Development of downwind horizontal axis wind turbine for low wind speed condition

• Project/Area Number: 18560167
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fluid engineering
• Research Institution: Mie University
• Principal Investigator: MAEDA Takao Mie University, Divisionof Mechanical Engineering, Professor (80238865)
• Project Period (FY): 2006 – 2007
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2007)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2006: ¥2,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000)
• Keywords: Wind Energy / Fluid Engineering / New Energy / Renewable Energy / Environmental Technology

Research Abstract

An experimental research work on the small horizontal axis wind turbine of the downwind-type, which the rotor rotates on the tower downstream side, is done for obtaining high power with stability corresponding to the change of wind speed and wind direction in the low wind speed region
Installation of large wind turbines is limited by the problem of a site space, an aerodynamic noise and the electric power fluctuation. Therefore, the development of the small wind turbine is expected as the local energy, which can be setup also in the city area where a lot of electric power demands exist However, installation space should be small, and the condition such as being able to expect the output even in a low wind speed be overcome as a condition because of popularization in the city area
The performance of the downwind type horizontal axis wind turbine was evaluated as solution to these problems in this research. The blade pitch angle of the downwind type wind turbine was changed in the experiment and the performance was evaluated. Moreover, the airfoil sweepback and the advancing angles were variously changed to correspond to wide use and it experimented. In addition, the performance that applied the rotor used to experiment to clarify the feature of the downwind type to the upwind type horizontal axis wind turbine
As a result, the optimum pitch angle in the downwind type is different from those of the upwind type. Moreover, the downwind type and the upwind type have understood it is sensitive for the change in the advancing angle though are mild the change in the performance into the sweepback The downwind type was obtained in the optimum pitch angle than the upwind type, and moreover, the influence of the sweepback and the advancing angle was obtained and the appearance regret tendency was obtained