Table of Contents

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Introduction: ............................................................................................................................................. 2

History of Wind Energy Generation:.........................................................................................................2

Objective:................................................................................................................................................. 3

Design and Construction of Wind Turbine: ............................................................................................... 4

Parts:.................................................................................................................................................... 4

Construction: ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Making of the Turbine:............................................................................................................................. 5

Advantages:..............................................................................................................................................6

Applications:............................................................................................................................................ 6

Making Of Fiber-Glass Blades: ...............................................................................................................7

Step Wise Process: .............................................................................................................................. 8

Turbine Specifications: ............................................................................................................................8

Generator: ................................................................................................................................................8

Site Data : ................................................................................................................................................ 8

Wind Speed and Other Sensors: ..............................................................................................................9

Wind Speed and Direction Sensor : .....................................................................................................9

References:...............................................................................................................................................9

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 Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Model
Introduction:
A wind turbine is a device that converts the wind's
kinetic energy into electrical energy.

Wind turbines work on a simple principle: instead of

using electricity to make wind—like a fan—wind
turbines use wind to make electricity. Wind turns the
propeller-like blades of a turbine around a rotor, which
spins a generator, which creates electricity.

Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of sizes,

with either horizontal or vertical axes. There are 650
Gigawatt in hundreds of thousands of large turbines,
known as wind farms, with 60 GW added per year.[1]
They are becoming an increasingly important source of
renewable energy and are used by many countries as Wind Turbine (Horizontal axis type)
part of a strategy to lower costs and reduce their reliance Fig. 1
on fossil fuels.

The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for
boats or caravans or to power traffic warning signs.

Larger turbines can be used for making contributions to a domestic power supply while selling
unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid or can be used to power a whole
grid using a cluster of turbines.

History of Wind Energy

Generation:
The first known practical wind power
plants were vertical axle windmills
called “Panemone”, which had long
vertical drive shafts with rectangular
blades. Made of six to twelve sails
covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind grain or draw up
water, and were used in the sugarcane industries.[2]

The first electricity-generating wind The Persian horizontal windmill, the first practical
turbine was a battery charging machine windmill (Fig 2)
installed in July 1887 by Scottish
academic James Blyth to light his holiday home in Marykirk, Scotland.[3]

Page 2 of 10
 A forerunner of modern horizontal-axis wind generators
was in service at Yalta, USSR in 1931. This was a 100
kW generator on a 30-meter (98 ft) tower, connected to
the local 6.3 kV distribution system. It was reported to
have an annual capacity factor of 32 percent, not much
different from current wind machines.[4][5]

The first automatically operated wind

turbine built in Cleveland in 1887.
(Fig 3)

Objective:
There are two types of wind turbines namely, Horizontal Axis
Wind Turbine(HAWT) and Vertical Axis Wind
Turbine(VAWT).

A vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) has blades mounted on

the top of the main shaft structure, rather than in the front like
a regular wind turbine. The generator and main components
are placed at the tower base. It has certain advantages over
horizontal axis wind turbines.

The most modern type of VAWT is Gorlov type. It was

patented in a series of patents[6] from September 1995 to July Gorlov type vertical axis wind
turbine (Fig 4)
2001 and won the 2001 ASME Thomas Edison Patent Award.
It was invented by Alexander M. Gorlov, professor of North-
Eastern University, Boston.

In this project we aim to make a scaled down, exact replica of a Gorlov type of Vertical Axis
Wind Turbine.

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Design and Construction of Wind Turbine:
The turbine consists of three vertical airfoil blades, each having a
helical twist of 120 degrees. This feature spreads the torque
evenly over the entire revolution.

The blades curve around the axis, which has the effect of evenly
distributing the foil sections throughout the rotation cycle, so
there is always a foil section at every possible angle of attack. In
this way, the sum of the lift and drag forces on each blade do not
change abruptly with rotation angle.

The turbine generates a smoother torque curve. It also minimizes

peak stresses in the structure and materials and facilitates self-
starting of the turbine.

Quiet Revolution QR5

Wind Turbine (Fig 5)

Parts:
 Shaft (1)
 Blades (3)
 Arms connecting blade to shaft (4a and 4b)
 Generator

Construction:

 The turbine consists of blades fixed at an 120⁰

angle to each other.
 The blades are connected to a shaft on two
ends with individual connecting arms on both
ends.
 The arrangement of the blades is such that a
blade point at one end of the shaft is fixed at
the other end of shaft on adjacent connecting
arm.
 Material of construction to be used should be
as lightweight and stiff as possible.

