Journal of Thermal Science Vol.18, No.

1 (2009) 5457

DOI: 10.1007/s11630-009-0054-0 Article ID: 1003-2169(2009)01-0054-04

A Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with a Directed Guide Vane Row
- Effect of Guide Vane Geometry on the Performance -

Manabu TAKAO1, Hideki KUMA1, Takao MAEDA2, Yasunari KAMADA2, Michiaki OKI3
and Atsushi MINODA3
1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Matsue National College of Technology
14-4 Nishiikuma-cho, Matsue-shi, Shimane 690-8518, Japan
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mie University
1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu-shi, Mie 514-8507, Japan
3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Matsue National College of Technology
14-4 Nishiikuma-cho, Matsue-shi, Shimane 690-8518, Japan

The objective of this study is to show the effect of guide vane geometry on the performance. In order to over-
come the disadvantages of vertical axis wind turbine, a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (S-VAWT) with
a directed guide vane row has been proposed and tested by the authors. According to previous studies, it was
clarified that the performance of the turbine can be improved by means of the directed guide vane row. However,
the guide vane geometry of S-VAWT has not been optimized so far. In order to clarify the effect of guide vane
geometry, the effects of setting angle and gap between rotor blade and guide vane on power coefficient and start-
ing characteristic were investigated in the experiments. The experimental study of the proposed wind turbine
was carried out by a wind tunnel. The wind tunnel with a diameter of 1.8m is open jet type. The wind velocity
is 8 m/s in the experiments. The rotor has three straight blades with a profile of NACA0018 and a chord length
of 100 mm, a diameter of 0.6 m and a blade height of 0.7 m. The guide vane row consists of 3 arc plates.

Keywords: fluid machinery, wind energy, vertical axis wind turbine, guide vane

Introduction horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT): (1) The center of

Floating offshore wind farms are being considered for
Japanese waters. In such case, in order to control be-
havior of the float, it is very important to use a vertical
axis wind turbine which has low center of gravity. As
such wind turbine, a straight-bladed vertical axis wind
turbine (this is named S-VAWT in the study) has been
developed and investigated so far. This turbine consists
of several aerofoil vertically mounted on a rotating shaft.
The turbine has some advantages in comparison with a
gravity is relatively lower because the generator and
gearbox can be placed on the ground. (2) A yaw
mechanism to turn the rotor against the wind is not nec-
essary for the turbine system. On the other hand, how-
ever, there are substantial drawbacks of S-VAWT. That
is, the power coefficient and self-starting characteristic of
S-VAWT are less than those of HAWT.
According to previous studies, the performances of
drag-based vertical axis wind turbines, such as Savonius
wind turbine and cross-flow wind turbine, can be im-

Received: March 2008

Manabu TAKAO: Associate Professor
www.springerlink.com
Manabu TAKAO et al. Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Directed Guide Vane - Effect of Guide Vane Geometry 55

Nomenclature
A Projected area = 2HR U Circumferential velocity of rotor = R (m/s)
C Chord length of rotor blade V Wind velocity (m/s)
Cp Power coefficient = P/(AV3/2) Z Number of rotor blades
Ct Torque coefficient = T/(AV2R/2)
G gap between rotor blade and guide vane (m) Greek symbols
H Rotor blade height (m) Rotational speed ratio = U/V
N Rotational speed of rotor (rpm) Kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
P Output = T (W) Setting angle of guide vane row ()
R Radius of rotor (m) Density of air (kg/m3)
Re Reynolds number based on the chord = UC/ Solidity of rotor = CZ/R
T Torque (Nm) Angular velocity of rotor = N/30 (rad/s)

proved by setting guide vanes around the rotors because
the guide vanes in upstream of the rotor work as nozzle
and increase torque [1, 2]. However, it may be consid-
ered that the guide vanes in downstream of the rotor pre-
vent airflow from the rotor. In order to overcome the
The tested turbine has some straight rotor blades with
a profile of NACA4518, a chord length of C = 100 mm, a
radius of R = 0.3 m and a height of H = 0.7 m.

0
R8
disadvantages of S-VAWT mentioned above, a straight-

3
104 R1.5
bladed vertical axis wind turbine with a directed guide
Gu ide va n e row 126
vane row has been proposed and tested by the authors [3].
Gu ide va n e

26
According to previous studies, it was clarified that the
61
12 100
performance of the straight-bladed vertical axis turbine

G
Rot a t ion
can be improved by means of the directed guide vane row. Sh a ft
However, the effect of guide vane geometry on the per- R300
formance has not been clarified so far.
v
In the study, in order to clarify the effect of guide vane
geometry, the effects of setting angle and gap between Bla de
rotor blade and guide vane on power coefficient and (NACA4518)
torque coefficient were investigated by using a wind
tunnel in the experiments. Fig. 1 Straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with
guide vane row
Experimental Apparatus and Procedure Gu ide va n e Sh a ft Bla de

Figures 1 and 2 show the experimental apparatus.

