Design, Fabrication and Testing of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Multipurpose Application

Increased concern for environment has led to the search for more eco-friendly sources of energy. The focus on Renewable Energy Resources has increased significantly in the recent years in the wake of growing environmental pollution, rising energy demand and depleting fossil fuel resources. Different sources of renewable energy include biomass, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and wind. Among these resources wind has proved to be a cheaper alternative energy resource and hence extensive research efforts have been put to improve the technology of electricity generation through wind. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) offer promising solution for areas away from the integrated grid systems as compared to horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT). However, they have certain drawbacks associated with different configurations. In order to make best use of its efficient designs of wind turbines need to be developed. Various vertical axis wind turbines can offer solution to the energy requirements ranging from 2 kW to 4 MW with a reasonable payback period. The coefficient of power (CP) for various configurations is different and can be optimized with reference to Tip Speed Ratio. Latest emerging design techniques can be helpful in this optimization. Furthermore, flow field around the blade can also be investigated with the help of these design techniques for safe operation. VAWTs offer good possibility of building integrated designs. VAWT can be used on high rise buildings in the cities where free stream velocity greater than 14 m/s is available. Similarly, Sistan type wind turbine can be effectively integrated with building designs and can give reasonable power output. In this work it is intended to design, simulate, fabricate and test the performance of the suitable VAWT for combined generation of electricity and pumping water