Energy Reports 4 (2018) 619–623

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Reports
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

Research paper

Design, modeling and economic performance of a vertical axis wind

turbine
∗
Sahishnu R. Shah a , Rakesh Kumar b , , Kaamran Raahemifar a , Alan S. Fung b
a
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto ON M5B 2K3, Canada
b
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto ON M5B 2K3, Canada

highlights

• Vertical axis wind turbine was designed, simulated, and analyzed.

• Four Savonius rotors blades rotational performances were compared.
• MATLAB simulation was used to develop an algorithm.
• The new turbine has the capability of producing an annual energy output of 7838 kWh.
• The annual electricity cost/saving in Ontario has been estimated to be $846.51.

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) is relatively simple to implement in urban areas on ground or/and
Received 4 May 2018 building-roofs, the development of appropriate design of VAWT will open new opportunities for the large-
Received in revised form 21 September 2018 scale acceptance of these machines. The primary objective of this research was to design and modeling of a
Accepted 23 September 2018
small-scale VAWT, which can be used to meet the power for low demand applications. Two new shapes of
Available online xxxx
Savonius rotor blades were examined in terms of their rotational performances against the conventional
Keywords: straight and the curved blades. MATLAB simulation was utilized to develop a mathematical model,
Vertical axis wind turbine which comprised of wind power coefficient, tip speed ratio, mechanical and electrical subcomponents.
Blade design The measured results of developed turbine were used for the validation of the model. The aims were
Power coefficient to analyze the turbine blade shapes, develop a mathematical algorithm, and to establish the techno-
Simulation
economic performance of the new curved shape design. It was modeled that the proposed turbine is
Annual energy output
capable of producing an annual energy output of 7838 kWh and the annual electricity cost/saving in
Ontario turned out to be $846.51 (the price of electricity was taken $0.108/kWh).
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction Two main types of WTs: horizontal axis and vertical axis. Hor-
izontal axis WTs (HAWTs) are widely used in large wind farm
Wind power has become one of the fastest emerging renew- applications in remote and offshore areas where the clean and
able energy technologies for electricity generation, and the total an undisturbed wind is available. Wind patterns in urban areas
installed capacity has reached 487 GW (about 4% of the global are more chaotic, less predictable, and full of turbulence, which
electricity) by the end of 2016 (Kumar et al., 2018). The develop- makes HAWTs relatively ineffective (Walker, 2011; Keith et al.,
ment of an effective wind turbine (WT) design, especially for an 2013; Toja-Silva et al., 2013; Allen et al., 2008). The Vertical Axis
urban area, is critically needed to increase the penetration of wind Wind Turbines (VAWTs) might be an effective option in all these
power technology in cities and semi-urban areas. Substantial wind areas due to their low cut-in wind speed, no yawing requirement,
is blown in urban areas with a potential of power, viz. highway, less structural support, and no noise concerns (Tjiu et al., 2015).
railway track, and between/around the high-rise buildings. The Numerous small-scale wind turbine designs have been suggested,
wind is blowing continuously with varying intensity in all these tested and implemented in many urbanized areas where the wind
areas, and an effective turbine design must include all the site- is gustier and inconsistent. The efforts have also been undertaken
specific changes in the wind speed, direction, and turbulence. in several countries on VAWT to make them a viable technol-
ogy. The research and development activities were focused on the
∗ Corresponding author. design, modeling, integration, sitting, and environmental aspects
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R. Kumar), [email protected] (Burlando et al., 2015; Danao et al., 2014; Sunderland et al., 2013;
(K. Raahemifar), [email protected] (A.S. Fung). Marini et al., 1992). Aerodynamic and economic performances of

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2018.09.007
2352-4847/© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/).
620 S.R. Shah et al. / Energy Reports 4 (2018) 619–623

Fig. 1b. A block diagram of experimental measurement setup.

Fig. 1a. A side view of designed and assembled blade configuration of VAWT.

