Optimal Design of a Passively Controlled Horizontal Wind Turbine Blade System - Simulations and Experiments

Abstract

This research will focus on the development of a new small-scale wind turbine with a passively pitch controlled flap design that is inspired by the trailing edge flaps (slotted flaps) that can be used at low revolutions The flap bends to the surface pressure to increase the airfoil camber thereby increasing the lift generated when the blade rotates; at high rotations the blade can be driven toward the airfoil suction surface to cause stall thereby reducing the number of wind turbine revolutions protecting the generators and maintain power generation efficiency This study will use Solidworks to design and improve the Ply disk mechanism and blade flap mechanism and use ANSYS Fluent's CFD software for numerical simulation analysis to predict whether this mechanism is feasible such as wind tunnel test verification The Taguchi method is optimized for low-turn areas and has the best Cp value in low-turn areas It can effectively reduce the number of revolutions and provide stable power output at high rotations Small wind turbines are available for general household use

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Yui-Chuin Shiah (Supervisor)