Investigation into the relationship of the overlap ratio and shift angle
of double stage three bladed vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT)
J. Kumbernuss n, J. Chen, H.X. Yang, L. Lu
Renewable Energy Research Group (RERG), Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
a r t i c l e i n f o abstract
Article history: This study presents the experimental test results of Savonius-type vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) with
Received 2 June 2011 different overlap ratios and shift angles. Each wind turbine was tested under four different wind speeds.
Received in revised form The power coefficients (CP) of vertical axis wind turbines are governed by several key factors, e.g. the number
6 March 2012
of blades, the shape of the blades, the overlap ratio (OL) and the phase shift angle. The overlap ratio and the
Accepted 18 March 2012
Available online 8 May 2012
phase shift angle (PSA) are the most decisive ones since the measured data shows that their power coefficient
drops or rises with them significantly. Three turbines with the overlap ratios of 0, 0.16 and 0.32 were
Keywords: designed and constructed. The wind turbines were then adjusted to the phase shift angles (PSA) of 0, 15, 30,
Overlap ratio 45 and 60 degrees before testing them in an open wind tunnel under the air velocities of 4 m/s, 6 m/s, 8 m/s
Shift angle
and 10 m/s.
Vertical axis wind turbine
The results show that a higher overlap ratio has a higher impact on improving the starting characteristics
VAWT
Savonius wind turbine of the Savonius wind turbine than any phase shift angle changes. This investigation shows that a specific
Phase-shift angle phase shift angle in relation to a specific air velocity will increase the power coefficient significantly.
Besides the increase of the power coefficient seen at specific air velocities and phase shift angles, did the
recorded data show an unexpected second performance peak which appeared at higher tip speed ratios.
This is surprising since the Savonius turbine is considered as being a drag driven turbine, and suggests that
the lift characteristics of Savonius turbines might be more significant than commonly considered.
& 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
U r ¼ U w U t ð1Þ
Wind energy utilization systems have been in use for thousands
years. One of the oldest types of the vertical axis wind turbines
(VAWT) is the Savonius type. This turbine has been studied from ðr=2ÞC D As ðU w U r Þ2 U r
C ps ¼ ð2Þ
the beginning of the last century to present by many researchers. ðr=2ÞAs U w 3
The engineer Savonius (1931) first published research data in 1931.
Although the Darrieus type Vertical Axis Wind is more efficient than However, the above equation neglects the blade numbers, the
the Savonius-type, the Savonius type still has several advantages like gap ratio, the turbine blade curvature, etc. as it just uses the CD of
having good starting torque, simple mechanism, lower rotation the turbine. A more detailed analytical model to determine the
speed, and omni-directional characteristics. performance of a Savonius turbine was developed by Chauvin and
The Savonius type wind turbine is commonly considered as a Benghrip Chauvin and Benghrib (1989) and Chauvin et al. (1983),
drag driven type of wind turbine since it does not use airfoils as which was based on experiments performed before 1989.
rotor blades in contrast to the propeller or the Darrieus type of Chauvin constructed a two bladed Savonius turbine with pressure
wind turbines. sensors mounted on its rotor blades. The turbine was tested in air
The general theory of the Savonius turbine is simple. The wind velocities of 10 m/s and 12 m/s at tip speed ratios (TSR) from
exerts a force on a surface and this surface is then moved around l ¼0.2 to l ¼1. The following equations to estimate the instanta-
an axis. To estimate the power coefficient (Cps) Hau (2006) gave neous dynamic torque are proposed by Chauvin:
the below equations (Eqs. (1) and (2)), which are most commonly P
used, where Ur is the relative air velocity, Ut is the movement of Rhf ðDP Ai DP Bi Þcosðyi þ aÞgDyi
Cx ¼ ð3Þ
turbine blade tip, CD is the drag coefficient of the Savonius turbine ð1=2ÞrAs U u 2
P
Rhf ðDP Aj DP Bj Þcosðyj þ aÞgDyj
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ852 95826110. Cy ¼ ð4Þ
E-mail address: jankumbernuss@gmail.com (J. Kumbernuss). ð1=2ÞrAs U u 2
From the pressure difference between the two blade surfaces, torque as well as an increase in power coefficient. Further investiga-
the instantaneous dynamic torque from both turbine blades can tions were made by Prabhu et al. (2009). He found that the
be calculated, and then averaged. It succeeds in relating the two performance would increase if the shaft was removed.
