International Journal of

Science and Engineering Investigations vol. 8, issue 89, June 2019

Received on June 20, 2019 ISSN: 2251-8843

Properties of Low Speed Generator for VAWT Using Passive

Spring Transmission
Vladimír Chudoba1, Milan Onderka2, Marcela Morvová3
1,2,3
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics Physics and Informatics, Department of Astronomy, Physics of the Earth and
Meteorology, Mlynská dolina F2, Bratislava, Slovakia, SK-842 48
(1vladimir.chudoba@fmph.uniba.sk)

Abstract- We present a novel double rotor generator with still necessary to study and understand these yet not so popular
passive spring transmission (PST). Basic measurements are system [5].
illustrated on a patented vertical axis wind turbine. The aim of
this study is to provide low cost improvement of wind turbine Normally, data from aerodynamic tunnel tests are
run-up using a large coreless generator with the novel PST performed with smooth flow, which, however, does not
system. Since wind is inherently a changing variable, the represent the actual atmospheric behavior during operation of
presented measurements were performed with real wind speed VAWT in real conditions. Wind velocity is a highly stochastic
data. The wind turbine was simulated via an external motor process, wind energy is not constant and aerodynamic power is
proportional to the cube of wind speed. These factors cause the
controlled by a computer and frequency changer to maintain
steady conditions. In this way we imitated wind speed output power to fluctuate [12]. Therefore, a new approach
fluctuation by controlling RPM fluctuations. The design of the needs to be adopted. The system is powered by an AC motor
double rotor magnet generator generated approximately 100 W controlled via frequency changer operated by computer to
per phase at 160 RPM, while the passive spring transmission imitate rotation of VAWT in various wind conditions.
system captured the maximum wind energy in the low-wind- In our system we use a double rotor generator with axial
speed zone by reducing the fatigue load. flux permanent magnets to generate electric energy.
Advantages of the axial flux coreless PMG are its simple
Keywords- Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, CVT, Generator
design, low manufacturing costs, no cogging torque which
facilitating the start-up of the generator at lower wind speed,
low risk of demagnetization of permanent magnets, no core
I. INTRODUCTION losses, multiphase operation can be implemented easily.
Nowadays, wind turbines are becoming the fastest growing Certainly, there are also disadvantages of the proposed design,
energy source and receive a great amount of attention due to e.g. maintaining a constant air gap between the rotor and stator,
the technological advancements in harnessing wind power [1]. large amount of neodymium magnets increasing the price of
Recent scientific advances have focused on large wind turbines the whole system, and eddy losses in copper windings [10,13–
as a well consolidated technology [e.g. 2, 3]. But there is 19].
increasing attention paid to decentralized power generation for
smart cities and green buildings. This system is associated with Several solutions have been proposed to increase the wind
great interest in small wind turbines [4,5]. turbine energy output. For example fixed transmission or
capturing maximum wind energy in the low-wind-speed-zone
Wind turbines are a suitable tool for generating small with the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) are often
distributed energy, they are very attractive both in separate discussed [20, 21, 22].
configurations connected to the network and with other
Zhao and Maißer presented an electrical planetary
renewable resources [e.g. 6, 7], or into the building sector [e.g.
transmission controlled by speed of servo motor [23]. Idan and
8, 9]. Axial flux designs are becoming popular for low speed
Lior [20] proposed a novel hybrid variable speed transmission
vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) up to 10 kW because of
with two planetary transmission stages in which the annulus
their simple construction and modularity [10].
gear speed of the second stage (three rotating shafts) was
In this study, a new dual rotor generator with axial flux controlled by three servo motors. Hicks and Cunliffe [24]
permanent magnets and a passive spring transmission design presented a transmission consisting of a single PGT with its
with illustrative measurements are presented. VAWT allows output shaft connected to the induction generator through a
capturing highly unstable and turbulent wind with low noise bevel gear drive, and the third shaft connected to a single
emission, easy maintenance and compact construction. These servo-motor generator. Hydro-viscous transmission based
advantages show that VAWT are more suitable for small wind automatic gearbox was also presented by Yin [25]. These
projects [11, 7]. Small scale wind turbine can become a systems increase the cost of the whole system, mainly because
potential source of socio-economically valuable energy. It is of control system and servo-motor generators [26]. There is

147
also way to vary speed operation of the wind rotor to
maintained constant speed of a generator by controlling
electromagnetic torque or speed of the servo motor [27]. Using
these additional systems we can utilize the wind energy more
efficiently, reduce mechanical stress and improve the overall
system reliability [25].
A novel passive spring transmission is presented in this
paper. The annulus is attached by spring to the base of the wind
turbine to act like CVT for short-time e.g. during the run-up of
the wind turbine or during rapidly changing wind speed with
consequent changes in rotation of the wind turbine. No
additional electronic control or active servo motors are needed.

