Study of a Savonius type wind turbines for its aerodynamic characteristics

The primary objective of this paper is to conduct a comparative study on the number of blade and different blade angles of a domestic savonius vertical axis wind turbine with semicircular shaped blades under a range of wind speeds. A domestic scale 6- bladed Savonius Vertical Axis Wind Turbine was manufactured to investigate the effect of blade number and blade angle on the maximum power generation by the turbine. Maximum power curves as a function of wind speeds were established for each configuration. The results show that the blade angle has positive effect to increase the power output of a Savonius turbine to a significant amount. The most efficient configuration is the 6- bladed turbine with an angle of attack of 10°. This configuration generated 27% more power compared to the 0° angle of attack at the wind speed from 10 to 15 km/h.