blades and their force to each other, which gives a better Besides different shapes of blades, the ‘‘overlap ratio’’ (OL) of the
performance estimate. However, for using this analytical model, rotor blades is another key factor for improving the performance.
the pressure differences of both blades at each rotation position Blackwell et al. (1978) investigated this issue in 1978 and concluded
have to be known. However, the development of its analytical that an overlap ratio (s/d) of 0.1–0.15 is likely to generate optimal
solutions proves to be a very difficult task, and the above performance, which is also confirmed by this paper.
equations can only deliver a rough estimate of the power For this report 3 single and 3 double stage vertical axis wind
coefficient (Cp) if some of the properties of the turbine are known. turbines were investigated. A total of 20 turbine configurations
Recently, with the advancement of numerical simulation soft- were tested. The focus of this study is on the effect of the overlap
ware, some of the flow phenomena can be visualized and ratio and the phase shift angle (PSA) on the power coefficient (Cps)
explained. Menet and Bourabaa (2004) uses software packages of the Savonius type vertical-axis wind turbines.
as an investigation tool to estimate the flow fields and perfor-
mance of new turbine configurations. However, those numerical
models are also not able to predict the performance of the
Savonius turbines precisely as what Fujisawa (1996) has stated 2. Data processing
that ‘‘an analytical model provides only rough information on the
performance and flow’’, which is still valid, and makes experi- The following equations were used to process the experimental
mental measurement necessary. data. The tip speed ratio l was calculated by using the following
As mentioned above, the Savonius turbine is commonly equation:
considered to be a drag driven turbine, but this investigation
shows that the turbine clearly has lift characteristics, which might oD
l¼ ð5Þ
have been under estimated. It is a mix of lift and drag as recent 2U u
research (Modi and Fernando, 1989; Jones et al., 1979) showed,
where o is the angular speed of the rotor. The static torque Cst was
which drives the wind turbine. Chauvin and Benghrib (1989) state
calculated as follows:
that the lift coefficient has a negative contribution to the total
power coefficient (CP) at low values of the tip speed ratio (TSR), Ts
which becomes more significant at high values of the TSR. C st ¼ ð6Þ
ð1=4ÞrAs DU u 2
Therefore, if the lift characteristics of this turbine could
be improved, a performance improvement could be expected. where the static torque TS is measured and AS is the turbine swept
Changing the rotor blade design is one possible way for improving area calculated as
the turbine’s energy performance. Yasuyuki et al. (2003) investigated
twisted (helical) rotor blades and reported an improved starting As ¼ DH ð7Þ
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 59
3. Measurement uncertainty
Table 1
Uncertainty percentages.
Tunnel air velocity 1.8 Fig. 3. The VAWT with 151 phase shift.
Wind tunnel correction 3.01
ratio, j
Power coefficient 8.24
Measured torque 3.4 However, the swept areas of all the double-stage turbines are
Measured turbine RPM 3.2 exactly the same.
l Tip speed ratio (TSR) 3.61
CNC milling process was employed to achieve a very high
manufacturing precision. The turbine blades have different
radii depending on the overlap ratio as shown in Figs. 6–8 and
Table A1.
Since each wind turbine consists of several parts, each wind
turbine could be arranged into several turbine layouts. The over-
lap ratio could be changed from 0 to 0.16 and 0.32 as shown in
Figs. 6–8, and the phase shift angle could be adjusted from
0 degree to 15, 30, 45 and 60 degree as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
The abbreviations of the turbine names are shown in Table A1.
Table 2
Reynolds numbers of double and single stage wind turbines.
3.5
SQUARE PLATE
SAVONIUS ROTOR
3
2.5
m
1.5
1
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
AF /AT
Fig. 11. m values for flat plate and VAWT rotor versus AF/AT.
0.15
Static Torque [Nm]
0.1
0.05
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
-0.05
-0.1
Degree
DS0PSA0OL at 4m/s Re 66389 Static torque DS0PSA0OL at 6m/s Re 99598.3 Static torque
DS0PSA0OL at 8m/s Re 146154.5 Static torque DS0PSA0OL at 10m/s Re 165997.3 Static torque
Fig. 13. Static torque measurement results of the wind turbine DS0PSA0OL.
