Wind Turbine Performance in Controlled Conditions: Experimental Results

Abstract

Abstract Experimental research has been completed using a custom designed and built 4.3 m diameter wind turbine in a large scale university operated indoor wind facility. The primary purpose of the turbine testing outlined here was to determine the power production of the turbine. These tests were completed over a wide range of wind speeds and turbine blade rotational speeds. Two other previous large scale wind turbine tests are also briefly discussed with a comparison outlining the unique aspects of these experiments. Power production tests were completed covering a range of mean wind speeds, 6.4 m/s to 11.1 m/s nominal, and turbine low speed shaft rotational rates, 40 rpm to 220 rpm. This testing allowed the total power produced by the blades to be determined as a function of input wind speed, as traditionally found in power curves for commercial turbines. The coefficient of power, CP , was determined as a function of the tip speed ratio λ which gives insight into the peak power production of the experi...