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EFFECT OF BLADE PITCH ANGLE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A WIND

TURBINE

Article · December 2012

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Engineering e-Transaction (ISSN 1823-6379)
Vol. 7, No.2, December 2012, pp 135-138
Online at http://ejum.fsktm.um.edu.my
Received 10 Oct, 2012; Accepted 20 Dec, 2012
EFFECT OF BLADE PITCH ANGLE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A WIND TURBINE
a
Z. Abdin, bM. A. Alim, bM. A. Khairul and bM. Mostaqur Rahman
a
Department of Physics
School of Physical Science, Shah Jalal University of Science & Technology
Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology
Gazipur-1700, Bangladesh
Email: zashipon@gmail.com

ABSTRACT is booming. Germany has the most installed wind

Energy is the key input to drive and improve the life
cycle. The primary source of energy is fossil fuel,
however the finiteness of fossil fuel reserves and large
scale environment degradation caused by their
widespread use, particularly global warming urban air
pollution and acid rain, strongly suggests that
harnessing of non-conventional renewable and
environment friendly energy resources is vital for
steering the global energy supplies towards a
sustainable path. Wind energy is becoming more
acceptable alternative to face the global energy crisis
as well as the environmental issues. PVC wind turbine
was manufactured and measured efficiency with
different wind speed. The noticeable point which
comes out of the experimental investigation on PVC
wind turbine model is that there is no homogeneous
trend of voltage and power increase with the increase
in pitch angle. At the pitch angle of 15 degree the PVC
wind turbine model showed the best performance.
energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States,
India, and Denmark. Development is also fast growing
in France and China. Industry experts predict that if
this pace of growth continues, by 2050 the answer to
one third of the world's electricity needs will be found
blowing in the wind(Nandi and Ghosh, 2010).
Globally, the long-term technical potential of wind
energy is believed to be five times total current global
energy production, or 40 times current electricity
demand. This could require wind turbines to be
installed over large areas, particularly in areas of
higher wind resources. Offshore resources experience
average wind speeds of ~90% greater than that of land,
so offshore resources could contribute substantially
more energy. Figure 1 shows the growth pattern of
wind power usage in last decade.

Keywords: Renewable energy; Wind turbine; PVC;

