Abstract
A straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with a directed guide vane row has been proposed in order to enhance its torque. The experimental study of the proposed wind turbine was carried out by a wind tunnel with an outlet diameter of 1.8m. The tested rotor has some straight rotor blades with a profile of NACA0015, a diameter of 0.6 m and a height of 0.7 m. The guide vane row having 3 arc plates rotates around the rotor and is directed to the wind by aerodynamic force generated by tail vanes, so as to put the guide vane row in upstream of the rotor. As a result, the performance of the straight-bladed vertical axis turbine was improved by means of the directed guide vane row. Further, by the use of the guide vane row adopted in the study, the power coefficient of the proposed wind turbine was approximately 1.5 times higher than that of the original wind turbine which has no guide vane.
