Novel plant development of a parallel matrix system of Savonius wind rotors with wind deflector

Abstract

This work describes a novel system of four Savonius wind rotors in a parallel matrix, installed in rural areas to generate electric power. The effect of wind deflector arrangements, used to concentrate the air stream, is investigated. This type of plant development has not previously been examined. We employ a computational fluid dynamics software, Fluent, to analyze the flow fields and system performance in advance, then compare these simulations to experimental data. The parameters studied include wind velocity, wind direction (with/without deflector) and the rotational speed of the rotors, with the aim of identifying the relationship between the tip-speed ratio (TSR) and power coefficient (C-p). In simulation results, at a TSR of 0.6 the system with a wind deflector performs 1.16 times higher power coefficient than the system without a deflector. Generally, the addition of a wind deflector enhances the performance by 1.09 times, especially within the lower TSR regime (0.2-0.8). The experimental results show that the system with a wind deflector performs 1.23 times higher than the one without deflector, with this maximal difference occurring at a TSR of 0.7. However, when we plot experimental Cp against TSR, we find that the wind deflector enhances the performance by 1.15 times in the higher TSR regime (0.6-1.0). The large fluctuations that occur in measurements are attributable to open field tests where the parameters cannot be controlled as precisely as those in simulations. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.