Wan Khairul Muzammil

The development and testing of a novel cross axis wind turbine

A novel cross axis wind turbine (CAWT) which comprises of a cross axis blades arrangement was presented and investigated experimentally. The CAWT is a new type of wind turbine that extracts wind energy from airflow coming from the horizontal and vertical directions. The wind turbine consists of three vertical blades and six horizontal blades arranged in a cross axis orientation. Hubs in the middle of the CAWT link the horizontal and vertical blades through connectors to form the CAWT. The study used a 45° deflector to guide the oncoming airflow upward (vertical wind direction). The results from the study showed that the CAWT produced significant improvements in power output and rotational speed performance compared to a conventional straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT).

Performance Investigation of A Mix Wind Turbine Using A Clutch Mechanism At Low Wind Speed Condition

Wind energy is one of the methods that generates energy from sustainable resources. This technology has gained prominence in this era because it produces no harmful product to the society. There is two fundamental type of wind turbine are generally used this day which is Horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) and Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). The VAWT technology is more preferable compare to HAWT because it gives better efficiency and cost effectiveness as a whole. However, VAWT is known to have distinct disadvantage compared to HAWT; self-start ability and efficiency at low wind speed condition. Different solution has been proposed to solve these issues which includes custom design blades, variable angle of attack mechanism and mix wind turbine. A new type of clutch device was successfully developed in UMS to be used in a mix Savonius-Darrieus wind turbine configuration. The clutch system which barely audible when in operation compared to a ratchet clutch system interconnects the Savonius and Darrieus rotor; allowing the turbine to self-start at low wind speed condition as opposed to a standalone Darrieus turbine. The Savonius height were varied at three different size in order to understand the effect of the Savonius rotor to the mix wind turbine performance. The experimental result shows that the fabricated Savonius rotor show that the height of the Savonius rotor affecting the RPM for the turbine. The swept area (SA), aspect ratio (AR) and tip speed ratio (TSR) also calculated in this paper. The highest RPM recorded in this study is 90 RPM for Savonius rotor 0.22-meter height at 2.75 m/s. The Savonius rotor 0.22-meter also give the highest TSR for each range of speed from 0.75 m/s, 1.75 m/s and 2.75 m/s where it gives 1.03 TSR, 0.76 TSR, and 0.55 TSR.

Experimental Design and Analysis of Pump as Turbine for Microhydro System

Pump as Turbine (PAT) is typically used as electromechanical components in microhydro systems, especially by rural communities in developing countries to reduce initial capital cost. The technology is readily available and easily accessible compared to commercially available turbines. The aim of this paper is to present the experimental design and analysis of PAT for microhydro systems over a range of rotational speeds. An end suction centrifugal pump was tested by inversing the flow across the pump. The rotational speed of the impeller was controlled by manipulating the braking force applied to the output shaft. The corresponding flow rate, pressure, and torque were recorded and presented. The experiment results show that the centrifugal pump can operate in turbine modes without any modification on mechanical components with the highest efficiency of 65.04%; however, at off-design operation, the efficiency decreases significantly due to unmatched flow velocity with the wall boundaries inside the pump.

Assessment of C-Type Darrieus Wind Turbine Under Low Wind Speed Condition

Harvesting wind energy in in a low wind speed region is deem un-economical if not daunting task. Study shows that a minimum cut in speed of 3.5 m/s is required to extract a meaningful wind energy for electricity while a mean speed of 6 m/s is preferred. However, in Malaysia the mean speed is at 2 m/s with certain potential areas having 3 m/s mean speed. Thus, this work aims to develop a wind turbine that able to operate at lower cut-in speed and produce meaningful power for electricity generation. A C-type Darrieus blade is selected as it shows good potential to operate in arbitrary wind speed condition. The wind turbine is designed and fabricated in UMS labs while the performance of the wind turbine is evaluated in a simulated wind condition. Test result shows that the wind turbine started to rotate at 1 m/s compared to a NACA 0012 Darrieus turbine that started to rotate at 3 m/s. The performance of the turbine shows that it have good potential to be used in an intermittent arbitrary wind speed condition as well as low mean wind speed condition.