i. Wind-power plants emit
absolutely no CO2, by far the major pollutant when fuels (other than
hydrogen or biomass) are burned; ii. As do nuclear plants, the
operation of wind turbine leaves behind no dangerous residues; iii.
Decommissioning costs of wind turbines are much smaller than those
of many other types of power plants, especially compared with those of
nuclear generators and; iv. Land occupied by wind farms can find other
simultaneous uses such as in agriculture [3]. Several wind machine
configurations including; i. drag-type turbines [4]; ii. Lift turbine type
[5]; iii. Magnus effect on wind plants [6] and iv- Vortex wind plants [7].
Some difficulties appear during the design and simulation of rotational
equipment especially when this equipment is in contact with a given
fluid [8]. Among these equipments the wind turbine represents a devise
which can utilize the wind's kinetic energy to produce the mechanical
or electrical energy [9]. In propeller type wind turbines, the blades
bending stresses increase as the rotor speed increases [10], which are
not the case Darrieus turbines because of their shape [11]. The vertical
axis wind rotor as another important kind wind turbine is a good choice
for mean and small scale wind power generation [4]. The use of wind
turbines for small-scale and urban applications is a topic that is
receiving increasing attention. An in situ experimental analysis of
two small size wind turbines realized by [12] with vertical and
horizontal axes respectively and placed in the urban environment.
The VAWT has received, more and more attracts for its advantages of
simple design, low cost and good maintenance [13]. In addition, in
urban areas the wind is very turbulent and unstable with fast changes
in direction and velocity [14]. In these environments, the VAWT have
several advantages over HAWT [15]. The cost of the Darrieus rotor has
been estimated to be lower than horizontal machines [16]. In helical
wind turbines, the flexural stresses of the pals increase as the speed of
the rotor increases [17], which is not the case of drive turbines because

