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Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

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 IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol. 4, Issue 09, 2016 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613

Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

Neel S. Patel1Denish C. Patel2 Rushabh A. Shah3 Nayan K. Desai4 Kuldeep H. Nayi5
1,2,3,4,5
P.G. Student
1,2,3,4,5
Department of Mechanical Engineering
1,3,4
Dr.S. & S.S. Ghandhy GEC-Surat, Gujarat, India 2BITS-Pilani, Rajasthan India 5Government
Engineering College-Valsad, Gujarat, India
Abstract— The objective of this study is to design a wind Bernoulli’s principle were used to arrive at the Betz limit.
turbine. The design process includes the selection of the wind Schmitz developed a more comprehensive model of the flow
turbine type and the determination of the blade airfoil, pitch in the rotor plane based on conservation of angular
angle distribution along the radius, and chord length momentum.
distribution along the radius. The pitch angle and chord length
A. Basic Terms related to Design
distributions are optimized based on conservation of angular
momentum and theory of aerodynamic forces on an airfoil. 1) Chord Length and Blade Pitch
Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory is first derived then Chord refers to the imaginary straight line joining the leading
used to conduct a parametric study that will determine if the and trailing edges of an aerofoil. The chord length is the
optimized values of blade pitch and chord length create the distance between the trailing edge and the point on the
most efficient blade geometry. This work includes a leading edge where the chord intersects the leading edge.
discussion of the most important parameters in wind turbine Blade pitch refers to turning the angle of attack of the blades
blade design to maximize efficiency. QBlade V0.8, an of rotor into or out of the wind to control the production or
integration of different versatile software like xfoil, XLR5, absorption of power. It is used to adjust the rotation speed and
360 extrapolation using Montgomerie and Viterna theory, has the generated power for wind turbine.
been used for simulation. The pitch of the blade is distributed along its radius
Key words: Wind Turbine, HAWT, BEM Theory, Parametric to ensure the relative wind direction is intercepting the blade
Study, Maximization of efficiency and QBlade V0.8. at the desired angle of attack. And the chord length is
optimized to provide maximum lift along the blade’s radius.
I. INTRODUCTION 2) Efficiency of Wind Turbine
Wind turbine efficiency is quantified by a non-dimensional
Wind energy is one of the clean renewable forms of energy value called the coefficient of power CP, which is the ratio of
that can handle the existing global fossil fuel crisis. Although power extracted from the wind, P, to the total power in wind
it contributes to 2.5% of the global electricity demand, with crossing the turbine area.
diminishing fossil fuel sources, it is important that wind
C P  4 a (1  a )
2

energy is harnessed to a greater extent to meet the energy

crisis and problem of pollution. B. Blade Element Momentum (BEM) Theory [2]
According to the Global Wind Energy Council
BEM theory is a compilation of both momentum theory and
(GWEC) the global installed power capacity of wind energy
blade element theory. Momentum theory, which is useful in
at the end of 2013 is 318105 MW [1]. Wind Energy has very predicted ideal efficiency and flow velocity, is the
high potential in tropical climatic conditions where the wind determination of forces acting on the rotor to produce the
speed is relatively steady.
motion of the fluid. Blade element theory determines the
The Gujarat government, which is banking heavily
forces on the blade as a result of the motion of the fluid in
on wind power, has identified Samana as an ideal location for
terms of the blade geometry. By combining the two theories,
installation of 450 turbines that can generate a total of 360 BEM theory, relates rotor performance to rotor geometry.
MW. To encourage investment in wind energy development Two relationships required for BEM theory are given below.
in the state, the government has introduced a raft of incentives a  Cy
including a higher wind energy tariff. Samana has a high 
a 1 4 sin ( )
2

tension transmission grid and electricity generated by wind a'  Cx


turbines can be fed into it. For this purpose, a substation at a ' 1 4 sin( ) cos( )

Sadodar has been installed. Both projects are being executed Including the Prandtl tip loss correction factor,
by Enercon Ltd, a joint venture between Enercon of Germany above two parameter results as follow,
and Mumbai-based Mehra group. a 
1
In order to successfully design an efficient wind  4 F sin 2 ( ) 

P
 1
Cy 
turbine, the blade contour must take advantage of  
aerodynamic considerations while the material it is made 1
a'
from provides the necessary strength and stiffness. By  4 F sin( ) cos( ) 

P
 1
investigating the aerodynamic characteristics of a wind Cy 
 
turbine blade, the parameters that make up the blade contour These equations are only accurate in computing
are optimized, and the loads that test its structural adequacy axial interference factors for values less than 0.2, above
are calculated. Only aerodynamic principles are being which simple momentum theory starts to break down. When
analyzed in this study. a > 0.2, the correction factor will be used that was formulated
In order to define the power extracted from the wind by Glauert [3] and redefined in terms of the average axial
by the wind turbine, conservation of linear momentum and interference factor [4] as below.

