A Straight-Bladed Variable-Pitch VAWT Concept For Improved Power Generation
A Straight-Bladed Variable-Pitch VAWT Concept For Improved Power Generation
A Straight-Bladed Variable-Pitch VAWT Concept For Improved Power Generation
AIAA-2003-0524
WIND2003-524
A STRAIGHT-BLADED VARIABLE-PITCH VAWT CONCEPT FOR
IMPROVED POWER GENERATION
Yann Staelens*
Universitd Libre de Bruxelles, 180 Av. du Roi Albert, 1082 Brussels, Belgium
yannst aelens~hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
The paper presents three modifications for an improved performance in terms of increased power output of a
straight-bladed VAWT by varying its pitch. Modification I examines the performance of a VAWT when the
local angle of attack is kept just below the stall value throughout its rotation cycle. Although this modification
results in a very significant increase in the power output for higher wind speeds, it requires abrupt changes
in the local angle of attack making it physically and mechanically impossible to realize. Modification H
improves upon the first by replacing the local angle of attack by the blade static-stall angle only when the
former exceeds the latter. This step eliminates the two jumps in the local effective angle of attack curve but
at the cost of a slight decrease in the power output. Moreover, it requires a discontinuous angle of attack
correction function which may still be practically difficult to implement and also result in an early fatigue.
Modification III overcomes the limitation of the second by ensuring a continuous variation in the local angle
of attack correction during the rotation cycle through the use of a sinusoidal function. Although the power
output obtained by using this modification is less than the two preceding ones, it has the inherent advantage
of being practically feasible.
NOMENCLATURE
CD
CL
CN
CO
CT
c
D
FN
FT
f
H
L
N
P
Reb
Ret
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
r
S
u
V
Voo
W
X
X~Q
xROyR
z
c~
c~e
c~stau
c~
~ae
* G r a d u a t e Research Student.
?Research Associate. M e m b e r AIAA.
:tBombaxdier Aeronautical Chair Professor. Associate
Fellow AIAA.
Copyright (~) 2003 by t h e authors. Published by t h e American I n s t i t u t e of Aeronautics a n d Astronautics, Inc. or t h e
A m e r i c a n Society of Mechanical Engineers with permission.
W
~
v
P
w
146
Superscripts:
(-)
= average value
(')
= downstream value
Without (') = upwind value
Subscripts:
= equatorial
EQ
i
c
value
= value at a height equal to the center of
slice i
= free-stream value
INTRODUCTION
The continuing oil crisis, environmental pollution
and global warming has been a matter of great concern for the industrialized nations and, therefore,
caused a renewed interest in the field of renewable
energy resources. Amongst these resources, wind
energy has been in the forefront of progress and
development specifically because of its proven efficiency, a growth rate of 40% and very positive enviromnental impact [1]. Many countries, such as
Denmark [2], are investing a lot of money in research in the field of Wind Energy that is now not
only evolving into a significant proportion of their
annual power production but is also a source of encouragement for the wind energy community. This
encouragement is vital for a continued research and
development. The wind turbine, whether it may
be a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) or a
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT), offers a practical way to convert wind energy into any other useful forms of energy. The major research effort at
cole Polytechnique de Montral, Canada, is devoted
towards the development and improvement of the
performance prediction of VAWTs [3-15].
In this regards, a study was carried to determine
if the performance o f a VAWT, in terms of the power
output, could be improved by operating the blade
just below stall, whether static or dynamic. The
basic idea was to actively lower the effective angle of attack of a VAWT blade as it approaches
stall. As such the blade never experiences stall
throughout its cycle of rotation. Moreover, it was
desired to determine whether or not symmetry in
the tangential force component could be achieved
through the variation of the geometric angle of attack of the VAWT blade during its cycle of rotation analogous to the concept of symmetry of lift
in helicopter blades in forward flight. In order to
study the above ideas, three modifications to the
existing CARDAAV code [11] were studied. A 2blade straight-bladed VAWT model was used for
147
CARDAAV has made it possible to design, analyze and build more efficient and low cost wind energy systems such as the Darrieus-rotor VAWT. The
CARDAAV code is used to determine aerodynamic
forces and power output of VAWTs of any geometry
at the specified operational conditions. Wind speed
can vary with height according to a power law. The
program output consists of the local induced velocities, the local Reynolds numbers and angle of attack,
the blade loads, and the azimuthal torque and power
coefficient data. Each of these is calculated separately for the upwind and downwind hMves of the
rotor. The numerical models used by the program
have been validated through comparison with experimental data, obtained from laboratory tests made
in wind or water tunnels, for different Darrieus-type
VAWTs, thus, making CARDAAV a very attractive
and efficient design and analysis tool.
1.6
1.2
/f
&
Strickland et al.
//
....
- ....
//
~f
Paraschivoiu et aL
e.
A. = 6.o
B~rg, A~=
Measurements
~ Mechanical Power
I
10
15
]Equatorial wind speed, I~Q (m/s)
20
F i g u r e 2: C o m p a r i s o n of t h e p o w e r o u t p u t
p r e d i c t e d by C A R D A A V w i t h e x p e r i m e n t a l
d a t a [8].
