Investigations on the performance of a novel hybrid twisted tapered, three-bladed horizontal axis small wind turbine

Abstract

Small wind turbines could bring a lot of difference in providing power to remote and inaccessible locations. These turbines could be mounted on rooftops as standalone units or hybrid units. One of the factors deciding the magnitude of power generation in wind turbines is the rotational speed of the blades. A proper blade selection and orientation could make a lot of difference in such a scenario. This work is focused on a novel hybrid twisted tapered three-bladed wind turbine made of NACA4412 and E193 blade profiles, for better aerodynamic performance and high structural stability. A simple tapered three-bladed turbine (STBT) was considered for performance comparison using testing parameters like tip speed ratio, coefficient of performance, actual power generated at wind velocities (2 m/s to 8 m/s) and pitch angles (0, ± 2o, and ± 10o). The results indicate that the hybrid twisted-bladed turbine (HTBT) generated 1.52 times more power at −10oAoA, and 1.11 times more power at −2oAoA; the increase in power between 42.5% to 121.5%, the increase in rotor speed from 30.5% to 94.4%, over the simple tapered blade-mounted turbine. However, the simple tapered blade profiled wind turbine performed better without altering the blade pitch angle.