Review of aerodynamic developments on small horizontal axis wind turbine blade

Abstract

Wind energy is innately renewable, abundant in the earth and can possibly reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. Wind is an incarnation of sun and is always nourished by the latter. Approximately 10 million MW of energy can be continuously generated from the wind sources. In contrast to the large horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), which are established in the area with optimum wind conditions, small wind turbines are being installed to produce power irrespective of favourable wind conditions. Parameters associated with blade geometry optimization are important, because once optimized, shorter rotor blades could produce power comparable to larger and less optimized blades. A detailed review of various blade profiles and aerofoil geometry optimization processes to achieve high power coefficient in small wind turbines that falls below Reynolds number 500,000 have been presented in this paper.