'.ll
--o- CARDAAV
- - - CARDAAS-1Dturb.
- - CARDAAS-3Dturb.
Expefimen~ldata
dt __~
/r~
&A
:-:::
....
.#"2":.,=.0..+
g~
2 NACA 0 0 1 5 b l a d e s / . .
50
0.8
zEQ~
i
~
I
CO
~ 0.0
= -0.4
-1.2
SANDIA- 17m
2 NACA0015blades
Solidityffi 0.157
38.7 rpm
-1.6
-2.0
-90
-30
Downwind
F i g u r e 3: A Sketch of t h e s t r a i g h t - b l a d e d
V A W T m o d e l u s e d in t h i s s t u d y .
~'~
~]
V
l
30
90
150 210
Azimuthal angle,0 (deg)
270
(1)
148
y},
r(z)
\,,_
',
. . . . . .
'
vtz)
\~\
Dx~"
~_.X.J
!0
. . . .
/'r7e __ ryo
I N
e~
"\-
._
v,.,
, "~J
//,;
(270")
D'
F i g u r e 4: T h e v a r i o u s angles, forces a n d vel o c i t y v e c t o r s in t h e e q u a t o r i a l p l a n e .
c~ = arcsin
(2)
V~i/V~ = (zi/zmq) ~
(3)
(4)
f u = 7rr/(1 - u)
(5)
Nc ;=/2 CNCOSO+CTsinO ( _ ~ ) 2
f = 871---'~j_~/2
iCOSS[
d8 (6)
where
CN
CT
= CL sin c~ -- CD cos c~
(8)
Procedure
e L c o s ot .+- C D s i n ot
(7)
149
30 1
~zo
~
0.24
modl
0.20
Aa.
10
0.16
"~ 0.12
O
0.08
0.04
~ -lO
.20;o
..............
0
90
1 0+ '
Azimuthal angle, e (deg)
0.00
'
'
'
I
270
-0.04~
....
90
180
270
F i g u r e 5: L o c a l angle o f a t t a c k as a f u n c t i o n
o f t h e a z i m u t h a l angle.
600I
F i g u r e 7: T o r q u e coefficient as a f u n c t i o n o f
the azimuthal angle.
25
....
20
~E-~400f
-/%,
,Y,
2oo
/~
15
~
cJ
10
-200.~0 '
,
. . . .
90
180
270
.......
?,:,iiii,
,,25
5
10
15
20
Equatorial wind speed, V ~ (m/s)
Figure 6: T a n g e n t i a l force as a f u n c t i o n of t h e
a z i m u t h a l angle.
F i g u r e 8: P o w e r p r o d u c e d as a f u n c t i o n o f t h e
MODIFICATIONS
Modification I
Figure 5 illustrates the variation of the local angles of attack a and ae during a complete rotation.
Here the a is replaced by ae (solid line) in the
In general, the modifications were mainly performed in the aerodynamics module of the CARDAAV program, and, in particular, in the way it
calculates the local angle of attack a. Overall, three
different modifications were studied that are described below along with the associated results.
150
0.24
301
20
. . . .
0.20
.......
/I,I
0.16
mod2
Ila
0.12
,~ -lO
\
0
90
90
180
270
0 (deg)
25
.......
.0.0.4~0
270
. . . .
Z:
~.~ 400
0.04
0.00
F i g u r e 9: L o c a l angle of a t t a c k as a f u n c t i o n
o f t h e a z i m u t h a l angle.
600
E
/
180
Azimuthal ~gle,
0.08
/
%
-2
ca
20
. . . .
. . . .
.......
~.,15
200
~
10
-201 P0
90
180
270
the a z i m u t h a l angle.
10
15
20
25
F i g u r e 12: P o w e r p r o d u c e d as a f u n c t i o n o f
t h e w i n d s p e e d at t h e e q u a t o r .
Modification II
In modification II (mod2), the local effective
blade angle of attack ae is kept at the blade stall angle during the rotation cycle only when its value exceeds the static-stall angle value a s t a u . This change
eliminates the two jumps in the local effective angle of attack at ~ = -~r/2 and 7r/2 as shown in
Fig. 9. As a result of this modification, the tangential force and torque coefficient curves also show
a more gradual change or a smoother transition at
151
~ , = 0~ +
30
A~
0.24 [
Aa.
O~mn
0.20 I
.........
0.16 ~"
/I ~
/' /I
0.12
........
20
\x I
II,
~ ~(:~:,
~,J~.~.
u u/ ;~
0.0S
~,
I/,ILg ~.~
~ ~'\
,~L.
~ \\
0.04
~
-10
0.00
I
. . . .
'
~9101
180
-0.0~
270
. . . .
2oo
20
,qj,
180
270
modl
.......
-- . . . . . . . .
....
mod2
~/
mod3 - max. ampfitudef/"
rood3 - $0 % of max.~./
amplltude.~//
//
,
x.
9'
90
Z (/
,)~"
7"4,~,
" t
1,
-201
90
/ A~ - 'I.
