Numerical Investigation of Hybrid Savonius-Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine at Low Wind Speeds

Abstract

The need for electricity on the Earth is increasing day by day, and this requires building more electric power plants where most of the power plants cause CO2 emission which would increase the global warming. Using wind energy as one type of renewable energies, would contribute to reduce the global warming. In countries such as Malaysia where the average annual wind speed is 2-2.5 m/s using wind energy is a challenge because of the low wind speed. However, using a hybrid Savonius-Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine in low wind speed areas, the performance of the wind turbine may increase, and the starting rotation speed will decrease. This research aims at a comprehensive study on a hybrid Savonius-Darrieus wind turbine with helical Savonius rotor combined with helical and straight bladed Darrieus rotor. In this research, a base model with the name of Model Base was generated and two models with new configurations were generated in SOLIDWORKS. A numerical studies and simulation were conducted on these three designs using Ansys Fluent to identify the more suitable combination for low wind speed areas. Based on the obtained result hybrid Savonius-Darrieus with helical Savonius rotor and helical Darrieus rotor were found to be the most suitable combination because of their stable aerodynamic performance throughout a full rotation. Best performance for these models was found to be at 0.45 TRS with maximum torque and power coefficients of 0.68 and 0.306 respectively.