An Energy Potential Estimation Methodology and Novel Prototype Design for Building-Integrated Wind Turbines

Abstract

ROSEO-BIWT is a new Building-Integrated Wind Turbine (BIWT) intended for installation on the edge of buildings. It consists of a Savonius wind turbine and guiding vanes to accelerate the usual horizontal wind, together with the vertical upward air stream on the wall. This edge effect improves the performance of the wind turbine, and its architectural integration is also beneficial. The hypothetical performance and design configuration were studied for a university building in Eibar city using wind data from the ERA5 reanalysis (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ reanalysis), an anemometer to calibrate the data, and the actual small-scale behavior in a wind tunnel. The data acquired by the anemometer show high correlations with the ERA5 data in the direction parallel to the valley, and the calibration is therefore valid. According to the results, a wind speed augmentation factor of three due to the edge effect and concentration vanes would lead to a increase in working hours at the rated power, resulting annually in more than 2000 h.

Problem-Based Learning in University Studies on Renewable Energies: Case of a Laboratory Windpump

“…Although the leading wind turbines are three-bladed horizotal axis wind turbines (HAWT) based on the lift force and designed for the production of multi-megawatt power, vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) based mainly on the drag force are very important for small wind energy production [28]. This kind of small turbines can be used for electricity production or storage in isolated locations hybridising it with solar energy, and also for the integration of wind energy in buildings [13,27,29].…”

“…The authors have been active in these programs. As part of the results, the students created a spin-off on the integration of wind energy in buildings [27].…”

Calibration of Reanalysis Data against Wind Measurements for Energy Production Estimation of Building Integrated Savonius-Type Wind Turbine

“…The electrical motor attached to the small turbine is a maxon DCX06M EB KL 6V of 0.529 W (speed constant of 3060 min −1 V −1 , speed-torque relation of 36,600 min −1 m Nm −1 ). This description and the characteristics of the wind tunnel in which the skew angle experiment is performed are already described in our previous publication [7]. Although the blockage ratio of the small scale experiment (the transverse area of the small building with respect to the wind tunnel circular area) should be below 10% [22], a blockage ratio of around 20% is obtained even with our precise scale model of the turbine.…”

“…This obviously allows the hybridization of solar-wind energy in buildings harnessing the same system of energy storage by a DC generator. In the previous work of the authors, the corresponding DC generator of 250 W is described in their laboratory wind tunnel [7,32]. As mentioned above, this rated power implies an exact U rated of 14 m/s, which will be used for the construction of the power curve with a low cut-in speed (2 m/s, usual for drag machines) and a cut-off of 25 m/s (the typical security value for wind turbines).…”

“…With the promotion of small wind turbines in mind, the authors of this paper have been working on a novel Savonious-type small wind turbine specifically designed for urban environments called ROSEO-BIWT, which has already been presented in previous papers [6,7]. We have the conviction that any small wind turbine has to be cost effective if it is going to contribute to the mentioned energy transition, and a proper wind resource assessment method is key for that [8].…”