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: douak_2007@yahoo.fr (M. Douak), aouachria2001@gmail.com (Z. Aouachria), raya.phys@gmail.com (R. Rabehi).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.238
Received 27 October 2016; Received in revised form 2 March 2017; Accepted 26 May 2017
1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Mohammed, D., Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.238
M. Douak et al.
of their shape [18]. This also reduces the cost of the construction of the
blades [19]. However, their starting performance is one of the
problems which greatly affect the development of the straight bladed
vertical wind turbine, [20]. As a result, designers are compelled to
supply such wind rotors with additional devices (the electric motor,
Savonius rotor, etc.) to give a self-starting capability and to spin up the
Darrieus rotor and put it in operating conditions [21]. A modeling of
the blade orientation system to limit the aerodynamic power collected
by the turbine at high wind speeds was considered; as well as the
description of the correctors allowing the adjustment of the angle of
orientation to obtain a constant electrical power operation. Hence, the
behaviour of the turbine can be observed through a simulation model
for different load and wind operating conditions [22]. The term self-
starting needs to be defined carefully. Ref. [23] define the starting
process as having been completed when significant power extraction
commences, and Ref. [24] deems a turbine to be self-starting only if it
can accelerate from rest to the point where it starts to produce a useful
output. Also, in both cases, the definitions of the terms ‘significant
power’ and ‘useful output’ are themselves imprecise. The ref. [25] has
adopted a more specific definition by which a machine is deemed to
have started if it has accelerated from rest to a condition where the
blades operate at a steady speed that exceeds the wind speed. This
approach increases the cost and adds complications to the design.
Several solutions have been presented to overcome the Darrieus
inability to self-start as the use of innovative profile design named
EN0005 [26], a hybrid configuration of a Savonius (drag type wind
turbine) and a Straight shaped Darrieus (lift type wind turbine) [27] or
oval shaped Darrieus rotor [28] use of mechanical system to optimize
the blade pitch [29] replacing VAWT's conventional blades with
unsymmetrical blades such as S1210 blade [30]. Other approaches
that were proposed to improve self-starting uses normal airfoil and
another airfoil with an opening located at the trailing edge of the airfoil
[31]. This opening may increase the power coefficient at lower wind
speed, the uses of blades that change their form during their operation
[32]. Ref. [33] specified a blade profile capable of offering self-start
capabilities to the wind turbine without extra components. Two
dimensional Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses have been
performed on a straight-bladed Darrieus-type rotor by [34]. It was
found that, max power coefficient and its corresponding tip speed ratio
were obtained at number of blades equal two and increase in power
coefficient related to Castillo wind turbine by 3.35%. It is proposed by
[35] to use ailerons for improving the starting characteristics of a
straight-bladed VAWT where wind tunnel tests provided that to
increase the starting torque, the aileron on a blade should be extended
while the blade is in the azimuth range of 150–270 deg and should be
retracted while the blade is in the azimuth ranges of 270–360 deg and
0–30 deg. There results indicated that adding movable ailerons to a
straight-bladed VAWT is an effective way to improve the starting
characteristics. Optimizing the performance factor in the production
and use of energy remains a pressing issue and still unresolved in
modern power generation systems, as for the renewable energy
industry [36].
2. Objective of the present work
The literature revealed that the research effort on wind turbines,
particularly those of the Darrieus type, is focused on the problems
related to the influence of geometric, thermo-physical and meteorolo-
gical parameters on the performance of such wind turbines. Although
these wind turbines suffer from their low starting torque, there are few
studies on this problem. The results of these rare studies are
summarized by the addition of new components which increase the
weight of the machine and increase the complicity of their design and
affect their functioning; this is why this type of wind turbine has
experienced a great eclipse since the 1980s. The objective of our study
is to give them a rebirth by analyzing the parameters with direct link to
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
the starting torque in order to determine which ones Contribute to the
improvement of its torque and give it ability to self-starting the stop
position. This will allow us to exploit this type of wind turbine in less
windy areas and especially in the urban space. From this review of the
literature, we can suggest to rely solely on the blade profile in such a
way to exploit the drag force, caused by the wind on the blades
stopping, in cooperation with the lift force without compromising
performance of the turbine to a high tip speed ratio. This paper first,
presents a system allowing each straight blade to rotate about an axis
along its wingspan for and increase the time of its operation. Second,
we present a new blade profile analysis used for the development of its
self-start profile capabilities. Then, we include a new non-cumbersome
mechanism to make the rotor self-starting and increase its operating
time.
3. Generating problem
The Darrieus rotor usually suffers from a low starting torque.
Variable pitch machines have blades which can be rotated about their
long axis, changing the blades’ pitch angle. Changing pitch also changes
the angle of attack of the relative wind and the amount of torque.
Variable pitch provides more control options than does stall control.