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 Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
(IJSRD/Vol. 4/Issue 09/2016/055)

 2  K (1  2 a )   The size of the wind turbine is the first constraint in

1
a ( K (1  2 a c )  2)  4( K a c  1)
2 2
c
2 designing a wind turbine. Data shows that the higher a wind
Torque(T) and Thrust (Th) for each blade segment is turbine sits off the ground, the greater the wind speeds are,
calculated by, and the available power for a turbine increases with the cube
1 of the wind velocity. Another parameter of the wind turbine
T (r )   w cC x r
2

2 design that is constrained by the allowable height of the

1
Th ( r )   w cC y r
2
structure is the size of the blades. Since the maximum
2
theoretical power output of a wind turbine is proportional to
The total axial force and power are
R the square of the blade length, it is also important to maximize
Th  B  Th ( r ) dr the blade length as much as the zoning regulations allow. So
0
R that we have selected R = 16m, v = 7m/s (average at 50m)
P   B  T ( r ) dr and hub height = 50m based on the weather data available on
0
IRENA.
II. DESIGN OF BLADES AND TURBINE A. Selection of Airfoil
The geometry of the blades is determined by the task to There are many airfoils available from UIUC [5]. We have
transform as much energy as possible from the incoming air selected few from them which can be used in wind turbine
flow into mechanical, respectively electric power. Thus the blades (at low Reynolds number) which are FX84W97,
aerodynamic design of the windmill should fulfill the FX84W127, FX84W140, FX84W150, FX84W150,
minimum induced loss principle. During the preliminary FX84W175, FX84W218, AH93W145, AH93174, AH93215,
design of the blades, the operating conditions for the local AH93257, AH93300, AH93480b. Selection of airfoil for
airfoil sections were defined in terms of Reynolds and Mach blade design is done by considering maximum and gradual
numbers as well as lift coefficient range. These conditions values of CL/CD for given angle of attack.
were used for the design of new airfoils, which were then used
in the windmill design method to find the optimum blade
shapes. Later additions to the code make it possible to account
for the boundary layer of the ground by performing several
analysis at different azimuthal blade positions.

(a)

Fig.2: Airfoils (a) FX84 series (b) AH93 series

Tip Speed Ratio(Assumed) X 6
No. of Blades B 3
(b) Angle of attack (@ max C /C
L D ) Alpha 8.5
Fig. 1: Design of blades in Excel Sheet for airfoil NACA Coefficient of Lift (@ max CL/CD) CL 1.33
23012 Table 1: Designated parameters
Blade Segment - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Relative radius r/R 0.187 0.312 0.437 0.562 0.687 0.8125 0.937
Speed ratio X 1.125 1.875 2.625 3.375 4.125 4.875 5.625
Angle, optimal phi 27.755 18.714 13.902 11.002 9.084 7.728 6.720
Pitch beta 19.255 10.214 5.402 2.502 0.584 -0.771 -1.779
Rel. chord length c/R 0.135 0.104 0.080 0.0651 0.0543 0.046 0.040
Table: 2: Optimized Dimensionless Wind Turbine Blade Geometry
Table: 2 contain the pitch angle and relative chord chord length, so having more blade segments creates a more
length for each of the 7 blade segments (8 segments minus accurate analysis. Using a constant wind velocity of 7m/s,
the inner-most segment for the hub). The values in the table which was determined to be the average wind speed for the
are dimensionless so that the distributions of pitch and chord Samana village, Gujarat at a height of 50 meters, the
length can be applied to a blade of any size. Each segment is rotational velocity of the turbine was changed until it created
assumed to have constant aerodynamic properties, pitch, and a tip speed ratio of about 6. Since the blade was optimized for

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 Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
(IJSRD/Vol. 4/Issue 09/2016/055)

a tip speed ratio of 6, it should be the ratio that most

efficiently extracts power from the wind.
B. Design of Turbine
Power Regulation Pitch control
Transmission Variable
Power 150kW
V cut in 2 m/s
V cut out 20 m/s
Rotational min speed 10 rpm
Rotational max speed 40 rpm
Tip speed ratio at design 6.7 Fig. 6: 3D Model of blade and rotor FX84-W140
Outer Radius 16 m By observing above graphs in Fig.4 & Fig.5 carefully one can
Orientation Upwind decide that FX84W140 airfoil have high CL/CD value of 79.8
Table: 3: Design specification for Turbine at Alpha 8.5. At this Alpha = 8.5, co-efficient of lift CP=1.33.

