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This paper describes the study of a small vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) with a combined design of Darrius and Savonius counter-rotating rotors. The main purpose of this study is to improve the extraction capabilities of a single-rotor VAWT by using two distinct rotor designs while adopting the counter-rotating technique. Given that the conversion capabilities and operational speed of the existing wind turbines are still limited, the current technique is used to enhance the efficiency and expand the operating wind speed range of the VAWT. The Darrius and Savonius counter-rotating rotors were exposed to a similar upstream wind speed using a centrifugal blower. It was found that the Savonius-Darrius counter-rotating rotor was able to operate effectively, particularly at the low-speed wind. By looking at the individual performance of the rotors, it was observed that the conversion efficiency of the H-type rotor increases as the wind speed increases. However, in the case of the S-type rotor, it is higher at lower wind speed and tends to decrease as the operating speed increases. Thus, the maximum efficiency of the S-type rotor was achieved at low speed, whereas the H-type rotor has achieved its maximum efficiency at the highest operating wind speed. The average efficiency of the present Savonius-Darrius counter-rotating rotor has been improved to reach almost 42% and 30% more efficiency in terms of torque and power, respectively. Highlights • The effectiveness of combining S type and H type on a counter-rotating VAWT has been studied. • The new combined design was able to enhance the performance of the system significantly and was able to operate in a low-speed wind condition. • An average power coefficient and torque coefficient of up to 30% and 42% were, respectively, achieved using this technique.

Long-term wind speed data for thirteen meteorological stations, measured over a five-year period, were statistically analyzed using the two-parameter Weibull distribution function. The purpose of this study is to reveal for the first time the wind power potentials in Chad and to provide a comprehensive wind map of the country. The results show that the values of the shape and scale parameters varied over a wide range. Analysis of the seasonal variations showed that higher wind speed values occur when the weather condition is generally dry and they drop considerably when the weather condition is wet. It was also observed that the wind speed increases as one moves from the southern zone to the Saharan zone. Although the wind power at each site varies significantly, however, the potentials of most of the sites were encouraging. Nevertheless, according to the PNNL classification system, they are favorable for small-scale applications only. A few stations in the middle of Sudanian and Sahel regions are found to be not feasible for wind energy generation due to their poor mean wind speed. The prevailing wind direction for both Saharan and Sahel regions is dominated by northeastern wind, while it diverged to different directions in the Sudanian zone.

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