Effect of hot climate condition on the performance of savonius type vertical axis wind turbine

Abstract

Savonius type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) has a tremendous potential for small scale power generation. Performance of Savonius type VAWT is mainly affected by different operating conditions. Hot climate condition has been considered an important meteorological factor which significantly effect on the performance of turbine. In this study, numerical simulations using CFD FLUENT are perform to investigate the flow characteristics and evaluate the performance of Savonius type VAWT at various hot inflow air temperature. CFD analysis has been performed at different tip speed ratio and different angle of rotation of rotor blades. The results show that the maximum power coefficient and torque coefficient 27.5% and 48.5% are obtained at tip speed ratio (TSR) 0.9 and 0.6 respectively. It is also concluded that performance of Savonius type VAWT decreases as the hot inflow air temperature increases. Maximum and minimum power coefficient is achieved at 15°C and 45°C respectively. It is investigated from the previous study that hot climate conditions has an important climate factor which will be a necessary consideration during the design and optimization of Savonius type VAWT in future.