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A New Miniature Wind Turbine for Wind Tunnel Experiments. Part I: Design and Performance

Author

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  • Majid Bastankhah

    (Wind Engineering and Renewable Energy Laboratory (WIRE), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), EPFL-ENAC-IIE-WIRE, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland)

  • Fernando Porté-Agel

    (Wind Engineering and Renewable Energy Laboratory (WIRE), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), EPFL-ENAC-IIE-WIRE, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland)

Abstract

Miniature wind turbines, employed in wind tunnel experiments to study the interaction of turbines with turbulent boundary layers, usually suffer from poor performance with respect to their large-scale counterparts in the field. Moreover, although wakes of wind turbines have been extensively examined in wind tunnel studies, the proper characterization of the performance of wind turbines has received relatively less attention. In this regard, the present study concerns the design and the performance analysis of a new three-bladed horizontal-axis miniature wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 15 cm. Due to its small size, this turbine, called WiRE-01, is particularly suitable for studies of wind farm flows and the interaction of the turbine with an incoming boundary-layer flow. Especial emphasis was placed on the accurate measurement of the mechanical power extracted by the miniature turbine from the incoming wind. In order to do so, a new setup was developed to directly measure the torque of the rotor shaft. Moreover, to provide a better understanding on the connection between the mechanical and electrical aspects of miniature wind turbines, the performance of three different direct-current (DC) generators was studied. It is found that electrical outputs of the tested generators can be used to provide a rather acceptable estimation of the mechanical input power. Force and power measurements showed that the thrust and power coefficients of the miniature turbine can reach 0.8 and 0.4 , respectively, which are close to the ones of large-scale turbines in the field. In Part II of this study, the wake structure and dynamic flow characteristics are studied for the new miniature turbine immersed in a turbulent boundary-layer flow.

Suggested Citation

  • Majid Bastankhah & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2017. "A New Miniature Wind Turbine for Wind Tunnel Experiments. Part I: Design and Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:7:p:908-:d:103458
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Li, Qing'an & Murata, Junsuke & Endo, Masayuki & Maeda, Takao & Kamada, Yasunari, 2016. "Experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of turbulent inflow on a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (Part I: Power performance)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 713-722.
    2. Li, Qing'an & Murata, Junsuke & Endo, Masayuki & Maeda, Takao & Kamada, Yasunari, 2016. "Experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of turbulent inflow on a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (part II: Wake characteristics)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1304-1315.
    3. Majid Bastankhah & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2017. "A New Miniature Wind Turbine for Wind Tunnel Experiments. Part II: Wake Structure and Flow Dynamics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Leonardo P. Chamorro & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2011. "Turbulent Flow Inside and Above a Wind Farm: A Wind-Tunnel Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-21, November.
    5. Bastankhah, Majid & Porté-Agel, Fernando, 2014. "A new analytical model for wind-turbine wakes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 116-123.
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    Cited by:

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    5. He, Ruiyang & Sun, Haiying & Gao, Xiaoxia & Yang, Hongxing, 2022. "Wind tunnel tests for wind turbines: A state-of-the-art review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    6. Öztürk, Buğrahan & Hassanein, Abdelrahman & Akpolat, M Tuğrul & Abdulrahim, Anas & Perçin, Mustafa & Uzol, Oğuz, 2023. "On the wake characteristics of a model wind turbine and a porous disc: Effects of freestream turbulence intensity," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 238-250.
    7. Ingrid Neunaber & Michael Hölling & Richard J. A. M. Stevens & Gerard Schepers & Joachim Peinke, 2020. "Distinct Turbulent Regions in the Wake of a Wind Turbine and Their Inflow-Dependent Locations: The Creation of a Wake Map," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    8. Victor P. Stein & Hans-Jakob Kaltenbach, 2019. "Non-Equilibrium Scaling Applied to the Wake Evolution of a Model Scale Wind Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-24, July.
    9. Rosario Lanzafame & Stefano Mauro & Michele Messina & Sebastian Brusca, 2020. "Development and Validation of CFD 2D Models for the Simulation of Micro H-Darrieus Turbines Subjected to High Boundary Layer Instabilities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Majid Bastankhah & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2017. "A New Miniature Wind Turbine for Wind Tunnel Experiments. Part II: Wake Structure and Flow Dynamics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    11. Zygmunt Szczerba & Piotr Szczerba & Kamil Szczerba & Marek Szumski & Krzysztof Pytel, 2023. "Wind Tunnel Experimental Study on the Efficiency of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines via Analysis of Blade Pitch Angle Influence," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-21, June.
    12. Tristan Revaz & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2021. "Large-Eddy Simulation of Wind Turbine Flows: A New Evaluation of Actuator Disk Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    13. Tristan Revaz & Mou Lin & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2020. "Numerical Framework for Aerodynamic Characterization of Wind Turbine Airfoils: Application to Miniature Wind Turbine WiRE-01," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, October.
    14. Guillem Armengol Barcos & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2023. "Enhancing Wind Farm Performance through Axial Induction and Tilt Control: Insights from Wind Tunnel Experiments," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Yu-Ting Wu & Chang-Yu Lin & Che-Ming Hsu, 2020. "An Experimental Investigation of Wake Characteristics and Power Generation Efficiency of a Small Wind Turbine under Different Tip Speed Ratios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    16. Subbulakshmi, A. & Verma, Mohit & Keerthana, M. & Sasmal, Saptarshi & Harikrishna, P. & Kapuria, Santosh, 2022. "Recent advances in experimental and numerical methods for dynamic analysis of floating offshore wind turbines — An integrated review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    17. Mou Lin & Fernando Porté-Agel, 2019. "Large-Eddy Simulation of Yawed Wind-Turbine Wakes: Comparisons with Wind Tunnel Measurements and Analytical Wake Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Huilai Ren & Xiaodong Zhang & Shun Kang & Sichao Liang, 2018. "Actuator Disc Approach of Wind Turbine Wake Simulation Considering Balance of Turbulence Kinetic Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, December.

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