Sukanta Roy

Review of experimental investigations into the design, performance and optimization of the Savonius rotor:

The Savonius rotor is a drag-based vertical axis wind turbine and is used as an alternative source in small-scale energy generation. Design simplicity, low-cost, easy installation, good starting ability, relatively low operating speed and independent to wind directions are the main advantages of this rotor. However, because of its low efficiency and high negative torque produced by the returning blade, this rotor concept rarely gained popularity. Over the last few decades, although a number of investigations around the world have reported performance gains of the Savonius rotor, the available technical design is still not able to fulfill the demand of efficient small-scale wind energy converter at low wind speeds. Until now, various design changes have been proposed to meet a growth in power output through optimization of influencing variables like aspect ratio, overlap ratio, blade material, and so forth. Investigations have also been carried out by installing additional devices like curtain design, deflector plate, nozzle and ducts, multi-staging, guide-box tunnel and windshields. Installation of these devices considerably reduced the negative torque as well as improved the starting performance of the rotor. As a result, the power output of the rotor is also improved. Several researchers have reported increased power coefficients for various rotor designs based on their different testing parameters. Power coefficients for the conventional Savonius rotors have been mostly reported in the range of 0.12–0.18 and by optimizing its design, it can reach as high as 0.38. This article attempts to discuss the various influencing parameters as well as the augmentation techniques. This would offer an overall idea on the progress that has taken place to improve the design and performance of the Savonius rotor.

Aerodynamic Performance Evaluation of a Novel Savonius-Style Wind Turbine Under an Oriented Jet

The Savonius-style wind turbine, a class of vertical axis wind turbines, can be a viable option for small scale off-grid electricity generation in the context of renewable energy applications. A better self-starting capability at low wind speeds is one of the major advantages of this turbine. However, as reported in open literature, the power coefficient of the conventional design is found to be inferior as compared to its counterparts. In this regard, a new blade design has been developed. In the present investigation, the aerodynamic performance of this newly designed turbine is assessed under an oriented jet. This is affected by installing deflectors upstream of the turbine blades. The intention of this study is to maximize the utilization of wind energy at the exhaust systems of several practical applications. Experiments are carried out in a low speed wind tunnel at a wind speed of 6.2 m/s. The gradual loads applied to the turbine, and the corresponding rotational speeds are recorded. Power and torque coefficients are calculated at various mechanical loads. Further, all the estimated data are corrected by a suitable correction factor to account for the wind tunnel blockage effects. The results obtained are compared with the experimental data of modified Bach and conventional designs. The results have shown a significant improvement in the performance of newly designed Savonius-style wind turbine under the concentrated and oriented jet.Copyright

Numerical Investigation to Assess an Optimal Blade Profile for the Drag Based Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Rapid depletion rate of fossil fuels with an increasing energy demand and their high emission are imposing the evolution activities in the arena of renewable energy. To meet the future demands of renewable energy sources, wind energy is a very promising concept. In this feature, the drag based vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are suitable for small scale wind energy generation for decentralized locations. However, these turbines have low power and torque coefficients as compared to other wind turbines. Numerous blade shapes have been proposed till now to improve the performance of these turbines. In the present paper, a computational study has been performed to simulate the air-flow over different blade profiles using shear stress transport (SST) k–ω turbulence model. The results obtained are validated with the available experimental data. In the dynamic simulations, the power and torque coefficients are calculated considering the blade arc angle as the variable shape parameter. The effects of drag and lift forces on the variable blade shapes are also studied in static simulations at various angular positions. The present paper tries to demonstrate an effective computational methodology to predict the flow behavior around a drag based VAWT. Through this study, it has been found possible to select an optimal blade shape from the point of its aerodynamic performance.Copyright

Performance analysis of savonius-style wind turbines under concentrated and oriented jets

With the rapid growth of renewable energy sector, vertical axis wind turbines are finding their applications in the small-scale distributed wind energy system, particularly in rural areas. These turbines are simple in construction and easy to install with comparatively lower cost. However, the efficiency of these turbines is not competitive to that of horizontal axis wind turbines. In this paper, an attempt has been made to improve the efficiency of a Savonius-style vertical axis wind turbine under concentrated and oriented jets through installation of deflectors at different positions ahead of the turbine. The aim is to make the major portion of the flow to be incident on the concave part of the blades. Experiments are conducted in a low speed wind tunnel with an open test section facility. For all the experiments, the wind speed in the tunnel is kept constant at 6.2 m/s. The mechanical loads are varied to analyze the performance of the turbine at various tip speed ratios. In each case, both power and torque coefficients are calculated in order to estimate the performance indices of the turbine. Moreover, a suitable operating range of this turbine is specified. The present investigation demonstrates that with the installation of deflectors, the performance of the Savonius-style wind turbines can be sufficiently improved under concentrated and oriented jets. The peak power coefficient of 0.32 is achieved with an optimized position of the deflectors in front of both the advancing and returning blades.Copyright

