Development of vertical axis wind turbine by Maglev suspension – An innovative approach

Abstract

Renewable energy sources like wind turbines are gaining more importance in recent years as apprehension of environment pollution has increased. Many developments have taken place to utilize solar and wind energy. Wind is present everywhere at all time but wind turbines are present in few places to generate power. An attempt has been made to make use of wind even from small regions by developing prototype of vertical axis wind turbine using maglev suspension to harness power. PVC pipes were used as wind turbine blades; simple and economic materials were also used in making this wind turbine. A new approach of having placed the magnets (double ended arrangement) has been experimented in this work. The voltage generated in double ended arrangement for different wind speeds was twice the voltage as that of single ended arrangement. The aim is to use simple low density material as wind turbine blade and generate power by magnetically levitated system. A new way of placing the neodymium permanent magnet and coils were deployed on the wind turbine plates and experimented in this work. On rotation of the wind turbine the magnetic arrangement would create axial flux while passing over copper coil arrangement.