Early development of a shaftless horizontal axis wind turbine for generating electricity from air discharged from ventilation systems

Abstract

The air discharged from ventilation systems is a high potential wind resource for generating electricity in countries where wind speed is unreliable or weak, such as in Thailand. The air discharged from ventilation systems produces consistent and high-speed wind when benchmarked against natural wind. However, the limitations of conventional wind turbines are that they have negative impacts on the ventilation system and are inconvenient to install in many areas. The innovative shaftless horizontal axis wind turbine (SHWT) introduced in this article has been designed to close the gap between the wind source and the conventional wind turbines in this process. The concept design shows how it could be mounted next to sources of waste wind, requiring only a small space for installation. An open hole is provided to enable airflow to be discharged into the environment. This SHWT has high market potential for utilizing man-made wind to generate electricity from an alternative source which supports sustainable energy development. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the concept design of a prototype SHWT used for energy recovery from the discharged air of a ventilation system. How the rotor and stator design of the SHWT optimize wind turbine performance and minimize the negative effects on the ventilation system efficiency are also addressed in this study. The performance of the SHWT is demonstrated in a lab-scale test using the type of propeller fan that is generally applied in many sectors in Thailand.The results showed that the SHWT was successful in generating electricity and produced minimal negative effects on the ventilation system's performance.The maximum power output of the prototype SHWT is 7.4 W at a rotational

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“…Locating the turbine at a high point in the duct can cause the back force to reduce significantly. In the research by Wachira Puttichaem et al [100,101], the researchers suggested an efficiency of 51%, which is close to the Betz limit. From this, it is clear that housing such SSHWT within an augmentation device would increase its efficiency exponentially.…”

“…Even though this was taken care of by employing the second VAWT, the wastage of exhaust wind is still not addressed. Similarly, the design suggested by Wachira Puttichaem et al [100] has the same issue of wind wastage through the centermost region. Although researchers may argue the benefits of the SSWT in terms of reducing the negative impact on the base system, a careful study would show that the efficiency is barely at 51%.…”

“…In 2020, Wachira Puttichaem et al [100,101] proposed the possibility of a negative impact on the system due to the implementation of traditional wind turbines. The analysis of the actuator disk theory can be used as a support to the researchers' statement.…”

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