Synergy of Savonius and Darrieus types for vertical axis wind turbine

Abstract

Wind energy is one of the renewable energy sources or technology which is the cheapest the and cleanest compared to other types of energy. A new market in wind technology has emerged that has the means of efficiently convert the wind energy to a usable form of energy which is electricity. The foundation of this new technology is the wind turbine. Wind turbine is a machine that transfers fluid energy that passed through the blades and shaft to mechanical energy and transforms the mechanical energy to electricity through the use of a generator. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) has been popular due to its small, quiet and simple design. Darrieus, Savonius, and Vane are the example of VAWT. This vertical axis wind turbine represents a suitable alternative for wind power extraction in many developing countries. The reason for this is mainly because of the advantage over the horizontal axis type such as Simple construction, extremely cost effective and acceptance of wind flow from any direction without orientation. In spite of these advantages, vertical axis wind turbine is not gaining popularity because of low efficiency of the Savonius type rotor and low starting torque of the Darrieus type wind machines. Hence, the objective of this paper is to design a VAWT by combining the Savonius type and Darrieus type so that the combination of these both designs is met the expectation to have a good performance of wind turbine.