VAWTs have been studied in Iran (Saeidi et al., 2013). The study
has revealed that site-specific design considerations could result
in improving the cost of energy (COE). Several design techniques of
VAWTs were analyzed and discussed by Bhutta et al. (2012). They
optimized the coefficient of power (Cp ) with reference to the tip
speed ratio (TSR). Wekesa et al. (2014) have examined the influ-
ence of blade design on power output, vibration, and turbine loads.
Wenehenubun et al. (2015) have presented the experimental re-
sults of Savonius turbine, and the impact of blade numbers were
determined on the tip speed ratio, torque, and power coefficient.
It was noted the absence of reliable performance prediction Fig. 2. A sectional view of tested blade designs.
model of VAWTs is considered one of the key hindrances to the
widespread acceptance of these machines (Buchner et al., 2015;
Burlando et al., 2015; Lee and Lim, 2015). This paper is intended battery charging. The rectifier provides a constant voltage at the
in that direction and involved both experimental and theoretical battery terminal. The other parts of the machine are a mechanical
investigations on VAWT. Savonius turbine blades were redesigned shaft, stator, two magnet rotors, and a rectifier. The electrical
and their rotational performances were analyzed. A comprehen- outputs were measured by transducers and subsequently fed to
sive MATLAB/Simulink simulation model was developed, and the the dump load (12 V DC batteries). The current and voltage were
model was validated and applied for the performance evaluation recorded with high accuracy at the outlet of the rectifier, and an
of new design of VAWT. anemometer was used for the measurement of wind speed. The
accuracy of measured power was estimated 0.5%, whereas the
2. Design of turbine accuracy of anemometer was taken from the product specifications
(3%).
2.1. Description of turbine and performance
2.2. Rotational performance of the tested blade configurations
The design intended that the turbine should have low cut-in
wind speed, lightweight, and can be easily moveable. The drag- The simplest design of VAWTs is the Savonius rotor, which
based machine should be capable of harnessing energy from the works like a cup anemometer. The design has been accepted be-
non-directional wind at low cut-in speed, which makes it a better cause it requires relatively low cut-in wind speeds. Savonius rotors
choice for many urban applications. Fig. 1 shows a view of the are a drag-type machine, consisting of two or three blades. Savo-
proposed turbine blades and support system. The blades were nius rotors with four shapes were tested, and their relative rota-
tional performances have been analyzed. The experiments were
attached to the hub with the help of three steel bars, and each bar
conducted for the curved, straight, aerofoil, and twisted blade
is welded to the center to provide stability to the design. The blade
shapes (Shah, 2014; Kumar et al., 2018). A sectional view of tested
was fabricated from flattened trapezoidal profiled galvanized (GI)
blades is shown in Fig. 2.
steel sheet of equal dimensions (width of each blade = 0.8 m;
The rotations per minute (RPM) for each blade types were
height of each blade = 1.3 m; the angle between the cross-arm =
recorded with respect to wind speed and illustrated in Fig. 3. The
120; total height = 1.5 m). A 12 gauge GI sheet has been chosen due straight blade was found to have lowest RPM in all four shapes
to inherent material properties, viz. good tensile and compressive while the best RPM has been posted for the twisted blade. In
strength, rugged, high stiffness to weight ratio, good resistance to respect to the wind speed, the straight blade has been seen to
corrosion, and durability. The mild steel is used for the hub, which have less efficiency in comparison to other three blades shapes.
is connected to the main shaft. The main shaft is also made of a The reason for this is there is a more drag force acting on the
mild steel rod. The shaft is passed through the two bearings and straight blades, separated by 120◦ , relative to the other three con-
connected to the shaft of the generator with the help of a coupling figurations. The same speed of wind produces the lesser amount
arrangement. The generator is rested on the wooden base, which of torque for straight blade shape. The rotational performance for
is supported by the three steel bars on the ground. the curved blade type was closer to the twisted type, whereas, the
The shaft is connected to an AC permanent magnet generator aerofoil blade has lower RPM than the twisted and curved blades.
(PMG) to produce the electrical output. An electrical converter is The subsequent theoretical and experimental studies were carried
used to convert low voltage AC into high-quality DC power for out only for the curved shape blade configuration.
 S.R. Shah et al. / Energy Reports 4 (2018) 619–623 621

