The pinwheel type wind turbine has the characteristics between the propeller type, which has a high tip speed ratio and a high power coefficient, and the multi blades type, which has a low tip speed ratio and a high torque coefficient. However until now, there has been little work to determine the optimum design configuration of pinwheel type wind turbines. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the characteristics and to determine the optimum design configuration of pinwheel type wind turbines.
The authors fabricated the test rotors with various shapes and carried out the experiment in a wind tunnel. As a result, the following facts were obtained.
(1) In the case of eliminating a part of the frontal area of the pinwheel type wind rotor, the tip speed ratio and the power coefficient increased. Maximum power coefficient C
pmax=0.22 was obtained at tip speed ratio λ=3.5.(High speed type)
(2) In the case of eliminating a part of the edge area of the pinwheel type wind rotor, the tip speed ratio decreased and the torque coefficient increased. Maximum torque coefficient C
Qmax=0.24 was obtained at tip speed ratio λ=0.32.(High torque type)
The authors also examined the performance of the pinwheel type wind turbine generator. High speed type pinwheel wind turbine with diameter of 0.8m was directly connected to a generator and tested. As a result, electricity of 23W was obtained at a wind velocity of 8m/s.
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