Performance characteristics of airfoil-blade micro wind turbines

Micro wind turbines (rotor diameter <1m) are designed to have a low cut-in wind speed (2 ms-1). Thus, they can effectively harness wind energy in the urban environment where the wind speed is normally low to moderate. Multiple micro wind turbines can be properly engaged by gears to build a system that adds up power to drive a full-scale motor generator to produce electricity for practical use. As the innovative design is suitable for mass production, the cost is very competitive. These advantages imply great potential for micro wind turbines to make a revolutionary advancement in the wind energy industry. This study investigated the performance characteristics of airfoil-blade micro wind turbines. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling analysis was conducted to determine the blade lift, drag and stall. The blade element-momentum theory was employed to evaluate the performance characteristics of the micro wind turbine. Wind tunnel tests were conducted for experimental validation of the computational model. It was found that the aerodynamics of airfoil blade played an important role. The maximum power coefficient obtained was 0.48. The findings of this research are useful for turbine design optimization. Keywords: Micro wind turbines; Airfoil blade; Aerodynamics; Blade-momentum theory; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Copyright © (2009) by the International Solar Energy Society.