Figure 2. Situation No 2. - 180 seconds of real wind speed (April 2017)

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
One of the goals of this paper is to reduce stress load and
material fatigue of gearbox and our wind turbine system with
simple spring design. We constructed a vertical axis wind
turbine (VAWT) and tested it with a commercial permanent
magnets generator (PMG). Due to unsatisfying results, we
adjusted the commercial PMG to our needs to make an axial
flux permanent magnet generator with coreless coil. This
design facilitates reducing the start up speed. The system was
tested by simulating wind. Two operation set-ups are
compared.
A. Data sources
Without access to a wind tunnel it is merely impossible to
compare two systems at the same wind conditions. In our case
we used a gearbox with an AC motor controlled by frequency Figure 3. Situation No 3. - 180 seconds of real wind speed (April 2017)
changer witch allowed us to change revolution of AC motor
with PC. The real wind speed data (2-second resolution) were
provided by the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute. The
time-series covered a period of several days in April 2017. We
choose four 180-second long sequences of wind (Figure 1,
Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4) The wind speed data were first
converted to an input signal for the frequency changer to
simulate the wind condition and shaft speed of our VAWT.

Figure 4. Situation No 4. - 180 seconds of real wind speed (April 2017)

B. Generator
The double rotors axial flux permanent magnet generator
shown in Figure 5. was designed and manufactured as a new
patented WAVT. To ensure the highest circumferential speed
Figure 1. Situation No 1.- 180 seconds of real wind speed (April 2017) the generator has extraordinary large stator diameter.

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 8, Issue 89, June 2019 148
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 Figure 5. Generator. Magnets are shown in blue and red depending on the
pole orientation. Stator coils are shown in brown and rotor in grey.

Two rotors made of 3-mm thick martensitic stainless steels

provide support for the magnets. Martensitic steel and stainless Figure 7. Arrangement of coils in the stator.
steel have ferromagnetic properties [28] which helps arrange
the magnetic flux. Twenty four strong neodymium magnets are
placed in block geometry (50 x 25 x 10 mm). Magnets are A description of the rotor and stator is given in Table 1.
placed in a circle array around the end of the rotor. Illustrations The final manufacturing design is shown in Figure 8. The
of alternate orientations of the magnets and magnetic flux paths power- RPM diagram was created for the generator Figure 9.
are shown in Figure 6. This type of arrangement provides
almost linear induction flow between the magnets. The air gap
between the magnets is 20 mm. The flux density between TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF PMG
magnets in 20 mm air gap was approximately 0.45 T.
Parameters Values
Stator diameter 640 mm
Stator material Fiber glass and epoxy
Number of coils 18 (6 per phase)
Number of windings 120
Coil thickness 10 mm
Coil wire diameter 1,3 mm
Rotor diameter 565 mm
Rotor material martensitic stainless steels
Rotor thickness 3 mm
Figure 6. Appearance of arrangement of the magnets and magnetic flux Number of magnets 24 each rotor
paths
Dimension of magnets 50 x 25 x 10 mm
Magnet material N38H
Gap between magnets 20 mm
The stator of the PMG is composed of 18 coils with 120
windings of wire with a diameter of 1.3 mm. The diameter of
the stator is 640 mm. The coil is 10 mm thick and the working
width of the coil is 30 mm. The hole in the coil is 25 mm wide
which represents the width of the magnet. The coils are
arranges into three phase, with 6 coil in each (Figure 7). These
phases are mutually independent and have separate outputs.
This configuration allows connecting a phase separately.
Although this configuration may not be appropriate for the
power grid, it appears to be suitable for off-grid heating using
resistance wires. A sequential connection of the individual
phases allows reducing the start-up load, which leads to
smoother functioning of the wind turbine at low wind speeds.
One phase was constantly connected and other two phases
were controlled by a computer and switch on by relays. Figure 8. Axial flux PMG with 2 rotors

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 8, Issue 89, June 2019 149
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 88919-23
 The main problem of our gearbox was its fixed ratio, which is
not a good option for dynamically varying wind speeds.
Hence, using a transmission with several ratios seems to be a
better option. To improve a smooth running of the VAWT we
could use CVT to guarantee constant generator shaft speed
over an entire range of wind speeds [21]. Idan and Lior [20]
present a hybrid variable speed transmission with two planetary
transmission stages in which the annulus was controlled by
three servo-motor generators to maintain the optimal rotor
speed for a given wind speed, while the speed of the
conventional asynchronous generator coupled with the sun gear
was held constant.
Figure 9. Power chart of the double rotor with axial flux generator, per
phase.

