Profile design of loop-type blade for small wind turbine

Abstract

The importance of renewable energy-based wind turbine for generating electricity has been significantly issued due to their advantages in environment-friendly, low noise, good appearance and infinite energy source characteristics. Unfortunately, the turbine with a loop-type blade has not been widely researched on the optimal design and performance test. This paper has targeted to propose the optimal profile of loop-type blade for 3kW wind turbine based on basic design formulas in terms of tip speed ratio (TSR), twist angle and chord length for loop-type blade, which was produced with 3D printing. Finally, by virtue of the wind tunnel tests, simplified Model A-2 is selected as the optimal blade model in terms of performance and efficiency in energy harvesting for the wind turbine.