I "\
25 " - - -- --
Z~4OO
/
F i g u r e 15: T o r q u e c o e f f i c i e n t as a f u n c t i o n o f
t h e a z i m u t h a l angle.
. . . .
.......
--/'~l" . . . .
F i g u r e 13: L o c a l a n g l e o f a t t a c k as a f u n c t i o n
of the azimuthal angle.
600
, a
90
,I
i
180
270
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
$
10
15
20
Equatorial wind speed, V ~ (m/s)
25
F i g u r e 14: T a n g e n t i a l f o r c e as a f u n c t i o n o f
the azimuthal angle.
F i g u r e 16: P o w e r p r o d u c e d as a f u n c t i o n o f
t h e w i n d s p e e d at t h e e q u a t o r .
Modification III
In modification III (rood3), the evolution of the
local angle of attack correction A a e for the local
angle of attack curve is replaced by a smooth con
tinuous function such as a sinusoidal function represented by a dotted line in Fig. 13. The maximum
amplitude of the sinusoidal correction function is set
equal to the maximum difference between the local
From Fig. 9 we can see t h a t mod2 does not completely eliminate the drawback of m o d l since the
evolution of the correction function for the local angle of attack curve (Ac~ in Fig. 9) is still discontinuous at some points which may not be practical to
152
CONCLUSIONS
A drawback of mod3 is that the power output, although significantly higher than the one without any
modification, is much less than in the case of modl
and mod2 as shown in Fig. 16. Another interesting
point to note in Figs..16 and 17 is that by using
half the magnitude of the maximum amplitude, the
power output is seen to increase. This increase is
due to the fact that the local effective angle of attack ae value is higher at each azimuthal location
for the case when 50% of the maximum amplitude
is used. Thus, it suggests that an optimum value for
the maximum magnitude must be determined that
yields the maximum power output. Figure 17 shows
the variation of the normal force during the rotation
cycle after applying modifications II and III.
2000
(b) Modification II improves upon the first by replacing the local angle of attack by the local profile
stall angle, which is obtained in the same manner
as for modification I, but only when the former exceeds the latter. As a consequence, this modification
eliminates the two jumps in the local effective angle
of attack curve but at the cost of a slight decrease
in the power output. Moreover, it also renders the
angle of attack correction function as discontinuous which may be practically difficult to implement
and result in an early fatigue. A remedy for this
limitation is to introduce a smooth and continuous
variation in the local angle of attack correction.
(c) Modification III overcomes the limitation of
the second by ensuring a continuous variation in the
local angle of attack correction during the rotation
cycle through the use of a sinusoidal function. The
amplitude of the sinusoidal function is set equal to
the maximum difference between the local angle of
attack and the blade static-stall angle. The difference is only calculated when the former exceeds the
latter. Although the power output obtained by using this modification is less than the two preceding
modifications, it has the inherent advantage of being
practically feasible.
nod2
rood3 - max. amplitude
mod3 - S0% of max. amplitude
Z 1000
~ -1000
-200.0 ~ ,
0I
1~0
'
'
I
.
180
. . .
Although the above modifications suggest an increase in the power output of a straight-bladed
VAWT, the scheduling of blade angle of attack
negates some nice features of VAWTs, i. e. their
insensitivity to wind direction as well as the natural
feathering effect. It would, therefore, require special wind-direction sensors, blade pitch mechanism
and power generation and transmission systems designed for heavier loads to achieve the desired performance.
|
270
A z i m u t h a l angle, 0 ( d e g )
F i g u r e 17: N o r m a l f o r c e as a f u n c t i o n o f t h e
azimuthal angle.
153
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council (NSERC), Canada, through their Grant
No. 1442.
References
[1] Wind Energy, Vol. 2, 1983.
[2] www.windpower.org, Danish Wind Industry Association.
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[5] Brahimi, M. T., and Paraschivoiu, I., "Darrieus Rotor Aerodynamics in Turbulent Wind," Journal of
Solar Engineering, Vol. 117, No. 2, pp. 128-136,
1995.
[19] Gormont, it. E., "A Mathematical Model of Unsteady Aerodynamics and Radial Flow for Application to Helicopter Rotors," BOEING cO., vERTOL dIV., Philadelphia, PA, USAAMRDL TR 7267, May 1973.
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[9] Paraschivoiu, I., "Aerodynamic Loads and Performance of the Darrieus Rotor," Journal of Energy,
Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 406-412, Nov.-Dec. 1982.
[10] Paraschivoiu, I., "Double-Multiple Streamtube
Model for Darrieus Wind Turbines," Second
DOE/NASA Wind Turbine Dynamics Workshop,
NASA CP-2185, pp. 19--25, 1981.
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Montreal, 1995.
[12] Paraschivoiu, I., "M~thodes des tubes de courant
multiples ~ travers leesparties amont et aval du rotor
Darrieus," Department of Mechanical Engineering,
]~cole Polytechnique of Montrdal, Montrdal, 1981.
[13] Paraschivoiu, I., "Predicted and Experimental
Aerodynamic Forces on the Darrieus Rotor," Journal of Energy, Vol. 7, No. 6, pp. 610---615, Nov.Dec. 1983.
154