Table 1
Expressions for various parameters used in the simulation.
Parameter Mathematical Parameter Mathematical relation
relation
( )
180Pn Pm
Fitch factor kp = sin 2Q
Induce current I = 3×ELN
(
sin q α ) Cu
Distribution kd = 2
Copper losses Plosses = 3 RI2
q ×sin α (2)
factor
Fe
Winding kw = kd kp Iron losses Plosses = kh B2max felec +
factor 2 3/2 3/2
kc B2max felec + ke Bmax felec
w total Cu Fe
Mechanical fmech = 2π
Total losses Plosses = Plosses + Plosses
frequency
Fig. 3. Variation of RPM with air velocity for the tested blades. (The Figure was w total
Electrical felec = 4π
×p Net power Pt = Pm - Plosses
recreated from the source data with permission, Shah, 2014; Kumar et al., 2018). frequency from
√ generator
3. Simulation model Induced phase ELN = 2π felec nφ kw Efficiency of η= Pt
Pm
voltage √ generator
The output power of wind turbine depends on the wind speed, Induced line ELL = 3ELN
voltage
the swept area, aerodynamic, mechanical, electrical. A mathemat-
ical model was developed in MATLAB to advance the proposed
design (Kacprzak et al., 2013). The energy flow has been written for
various subcomponents of the turbine. The developed model of the This subsystem has accounted for the copper losses, iron losses,
turbine can be envisioned in the following three subcomponents: mechanical frequency, electrical frequency, induce voltage, induce
(1) power coefficient (aerodynamics performance), (2) mechanical current, net electrical power and efficiency (Kurt et al., 2014).
power (mechanical performance) and (3) electrical performance. Table 1 shows the mathematical equations for the estimation of
Power coefficient (aerodynamic performance) electrical energy. All these mathematical relations are written in
The power coefficient (Cp ) represents the amount of power that the Matlab script for the evaluation of net electrical power.
can be extracted from the wind. Cp is estimated by using equation
(Kusiak and Song, 2010): 4. Performance results
( ) C5
C2 −λ
Cp = C1 − C3 β − C4 e 1 + C6 λ (1) A programming script was written in the MATLAB/Simulink to
λ1 analyze the performance of proposed turbine design numerically.
where C1 = 0.5176, C2 = 116, C3 = 0.4, C4 = 5, C5 = 21 and The numerical values were implemented in the model, and the
C6 = 0.0068 are constant coefficients. λ is tip speed ratio (TSR) and outputs were examined. Output voltage and current waveforms
β is the pitch angle (Kumar et al., 2018). A block diagram for the of the model were analyzed, and the simulated values of voltage,
estimation of Cp is given in Fig. 4. The tip speed ratio (λ) is defined current, and power were estimated and compared with exper-
as the ratio of the peripheral speed of the tip of the blade to the imental results. The calculation for electrical power output and
wind speed. λ is calculated by using the following equation, annual energy generated at various predictable wind speeds were
R×w also made. Subsequently, the model was used to evaluate the
λ= (2) impacts of wind speed and tip speed ratio on the power and torque
v
coefficients.
where w is the rotational speed of turbine (rad/s), R is the radius Figs. 5–6 shows a comparison of model outputs with measured
(m), and v is the wind speed (m/s). The parameter λ1 is defined as, values under identical conditions. The estimated total power gen-
erated from the model at 7 m/s wind speed turned out to be
1 1 0.035 367.2 W while the corresponding measured value was recorded
= − (3)
λ1 λ + 0.08β β3 + 1 at 327.5 W. It is evident the modeling results are reasonably close
to the measured values. The minor differences in the two values
Mechanical power subsystem may be interpreted in terms of the uncontrolled test conditions,
The mechanical power of turbine is expressed in terms of the turbulence effect in the wind, and the measurement errors.
following equation, The annual energy output of the proposed turbine was esti-
1 mated (Table 2). The operating range of the turbine was taken
Pm = × Cp ρ A v 3 (4) 1 m/s to 17 m/s, and the turbine produces its rated power at 9
2
m/s. There was no energy generation from the turbine if the wind
where Pm is the mechanical power of the turbine (W), Cp is the
speed is less than 3 m/s (cut-in wind speed), on the other hand,
wind power coefficient, A is the swept area of turbine (m2 ), ρ is
the turbine ceases its power generation at 17 m/s (cut-out wind
the density of air (kg/m3 ), and v is wind speed (m/s). The corre-
speed). The annual energy output turned out to be 7838 kWh,
sponding mechanical torque (Tm ) and torque coefficient (CQ ) can
and the corresponding annual revenue was estimated $846.51
be evaluated by the following equations,
( ) (with 20 years contract price under feed-in-tariff $0.108/kWh).
Pm 1 R The prevailing market price of these small turbine varies between
Tm = = × Cp ρ A v 2 (5)
w 2 λ $1000 to $3000, depending on several factors. Besides, there will
Cp be some expenses on operational and maintenance. If we assumed,
CQ = (6) the total cost of the proposed design is $3000. The simple payback
λ
will be turned out 3.5 years, and the turbine will generate a net
Electrical energy from the generator income of $13,967.4 in 20 years life-span.
The next step in the design process is the conversion of mechan- Furthermore, the model was applied to see the impacts of TSR
ical power into electrical energy. PMG is designed with multi mag- on the power and torque coefficients (Fig. 7). The power coeffi-
net poles and considered effective even for low rotational speed. cient varies from 0 to 0.46 (and corresponding torque coefficient
622 S.R. Shah et al. / Energy Reports 4 (2018) 619–623