On the other hand the hub is more complicated, because pitch bearings
need to be incorporated. In addition, some form of pitch actuation
system must also be included. In some wind turbines, only the outer
part of blades may be pitched, [36]. This is known as partial span pitch
control.
In this new design shown in Fig. 2, we overcome this problem by
allowing each straight blade about an axis along its pith (span). For any
airfoil to generate useful lift, the attack angle must always remain less
than the airfoil stalling angle. The angle of attack (α) is the acute angle
between the wind and the chord line of the airfoil. The stalling angle of
the airfoil is determined from the lift coefficient curve of the airfoil. In
the case of a rotating blade, the angle of attack (α) is measured between
the relative wind speed and the chord line, as shown on the Fig. 2,
where V is the wind speed at the rotor level and U is the blade speed.
The configuration of the Fig. 2 represents the operating condition of
a Darrieus rotor when the ratio λ =U/V, which is called the tip speed
ratio, is usually in the range (4–10°). In this range the attack angle
remain smaller than the stalling angle and thus the wind produces a
useful lift force. At low rotational speeds the blade speed, U, becomes
small.
This leads to a low tip speed ration and increases the angle of attack
to causes the aerodynamic stall of the blade. Stall occurs when the
angle of attack exceeds a certain critical value (say 16–20 degrees,
depending on the Reynolds number) and separation of the boundary
layer on the upper surface takes place, as it is shown in Figs. 1a and b.
A rotating turbine blade sees air moving toward it not only from the
wind itself, but also from the relative motion of the blade as it rotates.
As shown in Fig. 1, the combination of wind and blade motion is like
adding two vectors, with the resultant moving across the airfoil at the
correct angle to obtain lift that moves the rotor along. As shown in
Fig. 2, however, increase the angle of attack too much can results in a
phenomenon known as stall [38]. The present approach is described in
Fig. 3, where the rectilinear blade, (a), is articulated on its arms, (b),
through hinges, (c), so that the pitch angle α is changed to the favorable
angle of attack α shown in Fig. 3. This control is provided by a mass,
(m), connected to a spring, (s), and a rod, (r), which pushes the leading
edge of the blade at its low rotation at the hinge. The relation
connecting the variation of the required angle of attack, Δα, corre-
sponding to the low speeds and the variation of the length of the spring,
Δl = r sin(γ ) with Δα = γ , is defined by:
Fn = mω 2 (R0 + Δl ) = kΔl (1)
where Fn is the centrifugal force acting on the spring (linked with
normal and tangential aero dynamical forces), k is the stiffness of the
M. Douak et al.
Fig. 1. Angle of attack degrees and lift coefficient [37].
Fig. 2. Angle of attack, a- rotating blade in operating conditions, b- rotating blade at low
rotational speed.
spring, ω is the rotational speed of the rotor and m is the regulating
mass connected to the spring and slides on the arm of the rotor. At low
rotational speed, the spring pushes the mass which forces the rod to
make the blade leading edge to the desired pitch angle. As the operating
rotational speed builds up, the centrifugal force moves the mass, (m),
away from the axis of rotation and releases the blade gradually from the
piece, (r). Thus at the operating rotational speed, the blade will be
totally free from the control system and will be tangent to the circular
path Fig. 3b. The number of blades on each model changed during
researches from 2 to 4, the blade profile has been chosen axially
symmetric of the type NACA-0015. If the blades were rigidly attached
to the rotor (the classical scheme of the Darrieus rotor), the angle
between the cord of the blade and the tangent to the circle of rotation
was equal to + 4°.
4. General overview
Wind turbine power production depends on the interaction be-
tween the rotor and the wind. Experience has shown that the major
aspects of wind turbine performance (mean power output and mean
Fig. 3. Pitching blade at zero or low rotational speed.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
loads) are determined by the aerodynamic forces generated by the
mean wind. Numerous authors have derived methods for predicting the
steady state performance of wind rotors. The classical analysis of the
wind turbine was originally developed by Rankine–Froude and Betz
[39]. Subsequently, the theory was expanded and adapted for solution
by digital computers. The analysis, rigorously valid for only very lightly
loaded turbines in incompressible non viscous flow but approximations
for heavier loading and corrections for viscous effects are derived by
[40]. It is found that half of the flow retardation caused by the turbine
takes place within the turbine itself. Thus blade incidence and
aerodynamic load on the blades are much higher on the windward
than on the leeward side of the turbine. [41,42]. In all of these
methods, momentum theory and blade element theory are combined
into a strip theory that enables calculation of the performance
characteristics of an annular section of the rotor. The characteristics
for the entire rotor are then obtained by integrating, or summing, the
values obtained for each of the annular sections. General aerodynamic
concepts and the operation of airfoils are then introduced. This
information is then used to consider the advantages of using airfoils
for power production over other approaches.
4.1. Modeling of the rotor efficiencies
According to the triangle speeds, the relative velocity W is related to
the blade velocity and the absolute wind velocity at the rotor speeds V
by:
W=V−U (2)
where the components of W in the reference formed by the airfoil cord
and the perpendicular direction of the cord are:
Wc = U + V cos(θ ), Wn = V sin(θ ) (3)
M. Douak et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

