The design, simulation and testing of an urban vertical axis wind turbine with the omni-direction-guide-vane

Solar energy, renewable energy, urban wind energy, environment, augmented wind turbine. [Display omitted] ► A system for on-site wind–solar hybrid power generation and rain water collection. ► The omni-direction-guide-vane (ODGV) overcomes the weak wind and turbulence conditions in urban areas. ► The ODGV improves the wind turbine performance by speeding-up and guiding the wind. ► The ODGV is designed to blend into the building architecture with safety enhancement. ► The wind tunnel test and CFD simulation results are presented. A novel omni-direction-guide-vane (ODGV) that surrounds a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is designed to improve the wind turbine performance. Wind tunnel testing was performed to evaluate the performance of a 5-bladed (Wortmann FX63-137 airfoil) H-rotor wind turbine, with and without the integration of the ODGV. The test was conducted using a scaled model turbine which was constructed to simulate the VAWT enclosed by the ODGV placed on a building. The VAWT shows an improvement on its self-starting behavior where the cut-in speed was reduced with the integration of the ODGV. Since the VAWT is able to self-start at a lower wind speed, the working hour of the wind turbine would increase. At a wind speed of 6m/s and under free-running condition (only rotor inertia and bearing friction were applied), the ODGV helps to increase the rotor rotational speed by 182%. With extra load application at the same wind speed (6m/s), the wind turbine power output was increased by 3.48 times at its peak torque with the aid of the ODGV. The working concept of the ODGV is to minimize the negative torque zone of a lift-type VAWT and to reduce turbulence and rotational speed fluctuation. It was verified by re-simulating the torque coefficient data of a single bladed (NACA 0015 airfoil) VAWT published by the Sandia National Laboratories. From the simulation results, with the presence of the ODGV, it was shown that the torque output of the NACA 0015 airfoil, single bladed VAWT has been increased by 58% and 39% at TSR=2.5 and TSR=5.1 respectively. The negative torque zone has been minimized thus the positive torque that provides higher power can be obtained. As a conclusion, the ODGV integrated wind power generation system improves the power output of a VAWT and it has great potential to be sited in urban areas for on-site and grid-connected power generation.