System Integration of the Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine: The Design of Turbine Blades with an Axial-Flux Permanent Magnet Generator

Chi-Jeng Bai, Wei-Cheng Wang, Po-Wei Chen and Wen-Tong Chong
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Chi-Jeng Bai: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Wei-Cheng Wang: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Po-Wei Chen: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Wen-Tong Chong: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Energies, 2014, vol. 7, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: In designing a horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) blade, system integration between the blade design and the performance test of the generator is important. This study shows the aerodynamic design of a HAWT blade operating with an axial-flux permanent magnet (AFPM) generator. An experimental platform was built to measure the performance curves of the AFPM generator for the purpose of designing the turbine blade. An in-house simulation code was developed based on the blade element momentum (BEM) theory and was used to lay out the geometric shape of the turbine blade, including the pitch angle and chord length at each section. This simulation code was combined with the two-dimensional (2D) airfoil data for predicting the aerodynamic performance of the designed blades. In addition, wind tunnel experiments were performed to verify the simulation results for the various operating conditions. By varying the rotational speeds at four wind speeds, the experimental and simulation results for the mechanical torques and powers presented good agreement. The mechanical power of the system, which maximizes at the best operating region, provided significant information for designing the HAWT blade.

Keywords: wind turbine; horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT); axial-flux permanent magnet (AFPM) generator; blade element momentum (BEM) theory; airfoil; wind tunnel experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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