Investigations on the Effect of Aspect Ratio Into the Performance of Savonius Rotors

With the rapid execution in the renewable energy field, vertical axis wind turbines are finding its application in the small-scale distributed wind energy generation, particularly in rural areas. The Savonius rotor is a drag based vertical axis wind turbine and is used as a small-scale wind energy converter with low installation and maintenance cost. These rotors are simple in design, easy to assemble and can be operated at low-speed wind from any direction. However, these rotors are not gaining popularity because of its low efficiency and improper design. The aspect ratio (height to diameter of the rotor) is one of the very important factors for designing a suitable small-scale wind turbine. The other important factors include overlap ratio, gap ratio and blade profile of the rotor. In the present investigation, a number of rotor models with different aspect ratios are tested in a low speed wind tunnel with open test section facility. The effects of overlap ratio and gap ratio are also studied keeping the rotor height to be the same. The wind speed is varied from 5–10 m/s. To estimate the performance of these rotors, electrical loads are given with respect to different wind speeds and the power output is calculated in terms of voltage and current. The results depicted an optimum aspect ratio of 0.80, which can be used to improve the performance of Savonius rotors.Copyright

Unsteady Flow Analysis Around an Elliptic-Bladed Savonius-Style Wind Turbine

Although considerable progress has already been achieved in the design of wind turbines, the available technical designs are not yet adequate to develop a reliable wind energy converter especially meant for small-scale applications. The Savonius-style wind turbine appears to be particularly promising for the small-scale applications because of its design simplicity, good starting ability, insensitivity to wind directions, relatively low operating speed, low cost and easy installation. However, its efficiency is reported to be inferior as compared to other wind turbines. Aiming for that, a number of investigations have been carried out to increase the performance of this turbine with various blade shapes. In the recent past, investigations with different blade geometries show that an elliptic-bladed turbine has the potential to harness wind energy more efficiently. In view of this, the present study attempts to assess the performance of an elliptic-bladed Savonius-style wind turbine using 2D unsteady simulations. The SST k-ω turbulence model is used to simulate the airflow over the turbine blades. The power and torque coefficients are calculated at rotating conditions, and the results obtained are validated with the wind tunnel experimental data. Both the computational and experimental studies indicate a better performance with the elliptical blades. Further, the present analysis also demonstrates improved flow characteristics of the elliptic-bladed turbine over the conventional semi-circular design.Copyright

Design of an offshore three-bladed vertical axis wind turbine for wind tunnel experiments

The rapid shrinkage of fossil fuel sources and contrary fast-growing energy needs of social, industrial and technological enhancements, necessitate the need of different approaches to exploit the various renewable energy sources. Among the several technological alternatives, wind energy is one of the most emerging prospective because of its renewable, sustainable and environment friendly nature, especially at its offshore locations. The recent growth of the offshore wind energy market has significantly increased the technological importance of the offshore vertical axis wind turbines, both as floating or fixed installations. Particularly, the class of lift-driven vertical axis wind turbines is very promising; however, the existing design and technology is not competent enough to meet the global need of offshore wind energy. In this context, the project AEROPITCH co-investigated by EOLFI, CORETI and IRPHE aims at the development of a robust and sophisticated offshore vertical axis wind turbine, which would bring decisive competitive advantage in the offshore wind energy market. In this paper, simulations have been performed on the various airfoils of NACA 4-series, 5-series and Selig profiles at different chord Reynolds numbers of 60000, 100000 and 140000 using double multiple streamtube model with tip loss correction. Based on the power coefficient, the best suitable airfoil S1046 has been selected for a 3-bladed vertical axis wind turbine. Besides the blade profile, the turbine design parameters such as aspect ratio and solidity ratio have also been investigated by varying the diameter and chord of the blade. Further, a series of wind tunnel experiments will be performed on the developed wind turbine, and the implementation of active pitch control in the developed turbine will be investigated in future research.