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Making of the Turbine:
1. A hollow rod of Dia. 0.05 m and length 1m is taken.
2. 6 Connecting arms of length 0.5m and width 0.1m at one
end and 0.05m at the other, each are taken and connected to
the hollow shaft.
3. 3 arms will be connected to one end of the shaft and other 3
will be connected to the other end.
4. Each arm on one end will be fixed at 120⁰ angle to one
another as shown in fig 8.
5. Blades of width 0.1m to be made up of sheet metal and cut
into airfoil shape.

Fig 7

6. The blades will be

connected as given in
figure 9.
7. Generator will be
attached to bottom end
of the shaft.
8. The turbine will then
be erected on a mast
Fig 8 (support structure)
which will extend
further than the bottom of turbine towards the ground.

Fig 9

Blade Start Point

on upper side arm

Blade End Point

on lower side arm

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Advantages:
There are three basic advantages of a VAWT over HAWT (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine) –

Fewer components – A conventional HAWT must be facing the wind before the blades can
rotate, which adds some parts to help it move against wind direction. In contrast, the blades of a
VAWT catch wind in any direction without directional orientation.

Scaling down – The design has potential to scale down and remain fairly efficient in dense
urban areas or on rooftops where other renewable technologies might not be feasible.

Low Maintenance – Maintenance costs are further reduced because gearbox, generator, and
most electrical and mechanical components are at or near ground level, avoiding the need for
heavy and expensive equipment usually needed for maintenance.

In addition, VAWTs are:

 Cheaper to produce than horizontal axis turbines.
 More easily installed compared to other wind turbine types.
 Transportable from one location to another.
 Equipped with low-speed blades, lessening the risk to people and birds.
 Function in extreme weather, with variable winds and even mountain conditions.
Permissible where taller structures are prohibited

Applications:
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are more suited for being installed in residential area such as on
buildings, street-lights or along side highways as they take up less space, produce less noise and
tend to operate at lower speeds.

Fig 10 shows a helical type vertical axis wind

turbine installed on a street-light.

Page 6 of 10
 Fig 10

Making Of Fiber-Glass Blades:

Ingredients Qty Cost

Fiber-Glass Mat 63.6 m2 or 4.96 kg 150 Rs/kg
Fiber-glass Resin 4 kg 55 Rs/kg
Polish 250 gm 480 Rs/kg
Cobalt Accelerator 1 kg 280 Rs/kg
Hardener 1 kg 280 Rs/kg
Brush 1 Unit 80 Rs
PoP (Plaster of Paris) 12 kg 350 Rs/kg

Page 7 of 10
Step Wise Process:
1. 1 ltr Resin + 30ml accelerator + French chalk
2. Above mixture to be applied on mould
3. Apply Fibreglass mat on the mould
4. Add 1 ltr. Resin + 10 ml catalyst + hardener
5. Apply it on the mat
6. Let it dry for 2-3 hr and then remove the blade from mold

Turbine Specifications:
[7]
Data Value
Blade Area 31.80 m2
Turbine Efficiency 30 %
Mechanical Losses 0.2 %
Electrical Losses 1.5 %
Output Power after Losses 7.813 Watts
Revolutions Per Minute 333.36 rpm
Torque 0.2238 Nm
Savings at rate of 3 Rs/kWh 0.02 Rs/hr

Generator:
• Type of generator used in wind turbine - Permanent magnet synchronous generators
• Capacity as per Turbine Specs : 8 Watt
• Cost : 100-120 Rs. Approx.
• We check the output using a small led.

Site Data :
• Wind speed – 3 to 3.5 m/s [8]
• Air density – 1.1288 kg/m3 [9]

Page 8 of 10
Wind Speed and Other Sensors:
• Sensors for Wind speed measurement, wind direction and air density can be added to this
project for detailed study.

Wind Speed and Direction Sensor :

• It costs around 9 to 15,000 Rs [10]
• Individual Wind speed and Direction sensors cost around 4,000 and 1,000 each which
will cost 5,000 in total and is cheaper.
• The sensors will be connected to a indicator.

References:
[1] 16 April 2020 https://wwindea.org/world-wind-capacity-at-650-gw/. Wind power
capacity worldwide reaches 650,8 GW, 59,7 GW added in 2019.
[2] Donald Routledge Hill, "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near
East", Scientific American, May 1991, pp. 64–69. (cf. Donald Routledge
Hill, Mechanical Engineering)
[3] Price, Trevor J. (2004). "Blyth, James (1839–1906)". Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography, https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F100957
[4] Alan Wyatt (1986). Electric Power: Challenges and Choices. Book Press. ISBN 978-
0-920650-01-1.
[5] "Bauer, Lucas. "Krasnovsky WIME D-30 – 100,00 kW – Wind turbine"". en.wind-
turbine-models.com.
[6] Gorlov Turbine Patent, September 19, 1995. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-

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bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5451137
[7] https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/wind-turbine
[8] https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/india/navi-mumbai
[9] https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/air-density
[10] https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/wind-speed-sensor-6780715212.html

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