Design and build of three different types of wind turbines to investigate the amount of accessible wind power in the cities

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Design and build of three different types of wind turbines to

investigate the amount of accessible wind power in the cities

Maziar Arjomandi

James G. Hunter, Samuel James, Urszula Maria M. Madej, Ashby William W. Martin, Thomas James J. Mc Govern,

Richard Moreton, James Alexander Richards, Stuart Russell R. Rosenthal, Peter William W. Stokoe and Robert Weber

(Commenced: 01-Jan-2008, Concluded: 30-Nov-2008 )

Maziar Arjomandi

James G. Hunter

Samuel James

Urszula Maria M. Madej

Ashby William W. Martin

Thomas James J. Mc Govern

Richard Moreton

James Alexander Richards

Stuart Russell R. Rosenthal

Peter William W. Stokoe

Robert Weber

In a world of increasing energy prices, global warming and economic crisis, it is becoming increasingly important to reduce the world’s reliance on non-renewable resources. Wind is an abundant natural resource which can be harnessed to produce useful energy. The wind is a proven source of green energy with 16% of South Australia’s electricity being generated from wind power. While large scale wind turbines have seen significant development, there is a definite market and environmental potential for a successful small scale wind turbine.

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Savonius Horizontal Axis Darrieus

Three wind turbines of varying configurations were designed, built and tested to determine the optimum design for a wind turbine in an urban environment. The secondary focus of this project was to determine the feasibility of using these turbines to generate useful energy. Two Horizontal-axis wind turbines and one traditional Horizontal-axis wind turbine were selected as differing designs that would have varying advantages in the target environment. A design goal of 300W at a wind velocity of 8m/s was selected with noise, vibration, aesthetics, manufacturability, maintainability and cost as secondary considerations to be optimised and used as factors for comparison. Specific analysis was performed for aerodynamics, structural loadings and the electrical system to develop an overall system that ensured the best performance with a high level of safety.

The turbines were built from a wide range of materials including woven glass fibre reinforced composites, laser cut aluminium sheeting, UV resistant polyester coatings and epoxy resins. Careful selection of materials and manufacturing processes ensured the production of turbines that were lightweight, strong, corrosion resistant and cost effective.

The turbines were installed at Urrbrae Agricultural High School for a period of two months for a minimum of thirty days of testing ensuring that a wide range of environmental variables could be compared to the assorted factors for comparison.

The resulting data concluded that the drag type Horizontal-axis wind turbine (Savonius type) was the optimal design for an urban environment based on the test parameters. The Horizontal-axis wind turbine was successful in meeting design goals but did not achieve the same low wind performance as the drag type Horizontal-axis wind turbine. The lift type Horizontal-axis wind turbine (Darrieus type) was successful in design and build but did not achieve the design parameters in the testing stage.