Experimental investigation of a diffuser-integrated vertical axis wind turbine
Document Type
Conference Item
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Abstract
The increase in energy demand and environmental pollution issues has led to the growth of utilizing renewable energy. Wind energy has become one of the main alternatives for power generation. In order to enhance the performance of the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), the application of a diffuser is one of the innovative methods. At present, research on deploying the diffuser on the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) remains scarce. This paper presents the experimental study on the aerodynamic characteristics of a small H-rotor VAWT integrated with a diffuser. The diffuser comprises a pair of flat plates with an inclined angle of 30 degrees at the outlet, with the VAWT is located between the diffuser. A comparison between the turbine performance with and without the diffuser has been conducted. From the experiment, it shows that with the presence of the diffuser, the performance of the VAWT has increased significantly. The power obtained for the bare turbine and with the diffuser is 0.38 W and 0.48 W respectively which is increased by about 26.3% and occurring at 300 rpm. Moreover, with the diffuser, the incoming velocity is also increased. This is due to the presence of the diffuser which enables the flow expansion and creates a low-pressure region at the downwind; inducing a higher incoming wind flow to the VAWT and enhancing its performance. In addition, the rotational speed and a better self-start ability can be achieved with the presence of the diffuser.
Keywords
Vertical axis wind turbine, Diffuser, Experiment, Coefficient of power, Tip speed ratio
Divisions
mechanical
Funders
Ministry of Education (FP053-2017A),Universiti Malaya (IIRG011B-2019)
Volume
463
Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Publisher Location
DIRAC HOUSE, TEMPLE BACK, BRISTOL BS1 6BE, ENGLAND
Event Title
International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology 2019
Event Location
Bangkok, Thailand
Event Dates
11-14 December 2019
Event Type
conference
Additional Information
International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology (SEGT), Bangkok, Thailand, Dec 11-14, 2019