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Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

1st International Conference on Energy and Power, ICEP2016, 14-16 December 2016, RMIT
University, Melbourne, Australia

Effect of sizing of a Savonius type vertical axis micro wind turbine

Bavin Loganathan*, Harun Chowdhury and Firoz Alam
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to study the effect of sizing of a multi-bladed Savonius rotor on power output. Initially, a
base model of the micro wind turbine with 8, 16 and 24 blades with rotor diameter of 300 mm and blade length of 160 mm with a
diameter of 40 mm was designed and its power outputs were measured over a range of wind speeds using a wind tunnel. Then the
outputs were compared with the modified design by doubling the diameter of the rotor and the length and radius of the blades.
Additionally, the output power from the base model was compared with the power outputs of another modified design by keeping
the rotor diameter and blade length constant (300 mm and 160 mm) but varying the blade diameter (20 mm, 40 mm and 80 mm)
respectively. Results show that the average power increased by about 80% when comparing the base model and double size for
all 3 sets of blades (8, 16, 24 blades). It is also found that the power increased about 50% when the diameter of the blade is scaled
up by double the size.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the 1st International Conference on Energy and Power.

Keywords: Vertical axis wind turbine; Wind tunnel; Power; Torque; Rotor; sizing; micro turbine.

1. Introduction

The viability of micro wind turbines for use in urban areas has generated a growing interest. Micro wind turbines
have the potential to be integrated on the roofs of houses and building and contribute significantly in the reduction
of the average house hold electricity costs. The technological improvements of micro wind turbine, although not
quite as advanced as commercial wind turbines, have contributed to the increase in the overall power output.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-000-000-0000 ; fax: +0-000-000-0000 .

E-mail address: s3151714@student.rmit.edu.au

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the 1st International Conference on Energy and Power.
2 B. Loganathan et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Many research works have been carried out to investigate and enhance the power generation performance of
various wind turbine configurations. Most of these research studies have been focused on large scale horizontal axis
wind turbines (HAWTs) and vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) installations in open areas or fields with a
constant undisturbed wind source [1-4]. Kamoji et al. conducted experimental study on the aspect ratio of a
Savonius type rotor and they found the best aspect ratio to be ranging from one to two [5]. Menet stated that the best
overlap ratio was in the range between 0.2 and 0.25 [6]. Ogawa and Yoshida have also tested the effect of end plates
on the performance of the Savonius rotor and suggested an optimum size for the end plates [7]. The influence of
diameter (DO) of these end plates relative to the diameter (D) of the rotor has been experimented. For performance
improvement, the value of DO has to be taken as 1.1 D for the rotor AR of 1.0. Although the effect of size can affect
the power output of a Savonius type wind turbine, no work has been reported on the public domain. Therefore, the
primary objective of this paper is to study the effect of sizing of a multi-bladed Savonius rotor on its power output
by doubling the multi-bladed micro Savonius rotor dimension. Also the effect of blade diameter on the output power
has been studied. This study builds on top of a previous work carried out by Alam et al. [8] and Loganathan et al. [9-
11] using RMIT Industrial wind tunnel.

2. Methodology

The micro VAWT used for this study is a semicircle shaped blade made from PVC material. Detailed dimensions
of the blade are shown in Fig. 1(a).

Fig. 1. Dimensions (mm) of the semicircle shaped wind turbine blade: (a) Base model, (b) Modified model

The blades are mounted in between two circular discs providing equal space. Two sets of 8, 16 and 24-bladed
rotors were manufactured. One set of 8, 16 and 24-bladed Savonius rotor with rotor diameter of 300 mm and blade
length of 160 mm and diameter of 40 mm (base modal) was initially designed. A second set of 8, 16 and 24-bladed
Savonius rotor with rotor diameter of 600 mm and blade height and diameter of 320 mm and 80 mm respectively
was manufactured as shown in Fig.1 (b). The prototype of the 24 blades rotors are shown in Fig. 2.
 B. Loganathan et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2. Prototypes of the 24 blades base models and double size rotor.

To determine the effect of blade radius on the power output, three sets of 8 bladed rotor was constructed by
keeping the rotor diameter (300 mm) and blade length (160 mm) constant but varying the blade diameter (20 mm,
40 mm and 80 mm) respectively. Fig. 3 shows the detailed dimensions of three sets of 8 blades and the prototypes of
rotors.

(a) (b)

Fig. 3. (a) Dimensions of the modified blades; (b) Prototype rotors with 8 blade.