6. Experimental methodology of the wind tunnel, which was connected by a shaft to the digital
torque meter, rotation meter, adjustable break and DC motor.
A schematic diagram of the experimental setting is shown in The turbine was fixed at the desired angle for the static torque
Figs. 4 and 5. The tested turbine was placed inside the test section measurements as shown in Fig. 12 before the tunnel was
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 63
switched on. After a steady state air velocity was reached, the The results at 8 m/s (Re 1.46 105) and 10 m/s (Re 1.83 105)
data was recorded. reach their lowest values at 85–90 degree, whereas the results at
For the dynamic torque measurements, a DC motor was used 4 m/s and 6 m/s have their lowest values at 95–100 degree. After
to drive the turbine up to its maximum rotation speed, which was the results at 4 m/s and 6 m/s reached their lowest marks, they
found when the torque meter read 0 Nm torque. Each turbine was follow the trend of the curves at 8 m/s (Re 1.46 105) and 10 m/s
measured at 10 different rotation speeds. (Re 1.83 105) with an offset of 5 degree.
7. Measured results 7.1.1. The effect of the Reynolds number and air velocity
An interesting fact shown in Fig. 13 is that Cst does not change
Since the turbines measured are three bucket turbines, one a lot when the air velocity or Reynolds number is changed. The
rotation of the rotor is divided into three phases and each phase same finding was also reported by Prabhu et al. (2009) and
has 120 degree. The static torque was therefore measured from Blackwell et al. (1978). Based on that, it was decided that the
0 degree to 120 degree as shown in Fig. 12. air velocity of 8 m/s (Re 1.46 105) was sufficient for all further
static torque tests.
7.1. The static torque measurements
The static torque coefficient (Cst) of the double stage turbine 7.1.2. Effect of the phase shift Angle (PSA)
DS0PSA0OL is shown in Fig. 13. Four different air velocities were Fig. 14 shows that the average Cst of the turbines with an
tested. The coefficients for air velocity of 8 m/s (Re 1.46 105) and overlap ratio of 0 increases in accordance with its phase shift
10 m/s (1.83 105) are very close. The curves at 4 m/s (Re angle. The turbine (DS60PSA0OL) with 60 degree phase shift angle
7.31 104) and 6 m/s (Re 1.1 105) are following the trends shows the best Cst average, which is not surprising since this
of the curves at 8 m/s and 10 m/s until the 90 degree mark. arrangement of the upper and lower turbine is counter cyclic.
Fig. 14. Static torque measurement results for 5 wind turbines at 8 m/s air velocity.
Fig. 15. Static torque measurement results for 3 wind turbines at 8 m/s air velocity.
64 J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75
7.1.3. Effect of the overlap ratio (OL) turbines only show positive torque. The average Cst increases
Fig. 16 presents the starting torque characteristics of the wind with larger overlap ratio (OL). The same applies to the single stage
turbines DS0PSA0OL, DS0PSA0.16OL and DS0PSA0.32OL. The tur- turbines shown in Fig. 15.
bine with 0 overlap ratio shows a negative Cst for the PSA between A sharp increase between 95 and 110 degrees is noted. Similar
85 and 95 degrees, whereas the 0.16 and 0.32 overlap ratio sharp increases of the Cst were also found by other researchers
Fig. 16. Static torque measurement results of 3 wind turbines at 8 m/s air velocity.
Fig. 17. Static torque measurement results for 3 wind turbines at 8 m/s air velocity.
Fig. 18. Static torque measurements of 3 wind turbines at 8 m/s air velocity.
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 65
(Jones et al., 1979). Besides, Figs. 16–18 demonstrate that the 7.2.1. The single stage turbines
peak Cst moves according to the phase shift angle. Figs. 19, 20 and 22 show the power coefficient (CP) curves of
the turbines SS0OL, SS0.16OL and SS0.32OL at 6 m/s air velocity
(Re 0.99 105). For different tip speed ratios (TSR) of the turbines
7.2. Dynamic torque and power coefficient test results at 6 m/s air velocity as shown in Fig. 21 and Table 3, all of the
turbines give their CP max between l ¼0.633 (turbine SS0.16OL at
The dynamic torque measurements under 4 m/s air velocity Re 0.99 105) and l ¼0.621 (turbine SS0OL at Re 0.99 105).
proved to be unreliable and were not used for the dynamic torque The same appears for the measurements of 10 m/s air velocity
analysis. (Fig. 22), where the CP max occurs between l ¼ 0.566 (turbine
Fig. 20. Power coefficients of the turbines SS0OL, SS0.16OL and SS0.32OL at air velocity of 8 m/s.
