Experiment and numerical simulation of an aluminum circular-blade butterfly wind turbine

Abstract

To reduce costs involved in manufacturing small wind turbines, an aluminum circular-blade butterfly wind turbine (ACBBWT) has been developed, in which four blades of the turbine were extruded and bent to shape then attached directly to a rotating flange. The ACBBWT is a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) and the rotor diameter of the prototype is 2.06 m. Experiments to obtain the output performance were conducted outdoors using an axial blower; however, the data obtained were rather scattered due to the effects of natural wind. Therefore, performance curves in the high wind speed range are predicted by fitting theoretical curves based on the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory, in which modification of virtual incidence due to flow curvature effects is included. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of a circular-blade wind turbine model (dia. 2 m) with a shape almost identical to that of the experimental rotor is performed. The results assuming an energy-conversion efficiency of 0.8 agree well with the experimental results at 7 m/s. CFD analysis shows that tip vortices are shed from the top and bottom parts of a circular blade, as with straight-blade VAWTs. However, vorticity in the circular-blade case is lower than that in the straight-blade case, and the cross-section of each tip vortex shed from circular blades appears to be in the shape of a deformed ellipse. In cases of small tip speed ratios, vortex shedding caused by the dynamic stall phenomena is observed around the equator plane in both the downstream and upstream regions, and the vortex shed in the downstream region by a circular blade forms a looped shape. Since distributions of surface pressure and skin friction obtained by 3D-CFD have a similar pattern in both the upstream and downstream regions, which is related to vortex shedding, it is considered that the vortex in the upstream region is likely to also have a looped shape.

The potential of industry 4.0 for renewable energy and materials development – The case of multinational energy companies

“… [ 35 , 36 , [47] , [48] , [49] ] Wind Turbines ALUMINUM Most of a wind turbine's components, especially the nacelle, where wind energy is converted to electricity, are made of aluminum. [ 29 , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] ] RARE-EARTH ELEMENTS (neodymium) Rare-earth elements make some of the planet's strongest and most effective magnets, allowing wind turbines to use lighter, more compact generators. [ [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] ] Batteries COBALT Cobalt is most commonly used in rechargeable battery electrodes on a global scale.…”