System of the pitch angle control

Hub of the rotating shaft carrying the arms

a b c
Fig. 4. a- Tracing NACA0015 profile b- System of the pitch angle control, c- Presentation the turbine in blowing channel.

Fig. 5. -1- Generated of NACA0015 blade profile. -2- Pressure coefficient Cpr acting on the blade profile surface. -3- Contribution to the tangential force Tpr and normal force Npr acting
on the blade profile surface.

0.5ρSRb 2π
where U = ωR and ω = 2πN /60 (N = rpm).
And (θ) is the angular position of the blade. The speed W is then
T=
2π
∫0 CT W2dγ
(10)

W= Wt + Wn (4) The power coefficient is defined as a ratio of the produced power to

the maximum available power.
Hence, W = ωR 1 + 2λ cos θ + λ2
Cp = P / Pmax (11)
Where λ = ωR / V
And the angle of attack for a fixed blade is: The produced power P can be expressed by the following equation.
sin(θ ) ρSRbω 2π
α = tan−1 P = Tω = ∫0 CT W2dθ
λ + cos(θ ) (5) 4π (12)

For a pitch blade, the angle of attack becomes The maximum available power is the power that the rotor can
extract from the wind
sin(θ )
α = tan−1 −δ 1
λ + cos(θ ) (6) Pmax = ρAV12
2 (13)
where δ, is the blade pitch angle.
The components of the resulting force F acting on the blade element where A = 2RH, is the area swept by the rotor during rotation and V1 is
the wind speed.
can be expressed as:
The force, in the direction of the absolute wind velocity, exerted on
1 1 a blade is
Ft = CT ρcW2 and Fn = Cn ρcW2
2 2 (7)
1
F1 = ρW2S (CN sin θ − CT cos θ )
The tangential force coefficient CT and normal force coefficient Cn 2 (14)
are given by:
For the complete force exerted of b rotor can be calculated by
CT = CL cos(α ) − CD sin(α ) 0.5ρSRb 2π
CN = CL cos(α ) + CD sin(α ) (8) F=
2π
∫0 (CN sin θ − CT cos θ ) W2dγ
(15)
If C is the blade chord and H is the blade span, then the blade area Now, according to Gluert Actuator Disk theory, the expression of
is S = C.H. Therefore, the instantaneous torque is: the absolute velocity through the rotor is:
1 V1 + V2
T1 = CT ρSRW2 V=
2 (9) 2 (16)

For the complete rotor with ‘b’ blades, the torque becomes: The force is expressed by Betz (1931) as:

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Fig. 6. a- Velocity triangle b- The local angle of attack vs λ, c- The local angle of attack vs θ.

1 revolution N in rpm, then the following steps are followed:

F= ρA (V12 − V22 )
2 (17)
When we write V1 and V2 in function of V, putting V2 = aV1, then 1. Select the aerofoil model and look up the table of lift and drag
we introduce V2 in Eq. (16), we get coefficients from the provided data (such as NACA6661-212 airfoil
profile).
2V 2. Define the angular position of rotor (θ) from 0 to 2π
V1 =
(1 + a ) (18) Calculate the angle of wind attack α by the Eq. (6)
and taking account Eqs. (17) and (18), we obtain Find the relative wind velocity by the Eq. (4)
3. Calculate C n and Ct, Eq. (8).
F = 2ρAV 2G (19) 4. Determine the produced power for selected rotor model using Eq.
where G =
1−a
; using Eqs. (15) and (19) G can also be found by (12)
1+a
5. Calculate the interference factor G using the Eq. (20)
Sb 2π
G= ∫0 (CN sin θ − CT cos θ ) W2dθ 6. Find the power coefficient Cp using Eq. (21).
8πAV 2 (20)
Hence, from Eqs. (17)–(19), we can write V1 = V(1+G) 5. Experimental apparatus
Then the power coefficient of the VAWT can be determined from
Esq. (11), (13) and (20) as follow Using a piece of plank (20 cm high and 5 cm in thickness), on which
P is plotted the coordinates of the points of NACA00xx profile calcula-
Cp = tions. To draw the profile that defines the maximum relative thickness
0.5ρAV 3 (1 + G )3 (21)
compared to the cord as indicated by the last two numbers. In this way
we have defined the profile of our turbine sees Fig. 4a. Polishing Profile,
4.2. Procedures adopted in MATLAB program with the green paper is made to decrease the rigorist surface profiles
and after, they are covered by a very thin aluminum paper to improve
The input data comprise the specifications of the Darrieus rotor, the the state of their surface. Arms attached to the blade can rotate the
rotor diameter D, the rotor height H and chord length C of a chosen rotor about the axis of rotation. These arms are connected to the blades
aerofoil profile. Assuming incoming wind velocity V, and turbine by means of the angle of attack control system as shown in Fig. 4b. The

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Fig. 7. Normal and tangential forces at different positions.

