Designing Blades For Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines Applied to Micro Energy

Electricity generation through small wind turbines is gaining worldwide popularity. However, studies that describe and analyze this source of energy are still scarce compared to those that analyze the medium and large wind turbines. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) blade profile considering its design adequacy to be applied to the design of the small horizontal-axis wind turbine blades. The number of rotation per minute (RPM) of the 3 blade profiles was based on the design of NACA 0012, 1412, 6409 profiles. These blades were submitted to wind tunnel test with wind velocity of 1m/s to 5m/s. Three pitch angles (15°, 30º e 45º) were used for each blade profile. The results showed that the NACA 1412 blade profile had a lower starting time in m/s compared to that of the NACA 6409 and NACA 0012. Therefore, we suggest the NACA 1412 as the most suitable profile to be applied in low wind speed and to be used in urban architectural structures.