A new patented prototype of the vertical axis wind turbine

(VAWT) was created (patent no. 3214303) with a goal to
achieve a low cost, durable, simple construction wind turbine,
as shown in Figure 10Error! Reference source not found.. The
height of the turbine is 2.75 meters and the length of wings is
0.85 m. The VAWT rotates at a rate of up to 25 RPM.
Compare with other systems, it is very slow, yet the torque is
high. High RPM are necessary to generate electricity from the
Figure 11. Planetary gearbox, on the left description of the components
PMG. Therefore, the primary goal is to omit gearbox and source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planetengetriebe_Prinzip.jpg
compensate it with a large diameter rotor for high on the right used planetary gear box
circumferential speeds. The power of the generator is
proportional to the second power of the angular velocity, which
is the only parameter controllable by a gearbox and is not
defined by design and material of the PMG. In our case we used springs to smooth run up of wind
turbine to avoid bump effect during strong gust wind. We have
used planetary gear box where the outer annulus is connected
to base of the VAWT (Figure 12.) by springs which provide
change of gear ratio during run up from continuously from 1:0
to 1:5,3 gear ratio but just in short time period during the
stretching of the springs. These two boundary conditions are
when the annulus is free to move input shaft rotates a planet
carrier which care pinions subsequently runs annulus but
output sun gear stays still thus the generator is not rotating at
all although the wind turbine is running. This first condition
represents gear ratio 1:0. The second boundary condition is
when the annulus is fixed to base. Input shaft rotates planet
carrier, but now the annulus is fixed therefore the sun gear is
running but with designed maximum ratio 1:5,3. Springs
allows changing gear ratio between these two extreme
conditions via rotations of annulus during stretching the springs
which react to load of input power during run-up of the wind
turbine because of change of the wind speed. We called this
system with abbreviation: PST (Passive Spring Transmission).
Dissipative energy is used to stretch the springs, but the
smoother running of the generator appears to have positive
Figure 10. Prototype of the new VAWT
effect of fatigue load for the system. The stiffness of the spring
was 0.27 N/m ± 0,02 N/m. This new PST system improves
rotation of the wind turbine at low wind speeds. Wind turbine
C. Transmission with PST system start to rotate generator with torque
To increase revolution of the generator a planetary gearbox approximately 26 Nm. Without the system it was necessary to
(Figure 11.) was added to our system with a gear ratio 1:5.3. achieved torque round 35 Nm.

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 B. Passive spring transmission (PST) – red line in
Figure 14.- Figure17.
Five measurements for each situation were conducted. The
averages of the measured values are presented below.

Figure 12. Appearance of the passive spring transmission. One end of the
spring is attached to annulus, the other one to the base of VAWT.

D. Set up
A three phase 1.1 kW motor plus a robust gear box with a
gear ratio 30:1 creates a system which represents the VAWT.
Figure 14. Power- time plot for 1. wind condition blue- normal situation using
The behavior of the shaft rotation in various wind conditions
fixed gearbox with fix gear ratio, red- using PST setup, green- wind speed
was simulated (Figure 13.). The revolutions of the motor are
given by frequency changer VYBO Electric E550-4T0030B. A
program sends signal simulating wind conditions for four
different scenarios. The program was calibrated by comparing
RPM of the real VAWT for certain wind speeds and
frequencies of the signal and RPM.

Figure 15. Power- time plot for 2. wind condition blue- normal situation using
fixed gearbox with fix gear ratio, red- using PST setup, green- wind speed

Figure 13. Left- Experimental setup of the system. Right- diagram of the
system. Imitation of VAWT in yellow, measure probes in green, frequency
changer in red, control system in blue, gearbox and generator in white and
final electrical appliance in grey

The generated electricity was converted to heat by

resistance wire with resistance 4 Ohm. The maximum output
power was measured with this resistor. The voltage was Figure 16. Power- time plot for 3. wind condition blue- normal situation using
measured by a simple voltage probes placed on the resistance fixed gearbox with fix gear ratio, red- using PST setup, green- wind speed
wire.

III. RESULTS
Four 180-second sequences of wind speed data with 2-
second resolution were acquired from the Slovak
Hydrometeorological Institute. To simulate rotation of the
turbine, the wind speed data were used to control the input
signal of the frequency changer that powered a 1.1 kW motor
through a gearbox with the gear ration 30:1. The same wind
conditions were simulated and compared in two setups:
A. Fixed gearbox - normal state using fix gear ratio 1:5.3– Figure 17. Power- time plot for 4. wind condition blue- normal situation using
blue line in Figure 14.- Figure 17. fixed gearbox with fix gear ratio, red- using PST setup, green- wind speed

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 Figure14.-17. show visible differences between the fixed of wind turbine construction by smoothing the operation of the
setup and our PST setup. A smooth run without sharp peaks is generator shown without using expensive electronic add-ons.
noticeable. The maximum peaks were generated mostly in the
fix mode. The sum of the generated energy is presented in
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