Fig. 8. Comparison of the torque for fixed and pitched blade rotors.

model used in order to vary the angle of attack, is built of wood. We
built a mechanical ball and socket type system severally attached to a
screw type rod to facilitate its attachment to the arm. This system
allows the blade to rotate about its axis to adjust the angle of attack
given a favorable value of Δα as described early. The air blower is kind
to open circuit see Fig. 4c; the essays vein is rectangular form (30 cm ×
3 0 cm).
6. General method for obtaining a profile with good starting
torque
Since the problem arises when the wind turbine is at standstill, it is
essential to study the behaviour of the blade profile relative to the wind
when the wind turbine stopped. A difficulty then arises because the
blade may be at a random position between 0 and 2π. Therefore, the

6
M. Douak et al.
Fig. 9. Power coefficient versus λ for different values of solidity.
dynamic behaviour of stalling, peeling of air and other aerodynamic
disturbances must be taken into account. The proposed methodology is
useful when it is associated with a blade design software application,
which gives a quick view of the performance of the blade when any
changes to the design profile. The profile design change and its
consequence on the performance of the wind turbine, requires a close
correlation between the surface of the blade and the wind flow. The
pressure coefficient, Cpr, which describes the relative pressure across a
flow field is intimately correlated to the flow velocity, and can be
calculated at any point of the flow field. To study Cpr around the surface
of the airfoil, it is necessary to divide it into segments as shown in
Fig. 5,
The calculation of Cpr for each segment will be more accurate as the
segments will be smaller. In the triangle formed by the segment s with
respect to the axis x and y; “a” is the opposite side, and “b” represents
the side adjacent and their lengths are given by:
a = xi +1 − xi For the superior surface
⎧ b = yi +1 − yi
⎨ For the inferior surface
⎩ b = yi − yi +1
When b is positive, the surface is oriented in the rotor rotational
direction, while when it is negative the segment is oriented in the
opposite direction. The expression of the length of the elementary
segment will be:
s= a2 + b 2 with β = arctan(a /b )
By having the pressure coefficient exerted on each segment, one has
to use its tangential and normal contributions shown in Fig. 5-3-,
where it is noted that the angle f = (π/2 – b). The contributions of this
coefficient are given below
Fig. 10. Power coefficient versus λ for different values of pitch angle.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Tpr = Cpr cos(φ). s b≥0 Tpr = − Cpr cos(φ). s b < 0
and
Npr = Cpf sin(φ). s upersurface Npr = Cpf sin(φ). s downurface
(24)
These equations clearly show the relationship between Cpr, Tpr, Npr,
f and s that are the generators of the mechanical performance of a body
in a flow. Knowledge of the pressure coefficient provides information
on the contribution of drag and therefore it is possible to see the blade
profile segments who suffer from drag forces. So by connecting these
values with the negative or positive values of b, it is possible to see the
contribution of the resistance forces in forward motion of the blades or
in the opposite direction, respectively.
7. Results and discussion
Results released by this study concern self-starting of both a
conventional and the new Darrieus rotor. The properties of fluid and
geometric parameters of the Darrieus turbine used in the calculation
are notified by: NACA-0015, R = 1 m, H = 1 m, ρ = 1.25 kg/m3. At low
speed, conventional Darrieus rotor with the fixed blades is not able to
generate energy of with the fact that the angle of tack is higher than the
angle chock which results from the force of the weak bearing pressure
and with the strong drag that induces a negative torque. The present
design changes the angle attack to a favorable value as described early
and makes the torque positive for this low range of the tip speed ratio
as well as at rest. Fig. 6 presents the velocity triangle and the local angle
of attack at each blade azimuthally position and with tip speed ratio.
Small tip speed ratio leads to large incidence variations during a
revolution.
In particular, the angle of attack becomes very large and overtakes
the static stall angle of airfoils, about 12–15°. In Fig. 5c, we observe
that at very high tip speed-ratio, the angle of attack will become too
small, which results in low values of the torque and power coefficient.
That is why we were interested in the study of this case. Fig. 6 presents
the normal and the tangential components; Fn and Ft, for le tip speed