Rotor.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Wind is the movement of air from an area of high
pressure to an area of low pressure. Over the past
decade, wind turbine use has increased at more than 25
percent a year. Still, it only provides a small fraction of
the world's energy. Wind is a clean source of
renewable energy that produces no air or water
pollution(KhanRahman and Alam, 2004). And since Fig 1 World Total Installed Capacity (MW)
the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has declared its
a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology vision to provide electricity for all by the year 2020,
advances are making turbines cheaper, and many though access to electricity in Bangladesh is one of the
governments offer tax incentives to spur wind-energy lowest in the world; coverage today stands at around
development. Nevertheless, the wind energy industry 32% of the total population and has a large unsatisfied
135
demand for energy, which is growing by 10% model and to observe the effect of blade pitch angle on
annually. Precipitate energy generation is also very the performance of the wind turbine model.
low, only 158 kWh/year (FY 2005)(Spera, 1994)
2.0 METHODOLOGY
.However the rural areas of Bangladesh, where 76% of
The two sides of the PVC turbine base was constructed
the population lives, have an even lower coverage
with 90° PVC fittings, PVC tees and 6 inches PVC
(around 10%) and are seriously deprived of the
pipe sections construct. Figure 2 shows the tower
electricity facility. Therefore survey, exploration,
base.
exploitation of different conventional and renewable
energy sources like natural gas, coal, oil, hydropower,
solar, wind and establishment of power generation
plants and networks for transmission and distribution
of electricity are being done by government and other
related organizations. Very recently solar and wind
energy resources assessment for Bangladesh have been
done under the UNEP/GEF global project of Solar and
Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA)
(IslamIslam and Rahman, 2006). Study and analysis
under this project shows that some the coastal inlands
and off-shore islands of Bangladesh should be fairly
Fig.2 Tower Base
potential for small scale wind energy system. Day by
The rotor and hub were built with PVC 90 fitting, PVC
day wind energy activities in Bangladesh are growing
coupler, and 3 inches piece of PVC pipe and the DC
up but slowly. A few number of small wind only,
generator. A piece of duct tape was wrapped around
wind-solar hybrid systems have been installed so far
the outside of the generator. This piece of tape was
by Grameen Shakhty, and Local Government
about 1inche wide and 20 inches long. Hence the
Engineering Department (LGED)
motor fitted securely into the PVC coupler. Arranged
(MuyeenTakahashiMurata and Tamura, 2010).
the pieces like the image to the right and then pushed
As the measured data for some coastal locations are them together to form a solid piece. This was called a
available therefore detailed techno economic analysis nacelle it holds the DC generator, blades and other
now are essential for small wind home energy system equipment. The wires attached with the DC generator
(WHS) and in this research work this analysis has been through the nacelle. Figure 3 shows rotor and hub.
done. Energy demand that is met by a typical and very Snake the motor wires through down the tower and
popular 50W Solar Home System (SHS) has been through the hole that was drilled in the PVC tee at the
considered for detailed analysis. To draw a system base of the wind turbine and attached the nacelle to the
technically, hourly energy demand, resource top of the tower. Introduce the bottom of the PVC
availability and energy production are very much tower into the tee at the center of the turbine base. The
essential and therefore HOMER, renewable based PVC pipe has been seated well into the fittings by
system optimization tool, has been used. The power tapping together with a hammer.
curve and details are available for 400W capacity SW
Air X wind turbine as the smallest wind turbine in the
HOMER. So, energy demand for single to five home
users has been considered. Developed stand-alone
WHS has been then compared with SHS for similar
capacities. Diesel has been considered as a base case
for economic viability analysis in the RET Screen
software. As the diesel cost is increasing and on the
other hand wind turbine cost is decreasing, sensitivity
analysis has also been done. The main objective of this Fig 3 Rotor and Hub
paper is to design and fabricate a PVC wind turbine
136
Figure 4 shows the PVC wind turbine model. The wind
was created by means of a pedestal fan. The wind
velocity was measured by using an anemometer
(Model-451126).The voltage and current were
measured by using a voltmeter and an ammeter
respectively. The data were collected for five different
pitch angles (10o,15o,20o,25o,30o) and three different
wind velocities.
Fig 4 PVC wind turbine
3.0 RESULTS and DISCUSSION
The PVC wind turbine model was run in Fluid
Mechanics lab with the aid of a Pedestal type axial
flow fan at three different wind speeds and five
different blade pitch angles. Experiments have carried
out to investigate the performance of a wind turbine at
different blade pitch angles(Dixon, 2005).
Figure 5 shows the variation of voltage with different
wind speed. For 15 degree blade angle voltage is the
highest compared with others blade angles. This
indicates that at this pitch angle the turbine is more
susceptible for power generation.
Fig. 5 Variation of voltage with wind speed
137
Figure 6 shows the variation of power with different
wind speed. For 30 degree blade angle the power
production is not so significant. The 15 degree pitch
angle gives forth the maximum power output.
Moreover, at this angle the output power increases
sharply with wind speed which indicates that at this
pitch angle the turbine is most sensitive to change in
wind speed.
Fig. 6 Variation of Power with wind speed
Figure 7 shows the variation of efficiency with
different wind speed. At 15 degree pitch angle the
turbine operates with highest efficiency. Moreover, the
rise in efficiency with wind speeds at this pitch angle
sharper than the other pitch angles.
Fig. 7 variation of Efficiency with wind Speed
4.0 CONCLUSION
Voltage is increased as the air velocity increases and it
varies at different blade pitch angles. The output power
and efficiency is also varies at different pitch angles.
The noticeable point which comes out of the
experimental investigation on PVC wind turbine model
 is that there is no homogeneous trend of voltage and
power increase with the increase in pitch angle. At the
pitch angle of 15 degree the PVC wind turbine model
showed the best performance. At this angle, the turbine
produces more voltage than in case of other pitch
angles. Same comment goes for power output and
turbine efficiency. But, there is no traceable pattern
from which we can predict effect of changing the pitch
angle on power generation.

REFERENCE
Dixon, S.L. 2005. Fluid mechanics and
thermodynamics of turbomachinery, Butterworth-
Heinemann.
Islam, A., Islam, M. and Rahman, T. 2006. Effective
renewable energy activities in Bangladesh. Renewable
Energy, 31, 677-688.
Khan, M.G.K., Rahman, T. and Alam, M. Wind
Energy in Bangladesh: Prospects and Utilization
Initiatives. 3rd International Conference on Electrical
& Computer Engineering, ICECE, 2004. 28-30.
Muyeen, S., Takahashi, R., Murata, T. and Tamura, J.
2010. A variable speed wind turbine control strategy to
meet wind farm grid code requirements. Power
Systems, IEEE Transactions on, 25, 331-340.
Nandi, S.K. and Ghosh, H.R. 2010. Prospect of wind–
PV-battery hybrid power system as an alternative to
grid extension in Bangladesh. Energy, 35, 3040-3047.
Spera, D.A. 1994. Wind turbine technology.

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