Performance Investigation of a Twisted Savonius Wind Rotor

Abstract

For human welfare, electrical power is necessary. For many years, there has been a great deal of interest in wind energy because it is a clean, sustainable energy source. Because of its cheaper cost and independence from wind direction, the Savonius vertical axis wind rotor has the advantage of being suitable for certain implementations as an energy converter. Several studies have been carried out to increase its efficiency. In this paper, a novel blade design of a twisted Savonius wind rotor has been investigated numerically with the intention of performance betterment. Three-dimensional unsteady simulations were performed deploying Ansys Fluent using the Shear Stress Transport k-ω turbulence model based on the finite volume method solver. The wind flow aerodynamic characteristics in addition to the rotor performance properties were acquired and analyzed. The numerical model was validated based on findings taken from experimental tests performed on a 3-D printed twisted rotor in a wind tunnel. An improvement in the power coefficient by 22.58 % was recorded with the novel blade design over the twisted Savonius wind rotor. The obtained findings could provide further direction for researchers to use the twisted Savonius wind turbine in power generation.