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Vertical Axis Wind Turbines: Current Technologies and Future Trends

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A3: Wind, Wave and Tidal Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 June 2024 | Viewed by 279

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-Minami, Tottori 680-8552, Japan
Interests: vertical-axis wind turbines; horizontal-axis wind turbines; cost reduction of wind turbines; aerodynamics; computational fluid dynamics; blade element momentum theory; over-speed control of wind turbines; wind turbine wake; closely spaced arrangements of VAWT; interaction between wind turbines; phase synchronization; aeroelastic analysis; fatigue analysis; wind power; fluid mechanics; renewable energy
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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Kagawa College, 355 Chokushi, Takamatsu 761-8058, Japan
Interests: energy saving; educational technology; fluid mechanics; turbulence; wind tunnel experiment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wind power has now become a major power source. The majority of it is produced via the large horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT), the size of which continues to increase. However, the difficulty of increasing its size has become apparent, and reducing the impact on the environment has also become an issue. In order to achieve carbon neutrality, it is necessary to pursue every possibility, and there are great expectations for the widespread use of vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) and the resolution of these problems. Wind farms using small, low-cost VAWTs is considered to be one such promising technique. However, there is still a lack of research and technological development for VAWTs, which generate more complex flow fields around them and larger load fluctuations than HAWTs do. Increasing the size of VAWTs is also a major target of the wind power field.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collate original papers and review papers on various topics related to vertical-axis wind turbines, and to investigate new possibilities of vertical-axis wind turbines.

Prof. Dr. Yutaka Hara
Prof. Dr. Yoshifumi Jodai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT)
  • aerodynamics related to VAWT
  • computational fluid dynamics of VAWT
  • blade element momentum theory of VAWT
  • reduction in costs of VAWT
  • control of VAWT
  • wake analysis of VAWT
  • wind farm of VAWT
  • closely spaced arrangements of VAWTs
  • interaction between VAWTs

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

33 pages, 15478 KiB  
Article
Use of Dampers to Improve the Overspeed Control System with Movable Arms for Butterfly Wind Turbines
by Yutaka Hara, Hiroyuki Higami, Hiromitsu Ishikawa, Takeshi Ono, Shigenori Saito, Kenichiro Ichinari and Katsushi Yamamoto
Energies 2024, 17(11), 2727; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17112727 (registering DOI) - 3 Jun 2024
Abstract
To reduce the cost of small wind turbines, a prototype of a butterfly wind turbine (6.92 m in diameter), a small vertical-axis type, was developed with many parts made of extruded aluminum suitable for mass production. An overspeed control system with movable arms [...] Read more.
To reduce the cost of small wind turbines, a prototype of a butterfly wind turbine (6.92 m in diameter), a small vertical-axis type, was developed with many parts made of extruded aluminum suitable for mass production. An overspeed control system with movable arms that operated using centrifugal and aerodynamic forces was installed for further cost reduction. Introducing this mechanism eliminates the need for large active brakes and expands the operating wind speed range of the wind turbine. However, although the mechanism involving the use of only bearings is simple, the violent movement of the movable arms can be a challenge. To address this in the present study, dampers were introduced on the movable arm rotation axes to improve the movement of the movable arms. To predict the behavior of a movable arm and the performance of the wind turbine with the mechanism, a simulation method was developed based on the blade element momentum theory and the equation of motion of the movable arm system. A comparison of experiments and predictions with and without dampers demonstrated qualitative agreement. In the case with dampers, measurements confirmed the predicted increase in the rotor rotational speed when the shorter ailerons installed perpendicularly to the movable arms were used to achieve the inclination. Field experiments of the generated power at a wind speed of 6 m/s (10 min average) showed relative performance improvements of 11.4% by installing dampers, 91.3% by shortening the aileron length, and 57.6% by changing the control target data. The movable arm system with dampers is expected to be a useful device for vertical-axis wind turbines that are difficult to control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vertical Axis Wind Turbines: Current Technologies and Future Trends)
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