Design Considerations of Rotor Configuration for Straight-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy resources, and an increasing interest arises to develop straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines (S-VAWTs), which offer a feasible solution for climate change and energy crisis. S-VAWTs have distinct advantages over horizontal axis wind turbines; however, more efforts should be devoted to the optimization design of the rotor configuration of S-VAWTs. A bigger challenge for designers is the selection of blade section, and thus influences of blade profile on aerodynamic performance were discussed, including thickness, camber, leading/trailing edge, and roughness. Another challenge in design process is to identify the main design parameters, including supporting arm, swept area, and solidity, which were also investigated in this paper. With the purposes of shortening the design cycle and maximizing the power coefficient, design considerations of rotor configuration were summarized in this paper. It has been demonstrated that proper selections of blade profile and structure parameters are vital for performance optimization, and it is proved that the design considerations of rotor are balance of aerodynamic performance and mechanical properties.