Aerodynamic performance prediction of SG6043 airfoil for a horizontal-axis small wind turbine

Abstract

In order to design a small wind turbine, the performance of SG604x airfoil and previously existing 15 airfoils was reviewed at a Reynolds number of 300,000, which suggests the maximum lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoils, corresponding lift coefficient, and the maximum lift coefficient for both free and fixed transition. The SG6043 airfoil provides enhanced lift-to-drag ratio performance as compared with previously existing airfoils at a Reynolds number of 300,000. Only a SG6043 airfoil for small wind turbine performance prediction is applied along the length of the blades. This is why a blade constructed using airfoils of different performance may not exhibit the expected performance. A code based on BEMT(Blade Element/Momentum Theory) was used for performance predictions of small horizontal axis wind turbine. As important input parameter of BEMT, distributions of chord and twist was derived by the optimization method using genetic algorithm. The power performance prediction of airfoil data of SG6043 using BEMT is presented over a wide range of wind speeds. The results of BEMT using SG6043 show that the rated wind speed can be reduced to 10 m/s for a rotor radius of 7.25m and a rating of 32kW. The reduced rated wind speed would increases the annual capacity factor as compared the existing airfoils.