Design and Analysis of Savonius Vertical Wind Turbine Using Blade Geometry and Flow Augmentation Device

Efficiently designed low speed wind turbines can effectively tap the low-grade green energy and thus is an endowment to the society. Owing to the present energy crises (global warming), the researchers around the world are seeking renewable energy sources with low CO2 emission. A Savonius turbine can be operated in any direction, it is simple to construct and the operating speed is less. Inspire of all these features the efficiency is very low additionally it suffers from high negative torque. The aim of the paper is to find the optimal combination of blade geometry and flow augmentation device that improves the efficiency of the turbine and reduces the negative torque. Then the performance of the wind turbine is visualized by CFD simulation because it saves money and experimental efforts compared with the old techniques in wind turbine design. 9 trial combinations of blade geometry are designed and numerical results are obtained using CFD Analysis. Out of 9 trials the combination AR-0.5, OR-0.2 and HA-12.5 turbine gives the maximum torque generation by value of 1.7520 N-m which has a Cp value of 0.31. Further the combination case is modified for design enhancement study with the help of guide vanes which leads to an improvement of torque of 1.9487 N-m and Cp of 0.34.