SS0.16OL at Re 1.33 105) and l ¼0.521 (turbine SS0OL at Re The CP of the SS0.16 remarkably displays a second CP peak
1.33 105). The performance of the turbines SS0OL and SS0.32OL under 8 and 10 m/s air velocity. This phenomenon is visible in
is similar. Their tip speed ratios (TSR) are very close but the Figs. 19–22 and seems to become more prominent with higher air
generated dynamic torque of the SS0OL is higher than that of the velocities.
turbine SS0.32OL as shown in Fig. 21, i.e. the CP max for the SS0OL is
higher by 14%.
7.2.2. The double stage wind turbines
Overall, the turbine SS0.16OL is superior to the turbines with
The measured results of the double stage turbines are shown
the overlap ratios of 0 (turbine SS0OL Re 0.99 105) and 0.32
in Figs. 25–36. Each chart shows the power coefficient curve (CP)
(turbine SS0.32OL Re 0.99 105) by about 25% shown in Fig. 19
of the phase shifts 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60.
and Table 3. The same appears at the air velocity of 8 m/s
(Re 1.33 105) in Fig. 20 and Table 3 where the CP max of the
turbine SS0.16OL for Re 1.33 105 is higher by about 40%. 7.2.3. The 0 overlap ratio (OL) double stage turbines
Fig. 23 seems to follow the example of the SS0OL curve
Table 3
(Fig. 19). Out of the turbines tested at 6 m/s, the turbine
The maximum power coefficient at different air velocities with the highest CP max
DS0PSA0OL at Re 1.1 105 (Fig. 23) produces the highest CP max
values in bold. of 0.136 at l ¼0.53. The CP max of all turbines measured in 6 m/s
air velocity differs greatly in tip speed ratio as well as dynamic
6 m/s air velocity 8 m/s air velocity 10 m/s air velocity
torque (Table 4).
(Re 99,598.3) (Re 13,2794) (Re 16,5997.3)
When increasing the air velocity, the CP curves change. At 8 m/s
TSR l CP max TSR l CP max TSR l CP max air velocity, the performance peaks (CP max) are between 0.127 and
0.139 at tip speed ratios of l ¼0.51–0.53 (Table 4). Besides, the
Overlap ratio 0 0.621 0.125 0.481 0.114 0.521 0.147 turbines DS30PSA0OL, DS45PSA0OL and DS60PSA0OL show a slight CP
Overlap ratio 0.16 0.633 0.189 0.571 0.178 0.566 0.155
Overlap ratio 0.32 0.623 0.109 0.624 0.093 0.534 0.122
increase to a second peak around CP 0.9 and 0.96 at l ¼0.89 as
shown in Figs. 24 and 25.
Fig. 23. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0OL, DS15PSA0OL, DS30PSA0OL, DS45PSA0OL, and DS60PSA0OL at air velocity of 6 m/s.
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 67
Table 4
Maximum performance of the turbines with overlap ratio 0 with the highest CP max values in bold.
Overlap ratio 0 at 6 m/s air velocity Overlap ratio 0 8 m/s air velocity Overlap ratio 0 10 m/s air velocity
Fig. 24. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0OL, DS15PSA0OL, DS30PSA0OL, DS45PSA0OL, and DS60PSA0OL at air velocity of 8 m/s.
Fig. 25. Torque coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0OL, DS15PSA0OL, DS30PSA0OL, DS45PSA0OL, and DS60PSA0OL at air velocity of 8 m/s.
For comparison, the single stage turbine SS0OL (at Re 1.33 105) The PSA affects the performance of the turbines as shown by
(Fig. 21) seems not to display any increase of CP after the first peak the turbine DS30PSA0OL at 6 m/s air velocity, which reaches its
although it has a different Reynolds number. CP max of 0.089 at TSR of l ¼0.513 and as shown in Fig. 26 its
torque generation is much lower than other turbines. If its CP max
is compared to the CP max of the highest performing turbine, the
7.2.3.1. The effect of the phase shift angle (PSA). The effect of the difference is 35% in power output.
phase shift angle becomes visible when the CP max in Table 4 is The test results of the turbine DS30PSA0OL demonstrate how
compared. At the air velocity of 6 m/s, the turbines with PSA of 0, the CP max of a turbine depends on the turbine configuration and
15, 30, and 60 show their CP max at the same TSR (about 0.503– air velocity. At air velocity of 6 m/s the turbine DS30PSA0OL shows
0.528), but the turbine with the PSA of 45 degrees shows a higher the worst performance (CP max) but under the air velocity of 8 m/s
TSR (of about 0.626) at its CP max. it performs second best.