Fig. 4. The simulation block diagram for the calculation of Cp .

Table 2
The power, annual energy, and economic performance of proposed turbine.
Wind speed No of hours/Year Rayleigh wind Wind power Electrical power Annual energy Revenue generation
(m/s) (h) probability (W) (W) (kWh) ($0.108/kWh)
1 131 0.015 1.17 0.81 0 0
2 184 0.021 9.37 8.41 0 0
3 272 0.031 31.61 29.39 7.98 0.86
4 531 0.06063 74.92 70.04 37.20 4.01
5 729 0.0832 146.34 136.33 99.36 10.73
6 869 0.0992 252.87 233.92 203.27 21.95
7 940 0.1073 401.55 368.19 346.08 37.37
8 946 0.108 599.40 544.22 514.87 55.60
9 917 0.1047 753.44 766.76 703.25 75.95
10 806 0.092 753.44 1040.29 838.39 90.54
11 689 0.0787 753.44 1368.98 943.79 101.92
12 562 0.0641 753.44 1756.68 986.41 106.53
13 418 0.0477 753.44 2206.98 922.19 99.59
14 335 0.0382 753.44 2723.12 911.24 98.41
15 199 0.0227 753.44 3308.08 657.82 71.04
16 168 0.0192 753.44 3964.51 666.78 72.01
≥17 65 0.00737 0 0

Fig. 5. A comparison of measured and simulated values of voltages and currents. Fig. 6. A comparison of measured and simulated values of power, losses, and
efficiency.

changes 0.001 to 0.06) as the TSR changes from 0.05 to 2.5. As

5. Conclusions
mentioned, tip speed ratio is the ratio of the speed of turbine tip
to the wind speed, it means if the tip speed ratio is too low (less
Four different Savonius rotor blade types were tested and ana-
than 1.65), more wind passes through the turbine blades without lyzed for their rotational performances. The straight blade is found
converting into useful energy, while if the tip speed ratio is too high to be least effective in all four designs while the best performance
(more than 1.65), the turbine blades behave like a solid object to was seen for the twisted blade type. The performance of the devel-
the wind and a reduction in the rotor efficiency occurs due to the oped design was recorded in the laboratory and used for the valida-
tip and drag losses. tion of the model. It was observed that the simulation results are in
 S.R. Shah et al. / Energy Reports 4 (2018) 619–623 623

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support pro-

vided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada and Hydro One.

