Early development of a shaftless horizontal axis wind turbine for generating electricity from air discharged from ventilation systems

Abstract

The air discharged from ventilation systems is a high potential wind resource for generating electricity in countries where wind speed is unreliable or weak, such as in Thailand. The air discharged from ventilation systems produces consistent and high-speed wind when benchmarked against natural wind. However, the limitations of conventional wind turbines are that they have negative impacts on the ventilation system and are inconvenient to install in many areas. The innovative shaftless horizontal axis wind turbine (SHWT) introduced in this article has been designed to close the gap between the wind source and the conventional wind turbines in this process. The concept design shows how it could be mounted next to sources of waste wind, requiring only a small space for installation. An open hole is provided to enable airflow to be discharged into the environment. This SHWT has high market potential for utilizing man-made wind to generate electricity from an alternative source which supports sustainable energy development. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the concept design of a prototype SHWT used for energy recovery from the discharged air of a ventilation system. How the rotor and stator design of the SHWT optimize wind turbine performance and minimize the negative effects on the ventilation system efficiency are also addressed in this study. The performance of the SHWT is demonstrated in a lab-scale test using the type of propeller fan that is generally applied in many sectors in Thailand. The results showed that the SHWT was successful in generating electricity and produced minimal negative effects on the ventilation system's performance. The maximum power output of the prototype SHWT is 7.4 W at a rotational speed of 1644 rpm using eight sets of magnets and 5.1 m/s wind speed. The maximum wind turbine efficiency is 51%. However, it still requires further optimization to enhance the SHWT performance.