68 J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75
Fig. 26. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0OL, DS15PSA0OL, DS30PSA0OL, DS45PSA0OL, and DS60PSA0OL at air velocity of 10 m/s.
Fig. 27. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.16OL, DS15PSA0.16OL, DS30PSA0.16OL, DS45PSA0.16OL and DS60PSA0.16OL at air velocity of 6 m/s.
Fig. 28. Torque coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.16OL, DS15PSA0.16OL, DS30PSA0.16OL, DS45PSA0.16OL and DS60PSA0.16OL at air velocity of 6 m/s.
Overall, the performance curves of this test series are quite 7.2.4. The 0.16 gap ratio
close to the results before and after their CP max, which is because As shown in Figs. 19–21, a second CP peak occurs for
the dynamic torque generation and the TSR are not very different the single stage turbine SS0.16OL (Figs. 21–24). This phenomenon
among the turbines. is also visible in some of the performance graphs of the
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 69
double stage turbines (Figs. 27–30) with the same overlap turbines range from 0.19 to 0.199, but their tip speed ratios are
ratio. different due to their different PSA. The TSR of the turbines
The turbines DS30PSA0.16OL, DS45PSA0.16OL and DS60PSA0. DS0PSA0.16OL and DS15PSA0.16OL (at Re 1.09 105) is around
16OL (at Re 1.09 105) in Fig. 27 under the air velocity of 6 m/s l ¼0.63, but the TSR of the turbines DS30PSA0.16OL, DS45PSA0.16OL
display an increase of CP after their first peak, which is also visible and DS60PSA0.16OL (at Re 1.09 105) are at a higher value of about
in the torque coefficient chart shown in Fig. 28. A similar increase l ¼0.67. This means that the turbines with 0 and 15 degrees of the
of CP is also displayed by the turbines DS0PSA0.16OL and PSA turn slower at a higher torque and the rotation speed of the
DS15PSA0.16OL (at Re 1.46 105) under the air velocity of 8 m/s. turbines with the PSA of 30, 45 and 60 is higher but at a lower torque.
Their CP rises after their first CP max at l ¼1.0–1.2 (Fig. 29). The At the air velocity of 8 m/s the TSR of all the turbines is quite close
same event takes place under the air velocity of 10 m/s in Fig. 30. (between 0.565 and 0.589), but the CP max of each turbine differs
greatly. One example is the turbine DS0PSA0.16OL (at Re 1.46 105),
7.2.4.1. The effect of the phase shift angle (PSA). In Table 5 the CP max which shows the second lowest CP max of 0.179 but has the highest
values and the tip speed ratios of this test series is shown. The 6 m/s TSR (l ¼0.589). Overall, the turbine which shows the highest CP max
air velocity test series is interesting because the CP max values of all the does not necessarily have the highest TSR.
Fig. 29. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.16OL, DS15PSA0.16OL, DS30PSA0.16OL, DS45PSA0.16OL and DS60PSA0.16OL at air velocity of 8 m/s.
Fig. 30. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.16OL, DS15PSA0.16OL, DS30PSA0.16OL, DS45PSA0.16OL and DS60PSA0.16OL at air velocity of 10 m/s.
Table 5
Maximum performance of the turbines with the overlap ratio 0.16 with the highest CP max values in bold.
Overlap ratio 0.16 at 6 m/s air velocity Overlap ratio 0.168 m/s air velocity Overlap ratio 0.1610 m/s air velocity
A remarkable result for this test series is that the PSA seems to seem to have a third peak at around l ¼1.1. This is interesting for
be not so important at lower air velocities like 6 m/s (Table 5), as two reasons:
the CP max of the turbines did not change greatly although the TSR
and the dynamic torque are different. Under higher air velocities Firstly, the first CP max of all other turbines is higher than their
like 8 m/s or 10 m/s (Figs. 29–30) the influence of the PSA on the second peak (if they display a second peak).
dynamic torque generation becomes more significant. The CP max Secondly, the second peak appears to be at a lower tip speed
can differ by 15%. ratio. Most of the measured turbines show their second peak at
around l ¼0.9–1.1 (Figs. 22, 27, 28 and 30).
