Performance Enhancement of Wind Energy Conversion System at Low WindSpeeds

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the design, implementation and monitoring of wind energy conversion system for domestic applications. It is speculated that at most of the places in India, windmills will not be viable due to low wind speed. Hence, a generator with sufficient torque control and having the tendency to produce energy even at very low speed is required. The proposed work has been implemented to generate electricity at low wind speed used for household applications. The main objective intended is to manufacture a cost effective wind turbine and produce effective power when compared to the windmill available in the domestic market. The overall design consists of 3 blades using NACA 63215 profile which is made up of fiber glass material. The permanent magnet synchronous generator with the permanent magnet of alnico type is used to produce the power of 250 W. The power charged in the lead acid battery of rating 24 V; 150 Ah is utilized by the load using power electronic converters. The micro wind turbine operated at wind speed as low as 4.8 m/s and the output power thus obtained was 250 W. The measuring system employs anemometer to measure wind speed, potentiometer to measure wind direction, LM35 sensor to measure generator temperature and hall sensor to measure the generator voltage and load current. All the parameters are monitored continuously to evaluate the performance of the turbine. Since the operating wind speed and production cost is low, the proposed system will serve the basic necessities in meeting the requirements of household appliances. A detailed comparative study is carried out to show the effectiveness of the proposed design.