The experiments for the proposed S-VAWT are carried
P it ot t u be
v
700
760

out in a wind tunnel. The wind tunnel has an outlet

diameter of 1.8 m, and it is an open jet type. The center
of the turbine rotor is located at 1.2 m downstream from
the center of the wind tunnel outlet. The rotor axis is
held by two ball bearings, and is combined through cou- Ma n om et er
plings with both the torque detector and the induction
motor which is controlled by an inverter as shown in Fig. In ver t er Tor qu e
2. The wind velocity is ranging from 8 m/s in the ex- detector
Mot or
periments in order to investigate the effect of Reynolds
number on turbine characteristics. The wind velocity V-pulley
was measured at the wind tunnel outlet by using a Pitot
PC A/D Tor qu e
tube survey. The rotational speed is up to 625 rpm. converter in dica t or
The torque is obtained by taking into consideration
unloaded torque which is measured when the induction
motor rotates the rotor shaft without the blade. Fig. 2 Test apparatus
56 J. Therm. Sci., Vol.18, No.1, 2009

Detailed information about the rotor is indicated in 0.25

Figs. 1, 2 and Table 1. In order to investigate the effect Vane-less
0.20 37.5 deg
of rotor solidity on turbine characteristics, the number 45
of rotor blades Z is 3 which correspond to a solidity of 0.15 52.5
60
= 1.0.

Cp
0.10

0.05
Table 1 Specifications of rotor
Blade profile NACA4518 0.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Radius R (mm) 300 -0.05

Height H (mm) 700
(a) Power coefficient
Chord length C (mm) 100
0.15
Number of blades Z 3 Vane-less
37.5 deg
Solidity 1.0 0.10 45
52.5
60
Actually, the guide vane row having some arc plates

Ct
0.05
rotates around the rotor and is directed to the wind by
aerodynamic force generated by tail vane, so as to put the 0.00
guide vane row in upstream of the rotor. However, in 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

the study, the guide vane row is fixed in order to investi-
gate the effect of setting angle and gap between rotor
blade and guide vane geometry as the first step of study,
as shown in Fig. 1. The profile of guide vane consists
of an arc and has a chord of 126 mm, a radius of 80 mm
and a thickness of 3 mm. The number of guide vanes is
3. The setting angle is ranging from 37.5 to 60 in
order to change the position of guide vane row. Further,
the gap between rotor blade and guide vane is ranging
from 35 mm to 100 mm. Details of the guide vane and
the tail vane are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Specifications of guide vane
Blade profile Arc plate
Chord length 126 mm
Gap G 35, 50, 75, 100 mm
Radius 80 mm
Camber angle 104
Thickness 3 mm
Height 760 mm
Results and Discussions
Figure 3 shows the effect of the setting angle of guide
vane on turbine characteristics. Regarding both the
power coefficient Cp and the torque coefficient Ct in the
case of the turbine using the guide vane row (37.5), Fig 4(a), the peak value of Cp and the rotational speed
the peak values increase with in a range of 45. showing the peak value are independent of the gap. On
Furthermore, the peak coefficient is considerably higher
than that of the turbine without guide vane. Here note
-0.05
(b) Torque coefficient
Fig. 3 Effect of setting angle of guide vane on turbine
characteristics (G = 50 mm)
that the peak power coefficient is 0.205 and its value is
approximately 1.8 times higher than that of the original
turbine which has no guide vane. Conversely, the coef-
ficient at lower rotational speed ratio in the case of the
turbine with guide vane row is smaller than that of the
turbine without guide vane, for both coefficients. These
phenomena are because of the guide vane row changes
radically the airflow inlet angle to the rotor.
With respect to the effect of the setting angle on the
turbine characteristics, in both the Cp- and Ct- charac-
teristics, the tendencies at lower rotational speed for any
setting angle are almost the same. However, the peak
values of Cp and Ct increase with and these values in
the case of = 45 are the highest in all the cases. Fur-
ther, the rotational speed ratio showing the peak value
decreases with the increase of for both the Cp- and
Ct- characteristics. These facts are observed because
the angle of attack increases by setting the guide vane
row.
Figure 4 shows the effect of gap between rotor blade
and guide vane on turbine characteristics. As shown in
the other hand, the phenomenon of the Ct- characteristic
is different to the Cp- characteristic as in Fig. 4(b), es-
Manabu TAKAO et al. Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Directed Guide Vane - Effect of Guide Vane Geometry 57

pecially at lower tip speed ratio. Conclusions

0.25 In the study, the experimental study of straight-bladed

Vane-less
vertical axis wind turbine was carried out by a wind tun-
0.20 35mm
50 nel. The effects of guide vane setting angle and gap
0.15 75 between rotor blade and guide vane on power coefficient
100 and torque coefficient were investigated in the experi-
Cp

0.10
ments. As a result, the effect of guide vane geometry on
0.05 the performance was clarified in the study.
0.00

-0.05
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 References

(a) Power coefficient [1] Shimizu, Y., Takada, M. and Sakata, J.: Development of a
0.15 High-Performance Cross-Flow Wind Turbine (On the Ef-
Vane-less fect of Ring-Diffusers and Multiple-Guide Vanes on the
35mm
0.10 50
Power Augmentation for a Cross-Flow Wind Turbine),
75 Transactions of JSME, Series B, vol.64, no.625,
100 pp.29582963, (1998), (in Japanese).
Ct

0.05
[2] Sivasegaram, S. and Sivapalan: Augmentation of Power
in Slow-Running Vertical-Axis Wind Rotors Using Mul-
0.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 tiple Vanes, Wind Engineering, vol.7, no.1, pp.1219,
(1983).
-0.05
[3] Takao, M., Maeda, T., Kamada, Y., Oki, M., Kuma, H.: A
(b) Torque coefficient Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with a Di-
rected Guide Vane Row, Proceedings of 5th Joint
Fig. 4 Effect of gap between rotor blade and guide vane ASME/JSME Fluids Engineering Conference, San Diego,
on turbine characteristics ( = 45) USA, Paper No. FEDSM200737422, (2007).