7.2.5. The 0.32 gap ratio
The CP curves of the turbines with the 0.32 overlap ratio are The fact that neither the double stage 0 angle phase shift turbine
shown in Figs. 31, 32 and 34. The performance chart at 6 m/s air (DS0PSA0.32OL) nor the single stage turbine (SS0.32OL) display such
velocity (Fig. 31) shows that the turbine DS60PSA0OL has its a unique curvature, leading to the assumption that its appearance is
CP max at TSR l ¼0.77, which is surprising since the single-stage due to the phase shift. Table 6 shows that any phase shift angle
chart of the turbine (SS0.32OL) (Fig. 19) does not show such a high larger than 0 will increase the performance of a turbine with 0.32
TSR as its CP max peak. OL. The 45 degree one gives the best overall performance.
7.2.5.1. The effect of the phase shift angle (PSA). Fig. 32 shows an
unusual performance curve of the turbines DS15PSA0.32OL, 8. Discussions
DS30PSA0.32OL, DS45PSA0.32OL and DS60PSA0.32OL (at Re 1.46
105) at 8 m/s air velocity. As seen before, the overlap ratio has a direct influence on
First the CP rises to its first performance peak (CP max) of around the overall performance of the turbines, which is clear from
0.14, which lies at the expected tip speed ratio value of l ¼0.55 as Figs. 35–37, where different CP values can be easily found for
most of the other CP max do (Tables 3–5 when wind speed is 8 m/s). different overlap ratios (0, 0.16 and 0.32). The highest perfor-
After its first peak, it decreases but then it rises at the tip speed ratio mance is produced when the overlap ratio is 0.16, followed by the
of l ¼ 0.82 to its second but higher CP peak of around 0.15. After that, 0.32 overlap ratio. The worst performance was measured with the
the turbines DS30PSA0.32OL, DS45PSA0.32OL and DS60PSA0.32OL 0 overlap ratio.
Fig. 31. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.32OL, DS15PSA0.32OL, DS30PSA0.32OL, DS45PSA0.32OL and DS60PSA0.32OL at air velocity of 6 m/s.
Fig. 32. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.32OL, DS15PSA0.32OL, DS30PSA0.32OL, DS45PSA0.32OL and DS60PSA0.32OL at air velocity of 8 m/s.
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 71
Fig. 33. Torque coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.32OL, DS15PSA0.32OL, DS30PSA0.32OL, DS45PSA0.32OL and DS60PSA0.32OL at air velocity of 8 m/s.
Fig. 34. Power coefficients of the turbines DS0PSA0.32OL, DS15PSA0.32OL, DS30PSA0.32OL, DS45PSA0.32OL and DS60PSA0.32OL at air velocity of 10 m/s.
Table 6
Maximum performance of the turbines with the overlap ratio 0.32 with the highest CP max in bold.
Overlap ratio 0.32 at 6 m/s air velocity Overlap ratio 0.32 8 m/s air velocity Overlap ratio 0.32 10 m/s air velocity
The CP performance level is determined by the overlap ratio on the appearance of the second peak. This is supported by the
and within those CP performance levels, some phase shift angles fact that the single stage turbine displays a second peak as well
perform better than others, which is visible in Table 7. Each (Figs. 16–18).
turbine performs according to its phase shift angle, air velocity However, there are exceptions. When studying Fig. 36, it seems
and overlap ratio differently. that the phenomena of the third peak as well as the fact that the CP
The feature of the second and third peak (Fig. 36) depends on peak value is found at l ¼0.95 are related to the phase shift angle.
the air velocity. In general, the CP curves at air velocities like 6 m/s The curves of the double stage turbine (DS0PSA0.32OL) with the
do not show a second peak, but higher air velocities of 8 m/s and 0 phase shift angle, as well as the single stage turbine (SS0.32OL) do
10 m/s show this phenomenon. The fact that most of the second not show such phenomena. The phenomenon of the third peak
and third peaks are near or above the l ¼1 mark (Figs. 36 and 37), appears, as soon as there is a phase shift angle. The TSR range in
leads to the impression that the second and third peak phenom- which the CP peak value is found, seems to indicate that the phase
enon is created by the lift characteristics of the turbines. The shift is enhancing the lift characteristics of the turbine (Figs. 35 and
phase shift rate has an effect on the curvature of the graph but not 37). More work is needed to explain this phenomenon.
