Blades Interaction and Non-Stationarity of Flow in Vertical-Axial Wind Turbines

Abstract

Until recently, horizontal-axial wind turbines with blades having a wing profile occupied a predominant position in the world wind energy market. But currently, vertical-axial wind units are of increasing interest and this is understandable from the point of view of their important features as: no requirements for the orientation of the wind turbine to the wind, the possibility of placing electrical and other equipment on the ground, no requirements for changes of blade chord installation angle along its length. The article discusses the aerodynamics of the vertical-axis wind turbines: the range of changes of angles of incoming flow attack on the blade, the dynamics of changes in the magnitude of the absolute speed of flow of the blade on a circular trajectory of its movement depending on the turbine rapidity, and also obtained in experiments interaction effect of the blades in the rotor. The experiments were carried out on wind turbines with original blades (basic version), which were designed to eliminate the shortcomings of low-speed rotors Savonius (low coefficient of use of wind energy) and high-speed rotors Darrieus (lack of self-start).

Keywords

• wind turbine
• power characteristic
• wind potential
• filling factor
• wind energy utilization