References

Allen, S.R., Hammond, G.P., McManus, M.C., 2008. Prospects for and barriers to
domestic micro-generation: A United Kingdom perspective. Appl. Energy 85,
528–544.
Bhutta, M.M.A., Hayat, N., Farooq, A.U., Ali, Z., Jamil, S.R., Hussain, Z., 2012. Vertical
Fig. 7. Variation of power and torque coefficients vs. TSR. axis wind turbine-a review of various configurations and design techniques.
Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 16, 1926–1939.
Buchner, A.J., Lohry, M.W., Martinelli, L., Soria, J., Smit, A.J., 2015. Dynamic stall in
vertical axis wind turbines: Comparing experiments and computations. Wind
a reasonable agreement with the measured values. The differences Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 146, 163–171.
in the measured and modeled values may be understood in terms Burlando, M., Ricci, A., Freda, A., Repetto, M.P., 2015. Numerical and experimental
of the uncontrolled test conditions and the measurement errors. methods to investigate the behaviour of vertical-axis wind turbines with sta-
The economic viability of the design is also evaluated in terms of tors. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 144, 125–133.
annual energy output, and it was estimated that the design could Danao, L.A., Edwards, J., Eboibi, O., Howell, R., 2014. A numerical investigation into
generate the annual energy of 7838 kWh, and the corresponding the influence of unsteady wind on the performance and aerodynamics of a
vertical axis wind turbine. Appl. Energy 116, 111–124.
annual revenue was estimated $846.51.
Kacprzak, K., Liskiewicz, G., Sobczak, K., 2013. Numerical investigation of conven-
tional and modified Savonius wind turbines. Renew. Energy 60, 578–585.
Nomenclature Keith, M., Sunderland, G.M., Michael, F.C., 2013. Estimating the wind resource in an
Bmax Maximum magnetic flux density urban area: A case study of micro-wind generation potential in Dublin, Ireland.
E Effective value of the induced phase voltage (RMS) Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 118, 44–53.
Kumar, R., Kaamran, R., Fung, A.S., 2018. A critical review of vertical axis wind
ELN Effective value of the induced phase voltage (RMS)
turbines for urban applications. Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 89, 281–
fmech Mechanical frequency 291.
felec Electrical frequency Kurt, E., Gör, H., Demirtaş, M., 2014. Theoretical and experimental analyses of a
I Generated current single phase permanent magnet generator (PMG) with multiple cores having
kw Winding factor axial and radial directed fluxes. Energy Convers. Manage. 77, 163–172.
n Number of conductor per phase in stator Kusiak, A., Song, A., 2010. Design of wind farm layout for maximum wind energy
P Number of poles capture. Renew. Energy 35, 685–694.
Lee, Y.T., Lim, H.C., 2015. Numerical study of the aerodynamic performance of a 500
Pm Mechanical power from turbine (W),
W Darrieus-type vertical-axis wind turbine. Renew. Energy 83, 407–415.
PCu
losses , Copper losses (W) Marini, M., Massardo, A., Satta, A., 1992. Performance of vertical axis wind turbines
PFe Iron losses (W)
losses with different shapes. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 39, 83–93.
Pt Net power from generator (W) Saeidi, D., Sedaghat, A., Alamdari, P., Alemrajabi, A.A., 2013. Aerodynamic design and
PtotalTotal losses (W) economical evaluation of site specific small vertical axis wind turbines. Appl.
losses
Energy 101, 765–775.
q Number of cable slots per poles per phase
Shah, S., 2014. Small scale vertical axis wind turbine (M.Eng. thesis). Submitted
Q Number of slots in the stator to Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, Available on: https://digital.library.
R Radius of the turbine (m), Resistive losses in copper ryerson.ca/islandora/object/RULA:4280 [Accessed 19 September 2018].
wire () Sunderland, K., Woolmington, T., Blackledge, J., Conlon, M., 2013. Small wind
v Wind velocity (m/s) turbines in turbulent (urban) environments: A consideration of normal and
w Rotational speed of turbine (rad/s) Weibull distributions for power prediction. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 121, 70–
λ Tip speed ratio 81.
wmech Angular frequency Tjiu, W., Marnoto, T., Mat, S., Ruslan, M.H., Sopian, K., 2015. Darrieus vertical axis
wind turbine for power generation: Assessment of Darrieus VAWT configura-
α Angle between slots
tions. Renew. Energy 75, 50–67.
φ Magnetic flux Toja-Silva, F., Colmenar-Santos, A., Castro-Gil, M., 2013. Urban wind energy ex-
φ Magnetic flux ploitation systems: Behavior under multidirectional flow conditions - Opportu-
η Efficiency of generator nities and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24, 364–378.
Abbreviations Walker, S.L., 2011. Building mounted wind turbines and their suitability for the
VAWT Vertical Axis Wind Turbine urban scale-A review of methods of estimating urban wind resource. Energy
HAWT Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Build. 43, 1852–1862.
Wekesa, D.W., Wang, C., Wei, Y., Danao, L.A.M., 2014. Influence of operating con-
PMG Permanent Magnet Generator
ditions on unsteady wind performance of vertical axis wind turbines operating
PWM Pulse Width Modulating within a fluctuating free-stream: A numerical study. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn.
RPM Rotation per Minute 135, 76–89.
TSP Tip Speed Ratio Wenehenubun, F., Saputra, A., Sutanto, H., 2015. An experimental study on the
performance of Savonius wind turbines related with the number of blades.
Energy Procedia 68, 297–304.