72 J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75
Fig. 35. Power coefficients of most of the double stage turbines at air velocity of 6 m/s. The dotted line depicts the turbines with 0.16 overlap rate, the continuous line
denotes the 0.32 overlap rate and the dashed line shows the 0 overlap rate turbines.
Fig. 36. Power coefficients of most of the double stage turbines at air velocity of 8 m/s. The dotted line depicts the turbines with 0.16 overlap rate, the continuous line
denotes the 0.32 overlap rate and the dashed line shows the 0 overlap rate turbines.
Fig. 37. Power coefficients of most of the double stage turbines at air velocity of 10 m/s. The dotted line depicts the turbines with 0.16 overlap rate, the continuous line
denotes the 0.32 overlap rate and the dashed line shows the 0 overlap rate turbines.
J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75 73
Table 7
Summary chart of the CP max, the TSP and the CT the CP max of each turbine configuration is shown in bold; the phase shift ratios which have the best overall performance are
depicted in italics.
Fig. 38. The red graph above shows the power coefficient of DS15PSA0.16OL at 8 m/s (as shown in Fig. 26). The blue colored graph depicts a possible (assumed)
performance of a drag driven turbine, and the green color shows a possible (assumed) performance of a lift driven turbine. The idea for future work is that the red
color graph is in fact the result of both turbine performances. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
74 J. Kumbernuss et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 107–108 (2012) 57–75
10. Future work Although Strickland (1975) did not investigate very high
solidities, it is possible that the trend will continue until the
When the value of l approaches 1, are the turbine blade tips solidity is s ¼1. At this point, it is expected that the CP max and the
rotating at the same speed as the passing air, which means that TSP are considerably lower than that of s ¼0.3.
the drag influence on the torque approaches 0 and the lift force Based on the above discussion, a new investigation into the
becomes the dominant force to produce the torque. transmission of a Savonius turbine layout into a Darrieus turbine
Our presented research shows that a larger overlap rate of the layout at higher tips speed ratios (TSR) l ¼1–2 could provide
turbine changes the lift characteristics of the turbine drastically. interesting results.
Considering this result, the conclusion could be drawn that we are This would be instrumental for designing improved turbine
actually looking at two curves unified by the plotted graph structures, which then could possibly unify the strengths of the
(a fictional graph depicting this is shown in Fig. 38). The first Savonius and the Darrieus types of vertical axis wind turbines.
peak shows the performance of a drag driven turbine, with the CP We will follow this direction to continue our effort.
peak value at l ¼ 0.55 and the performance declines after that. The
second peak indicates a lift driven turbine with its CP peak value
at l ¼1.15 and the performance declines after that.
The performance peak of a lift driven VAWT (Darrieus type Acknowledgments
(Darrieus, 1931) for example) depends on several key factors, like
the airfoil, the rotation speed, and the turbine solidity besides The work described in this paper was supported by a Grant
others. The solidity of a Darrieus (Darrieus, 1931) turbine is from the Sun Hung Kai Properties Group based in Hong Kong
expressed in Eq. (14), where ‘‘s’’ is the solidity ‘‘N’’ the number (Project no. ZZ1T) and a Grant from the Inter-Faculty Research
of blades, ‘‘c’’ the chord length and ‘‘R’’ radius of the turbine Grant of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Thanks also go to
(Paraschivoiu, 2002). its Industrial Center and the staff members in its Precision
Machining Department. The wind tunnel test was carried out in
Nc the Shandong Jianzhu University, China.
s¼ ð14Þ
R
Table A1
The turbine dimensions.
Table B1
Turbine abbreviations.
Phase shift angle Phase shift angle Phase shift angle Phase shift angle Phase shift angle Single stage
0 (PSA) double 15 (PSA) double 30 (PSA) double stage 45 (PSA) double stage 60 (PSA) double stage turbine (SS)
stage turbine (DS) stage turbine (DS) turbine (DS) turbine (DS) turbine (DS)
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