EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON AERODYNAMICS OF MICRO-WIND TURBINES WITH LARGE-TIP NON-TWISTED BLADES

This research experimentally investigates the rotor aerodynamics of horizontal-axis, micro-wind turbines. Specifically, the aerodynamic characteristics of large-tip, non-twisted blades are studied. The study is conducted in a wind tunnel system to obtain the relations between the power coefficient (C-P ) and tip speed ratio (TSR), the torque coefficient (C-T ) and TSR. Effects of rotor position inside a flanged diffuser, rotor solidity and blade number on rotor performance are investigated. The blade cross-section is NACA4415 airfoil. The pitch angle of the blades is fixed at 30 degrees, and the chord length ratio between the blade root and tip (C-r / C-t ) is fixed at 0.3. Results show that larger power output is obtained when the rotor placed closer to the diffuser inlet. The 60%-solidity rotor, in general, achieves better power and torque outputs among the test rotor solidities. The higher the blade number is, the larger the power output is, but the difference is small. Comparisons between the present and previous relatively short-tip blades (C-r / C-t = 0.5) show that the present blades have better power and torque outputs at lower rotor rotational speed. These results suggest that the large-tip blades are suitable for micro-wind turbine applications, and make rotor-generator matching more flexible.