Development of A Small-Scale Vortex-Induced Wind Turbine

Abstract

Over the last several years, there has been a significant and encouraging interest in the generation of power from wind. However, a massive wind turbine can only operate in a high wind speed condition. The vortex bladeless wind turbine is a completely new idea in wind turbines with a different mode of operation. It is designed to operate in low wind conditions, making it an ideal choice for areas with such conditions, such as Malaysia. This study aims to develop and evaluate a functional prototype of a vortex bladeless wind turbine that can be used to harvest wind energy in a low wind speed condition. A vortexbladeless wind turbine is fabricated based on existing research on the principle of the vortex shedding phenomenon. It is built in a cylindrical shape with an approximately 2 m height measuring from the base to the top of the mast and 0.2 m in diameter. The structure of a bladeless wind turbine is a flexible cylindrical mast over the setup that captures potential forms of energy from moving airstreams and uses a vortex induced vibration (VIV) mechanism to produce vibration in the structure. The testing wasdone by using a wind tunnel’s exhaust that produced 1 m/s to 10 m/s of air flow, which simulates a low-to-medium wind speed condition. The vibration is turned into electrical energy, using a power generating system like an electromagnetic induction mechanism. The analysis of the results is based on numerous data points gathered during the testing, including the frequency of oscillation, vortex shedding, natural frequency, and resonance parameter. Through the investigation, the results show that the phenomena of induced vibration were working at even critically low speeds, which starts at 3.3 m/s, where standard and conventional wind turbines may fail to produce the desired outcomes as they are outside of their operating windspeed. The frequency of vortex shedding increases with windspeed, from 0.94 Hz at 1 m/s to 9.39 Hz at 10 m/s. On this basis, it is confirmed that the prototype of the vortex bladeless wind turbine is working properly in harvesting wind energy, though several improvements need to be made.