The RMIT Industrial Wind Tunnel was used to measure the torque and rpm of the wind turbine. The tunnel is a
closed return circuit wind tunnel. The maximum speed of the tunnel is approximately 145 km/h. The rectangular test
section dimensions are 3 meters wide, 2 meters high and 9 meters long, and the tunnel’s cross sectional area is 6
square meters. The tunnel was calibrated prior conducting the experiments and air speeds inside the wind tunnel
were measured with a modified National Physical Laboratory (NPL) ellipsoidal head pitot-static tube (located at the
entry of the test section) which was connected through flexible tubing with the Baratron ® pressure sensor made by
MKS Instruments, USA.
The experimental turbine model was connected through a mounting sting with the torque transducer (model:
T20WN, manufactured by HBM GmbH, Germany) and a mechanical breaking system through a circular rod and
bearing supports. Fig. 5 shows the schematic of the experimental setup.
The setup was positioned at the middle of the wind tunnel test section and fixed properly on top of the wind
tunnel floor to minimize vibration which may cause measurement errors. The setup was positioned 150 mm above
the false floor to minimize boundary layer effect. Fig. 6 shows the experimental setup inside the RMIT Industrial
Wind Tunnel.
Tests were conducted at a range of wind speeds (15 to 40 km/h with an increment of 5 km/h). The torque
transducer has the maximum capacity of 5 kN with 0.01% accuracy. Data logging software supplied by the torque
transducer manufacturer was used to log the data (i.e., speed and torque). Each measurement was taken three times
for each configuration and wind speed tested and the average values were presented in this study. The minimum
wind speed was constrained by the ability of the turbine to overcome bearing friction and inertia. The upper limit of
wind speed was limited by safety consideration due to structural resonant vibrations. Maximum torque at each speed
tested was analyzed to calculate the maximum power using the following formula:

P  T (1)
4 B. Loganathan et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Where, P is power output (Watt), T is torque (N-m) and w is rotational speed (rpm).

Rotor

Test rig support table

Sting

Bearings
False floor Rotor
Fixed vertical support
Coupling
Torque transducer
Shaft
Disc brake Wind tunnel floor

(a) (b)

Fig. 4. Experimental setup: (a) Schematic; (b) setup inside the wind tunnel.

3. Results and Discussion

The variation of power between the base size and the double sized rotors with 8, 16 and 24 blades at 4.5 to 8.5
m/s wind speeds is shown in Fig. 5(a). It can be observed that the average power increased by 80% when comparing
the base model with scaled up models (double sized). The data also show that the power increases with the increase
of number of blades both for the base and the double sized models. It can be said that the models are scalable. As the
dimensions of the blade and the rotor are doubled, the area of the blades and the rotor also increased by double the
size, however, the power output does not increase proportionally. Fig. 5(b) shows the data for average Tip Speed
Ratio (TSR) as a function of average Coefficient of Performance (Cp) for the 8-, 16- and 24-bladed rotors. A
positive linear correlation is found between TSR and Cp.

5.0 0.35
8 blades base size
4.5
8 blades double size 0.30 R² = 0.9997
4.0 16 blades base size
16 blades double size 0.25 24 blades
3.5
24 blades base size
3.0
Power, W

24 blades double size 0.20

TSR

2.5
2.0 0.15
16 blades
1.5 0.10
8 blades
1.0
0.05
0.5
0.0 0.00
4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Wind Speed, m/s Cp
(a) (b)

Fig. 5. (a) Power as a function of wind speeds; (b) Average TSR as a function of Cp.

Fig. 6(a) shows the variation of power with rotor speeds for 3 different blade diameters (20, 40 and 80 mm). It is
found that the power increased by 50% when the blade diameter was scaled up. It can be said that the models are
scalable. Doubling the blade diameter increased the amount of wind energy the blades were able to capture.
However, it was observed that the power output does not increase proportionally.
 B. Loganathan et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5

1.6 250
20 mm 20 mm
1.4 40 mm
40 mm 200 80 mm
1.2 80 mm

1.0 150
Power, W

RPM
0.8
100
0.6

0.4
50
0.2

0.0 0
3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 9.5 3.5 5.5 7.5 9.5
Wind speed, m/s Wind speed, m/s

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. (a) Power as a function of wind speed; (b) RPM as a function of wind speed.

The variation of power as a function of RPM for 3 different blade diameters (20, 40 and 80 mm) is shown in
Fig.7(a). It was observed that the RPM increase by an average of 50% when the models were scaled up. The data
shows a linier relationship between the power and RPM for the three sets of configuration. Fig. 7(b) shows the data
for average Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) as a function of average Coefficient of Performance (Cp) for the 20, 40 and 80
mm blade diameter. A positive linear correlation is found between TSR and Cp.

2 0.45
20 mm
1.8 0.4 R² = 1
40 mm R² = 0.9979
1.6 80 mm 0.35
1.4
0.3
1.2
Power, W

0.25
TSR

1
0.2
0.8 R² = 0.9911
0.6 0.15
R² = 0.9899
0.4 0.1

0.2 0.05
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
RPM Cp
(a) (b)

Fig. 7. (a) Power as a function of RPM; (b) Average TSR as a function of Cp.

4. Conclusion

Results show that that the average power increased by 80% when comparing the base model with scaled up
models (double sized). It was found that the models are scalable. As the dimensions of the blade and the rotor are
6 B. Loganathan et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

doubled, the area of the blades and the rotor also increased by double the size, however, the power output does not
increase proportionally. A positive linear correlation is found between average TSR and Cp.

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