Title

Design of a special-purpose airfoil for smaller-capacity straight-bladed VAWT

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2007

Publication Title

Wind Engineering

Volume

31

Issue

6

First Page

401

Keywords

Darrieus, Renewable energy, Straight-bladed, VAWT, Vertical axis wind turbine

Last Page

424

Abstract

Selection of airfoil is one of the most critical factors in achieving better aerodynamic performance and in determining the optimum dimensions of a fixed-pitch straight-bladed Darrieus type vertical axis wind turbine (SB-VAWT), along with solidity, radial arm parasitic drag, aspect ratio etc. Airfoil related design changes also have the potential for increasing the cost effectiveness of SB-VAWTs which is one of the simplest types of wind turbine and they are prospective candidate for diversified urbartand rural applications. After identifying the main aerodynamic challenges of this type of wind turbine, the authors short listed the salient aerodynamic and geometric characteristics of a desirable airfoil for a self-starting and better performing SB-VAWT. Based on these findings, detailed, performance analyses were done with several prospective airfoils. Finally a special-purpose airfoil has been designed for smaller capacity SB-VAWT.

DOI

10.1260/030952407784079780

ISSN

0309524X

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