(22) ratio equal l=7, of the hydrodynamic forces respectively. In the
upstream semi circle as shown in the Fig. 7a, corresponding to the
case of Inviside flow, with θ increasing from the 00 position, the
tangential force becomes positive and reaches a maximum near θ = 900
before decreasing until θ = 180°. One can observe the same behaviour
in the downstream semi circle between the θ = 180 and 360 position.
This positive tangential force is responsible for the turbine rotation
(23) while that the normal forces at the downstream side on the blades
presented in Fig. 7b, are considerably smaller than at the downstream
side.
On the Fig. 8, the variation of the torque for both fixed and pitched
blade rotor of similar geometries is presented. We find that, for
variable-pitch blade, the torque created is relatively higher than the
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M. Douak et al.
Fig. 11. Experimental results.
correspondent of fixed blade. Indeed, for the tip speed ratio λ = 7, we
get an increase in torque of 18.5 N relative to the fixed rotor blade.
The variable-pitch blade starts up faster than the conventional
rotor. The wind turbine will be thus able to develop the power at low
speed, as it is shown on the Fig. 9 for NACA 0015 and for NACA6661-
212 in Fig. 10. Although the TSR is low, (for example λ = 1.5), we get an
increase in power coefficient of 0.15 N relative to the fixed rotor blade.
The study of the rotor geometry effect on the efficiencies of the Darrieus
shows that the produced is directly proportional to the number of the
blades and the blade cord, whereas maximum solidity is defined as:
b. c
σ=
D (25)
where, b is the blade numbers, c is the profile cord and D the rotor
diameter. Then, it is possible to study the effect of geometry on rotor
performance by considering one parameter only, namely. Fig. 10 shows
the effect of the solidity on the power coefficient. We observe that the
maximum of power coefficient increases with the solidity parameter σ.
When the solidity is greater than 0.14 the curves are not plotted for
clarity. We conclude that the maximum of the power coefficient occurs
at σ = 0.14.
Fig. 11 presents the experimental results concerning the lift, drag
and torque coefficients make appear an increase in force of lift and a
decrease in the drag force with increasing wind speed; and this for
different angles of attack with the exception of incidence angle of 6°
where there is a lift loss and increased drag for high wind speeds ( >
8 m/s). The variation of the lift seems quite stable relative to the drag.
However, it should be noted that the experimental results are partial
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
but they are, qualitatively, presented well the functioning phenomenon.
Fig. 11c shows that the couple takes the maximum values, whatever the
wind speed when the angle of attack is around 15°. So while analyzing
drag and lift each determine its angle of attack of great influence is
different, experience shows that the resultant of these two contribu-
tions to the couple that α = 15° is the optimum angle. In this
experimental study, we show that the optimal angle of attack providing
a maximum torque for α = 14.8°. This configuration of the blades,
determined by this angle, facilitates self-starting of the rotor at low
wind speeds.
8. Conclusion
The startup problem, Darrieus type wind turbine, was carried out
and various solutions have been proposed. We considered a mechan-
ism that lets the blades be pivoted during their rotation such that they
always show the relative wind maximum incidence and that the
starting torque is increased. In this study we show that the optimal
angle of attack providing a maximum torque is α = 15°. We note that
once steady state has been reached, the incidence of blade never
exceeds 0.25 rad (14.38) and therefore there is no stall. The config-
uration of the blades determined by this angle facilitates self-starting of
the rotor at low wind speeds. However, it has been shown that a three-
bladed rotor will be self-starting, regardless of its starting position. This
was confirmed by our tests on the turbine model in a wind tunnel. It
was also shown that the three-bladed turbine is capable of self-starting
at much lower wind speeds than the reference speed. We have
M. Douak et al.
proposed a new model that allows the development of a blade profile
able to start a Darrieus turbine for low wind velocities. This model,
which seeks to highlight the close relationship between the surface of
the profile and the pressure coefficient, focuses on the presentation of a
new methodology for the rapid development of new profiles.
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