Fig.3: Characteristics Curves of turbine (a) Power vs Wind

speed (b) Torque vs Wind speed (c) CP vs Wind speed

III. RESULTS

Fig. 4: CL/CD vs. Alpha and CL vs. Alpha for FX84 series
airfoils

Fig. 5: CL/CD vs. Alpha and CL vs Alpha for AH93 series

airfoils
Fig. 7: Various Parameters Vs Radial Position Graphs (a)
Axial induction factor (b) Drag Coefficient (c) Lift
Coefficient (d) tangential induction factor (e) Angle of
incidence/Relative wind Angle (f) Angle of Attack (g) Blade
Twist Angle (h) Chord Length (i) Lift to Drag Ratio (j)
prandlt Tip loss factor
In above Fig.7, Dark pink line indicates tip speed
Ratio (TSR)=7 and other lines are for varied TSR from 1 to
12.Co-ordinates for all graphs at TSR=7 are provided in
appendix section at the end.

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 Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
(IJSRD/Vol. 4/Issue 09/2016/055)

(a’). And finally, one is able to calculate the power produced

by the wind turbine, by using an iterative process to solve for
(a) and (a’). Using this process of determining the efficiency
of a wind turbine, one is able to test a range of values for any
given parameter in a design and determine which values
optimize the output.
Optimizing the pitch angle was accomplished by
formulating an equation based on conservation of angular
momentum, which gave the pitch angle as a function of blade
radius. The most efficient angle of attack was based on the
angle of attack corresponding to the greatest ratio of
coefficient of lift to coefficient of drag, which is a known
value for any given airfoil.
The assumption which was made without much
prior knowledge was the value of tip speed ratio. Since the
Fig. 8: Simulation of design parameters in QBlade v0.8.
effect that the tip speed ratio would have on the turbine
Parametric test for wind speed range 2 to 12 (d =
performance was not known, a parametric study was
0.5), Rotational speed range 10 to 40 (d = 2), and pitch angle
conducted which demonstrated that based on the methods of
0 to 10 (d = 1) display result in form of graph as shown in
defining the pitch angle and chord length, the tip speed ratio
Fig.8. By keeping wind speed constant and changing
that is chosen to shape the blade should be less than the
rotational speed different result are obtained for coefficient of
expected value that the turbine encounters. Doing so will
power, Power, Torque and Thrust force. As shown in Fig.8,
ensure the turbine operates at peak efficiency.
in our case we get maximum co-efficient of power = 4.65 for
wind speed = 7.5 and rotational speed = 30 which will
REFERENCES
produce power approximately near 100 kW.
Here one important thing to notice is that we get [1] Global Wind Energy Council, Global Wind Status
maximum Cp at TSR = 6.7 which is different from design overview. <http://www.gwec.net/global-figures> 2014
TSR = 6. This result indicates that value of TSR should be (accessed 13.11.15).
kept low in design than desired value of TSR in actual [2] Martin O. L. Hansen, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines,
conditions. 2nd Edn, Earthscan London, 2008
Average wind [3] Glauert, H., “The Analysis of Experimental Results in
vaverage m/s 7 Windmill Brake and Vortex Ring States of an Airscrew,”
speed
Rotational speed u m/s 28 Reports and Memoranda, No. 1026 AE. 222, 1926.
Power P kW 78.620 [4] Berges, B. “Development of Small Wind Turbines”
eff. (related to Technical University of Denmark, 2007.
efficiency % 79.76 [5] http://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads/coord_database.html
betz limit)
Torque M Nm 26812.6
Axial Force T N 20380
Tip Speed Ratio X_act - 6.702
Mean Angle of
Alpha_mean deg 8.95
Attack
Coefficient of
Cp - 0.465
power
Rated wind
vrated m/s 9
speed
Rotational speed u m/s 36
Rated Power Prated kW 150
Eff.rated(related
efficiency % 71.60
to betz limit)
Torque M Nm 39800
Coefficient of
Cp - 0.418
power
Table: 4: Overall Design

IV. CONCLUSIONS
Optimizing the parameters that define a wind turbine blade is
a process that requires knowledge of both momentum theory
and blade section aerodynamic theory. By equating the thrust
force on the rotor with the axial momentum force, one is able
to solve for axial interference factor (a) and by equating the
torque force with the angular momentum force on the rotor,
one is also able to solve for the tangential interference factor

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