A Novel Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine for Distributed &

Utility Deployment

J.-Y. Park*, S. Lee*
+
, T. Sabourin**, K. Park**
* Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Korea
+
KR Wind Energy Research Institute, Korea
** KR Windpower, Inc., U.S.A.

ABSTRACT
KR Windpower, Inc. has developed a patented vertical-axis wind turbine line for both
utility and distributed applications. Utility-scale turbines (1.5MW) are currently being
installed in wind projects in Asia, while concomitant certification is ongoing. The KR
wind technology has very high power-to-swept area efficiency and therefore works
especially well around houses and buildings and in other applications where traditional
three-blade horizontal axis turbines do not. Additionally, due to its low rotor speed (but
with high torque, even at low wind speeds) and optimal rotor design, KRs patented
turbine is vitually noiseless, making it especially attractive for installation in residential
and recreational areas. Field testing of 1, 3, and 5kW turbines has resulted in cut-in
speed of 2.5m/s and rated speeds of 9~12.5m/s. Thus, electricity is generated even at
low wind speeds. This paper presents measured performances of a small-scale,
vertical, wind turbine rated as 1 kW which has a tail consisted of a stabilizer and a
rudder. Compared with the maximum power coefficient of 0.59 for a downsized model
measured in a closed-type wind tunnel, the maximum turbine power coefficient
averaged 0.5 at a tip-speed ratio of 0.5-0.6 in an open-type wind tunnel. The KR
small-class turbines are based on IEC wind turbine class III, which specifies that the
highest 10 minute-mean wind speed is 37.5m/s or less for the last 50 years. However,
steady loadings by the extreme wind model of 52.5m/s were implemented, and the
turbine was proven to be safe by its furling tail. A key element of KR Windpowers
strategy is to provide a turbine product, including a wind/solar hybrid concept, which
addresses power and aesthetic needs of developers and communities.
Key Words: Wind Turbine, Vertical-axis, Distributed, Utility, Residential

Nomenclature
A : Projected area of turbine rotor P
w
: Wind power
C
p
: Power coefficient V
!
: Wind speed
D : Rotor diameter (r=D/2) " : Tip Speed Ratio (TSR)
H : Turbine height # : Air density # : Air density
P
t
: Turbine output power $ : Turbine rotor angular rotational speed
INTRODUCTION
The trends in the wind power industry products can be summarized as energy
cost saving, power reliability, grid support, and environment. The development of a
reliable wind turbine should comply with community noise and aesthetic requirements
as well as meet a strong need for high capacity
(1)
.
The Wind Turbine Generator Systems are classified as the horizontal axis wind
turbine (HAWT) and the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) based upon whether the
axis of rotation is parallel or perpendicular to the ground. The average electric power
produced by the wind turbine strongly depends on the wind environment. In technical
terminology, it is proportional to the efficiency of the rotor, air density, projected area
of the turbine, and cube of wind speed. As an example, the average wind speed of
7m/s results in approximately 20% of the rated power at the wind speed of 12m/s.
Thus, the ratio of the actual yearly output to the rated power of the turbine, which is
called the capacity factor, should be increased to guarantee the economics of the
turbine via increase in the rotor size or the turbine efficiency.
The typical examples of VAWT are the Darrieus and the Savonius (Menet et
al.
(2)
, 2001; Menet
(3)
, 2004; Blackwell et al.
(4)
, 1978; Morcos et al.
(5)
, 1996) VAWT's
powered by the lift force and the drag force, respectively. These concepts were
extensively examined in both United States and Canada in the 1970's and the 1980's.
Despite their appealing features, those schemes have disappeared in the large-scale
wind turbine market due to their low efficiencies compared with HAWT's. As was
reported by Blackwell et al. (1978), the Savonius rotor of two blades achieved the
power coefficient of 0.2 at the tip speed ratio of 0.8, the vertical devices have resulted
in inherently low efficiencies and had structural problems in extreme winds.
Nonetheless, the low rotational speed of the VAWT rotor implies that the machine
will be quieter than the high-rotational speed HAWTs, thereby being potentially
suitable for applications closer to population centers. The visual aesthetic is a critical
issue in siting as their view shed is an important consideration. The high-speed
propellers may offend some people in the community, while a slowly rotating machine
may be considered as visual art
(6)
.
The KR jet-wheel-turbo turbine is composed of inlet-guide vanes, a side-guide
vane, and a turbo-type rotor, and its functional assembly makes it unique from all the
Savonius rotors or the ever-modified ones. To minimize inevitable negative torque
generation for the conventional Savonius rotor and to accelerate the incoming jet into
the rotor blade cascade, the round inlet-guide vanes are placed upstream of the rotor.
While the air flows in the blade passage downstream after passing through the
upstream blade for the Savonius rotor, the air passes over both sides of the blades
and leaves the rotor through both side openings of the turbo-type rotor. The side-
guide vane also recovers wind energy by collecting the streamlines into the blade
again, otherwise they would simply pass-by. The design details of KR VAWT can be
found in the references
(7)
.
This paper presents the measured performance of a small-scale, vertical, wind
turbine rated as 1kW which has a tail consisting of a stabilizer and a rudder. The
aspect ratio H/D and the number of blades NZ can be adjusted to the site wind
condition and the turbine price. To evaluate the performance change by both design
parameters H/D and NZ, a downsized model of 580mm was tested in a closed-
type wind tunnel
(8)
. Based on the model performance data, the standard versions of
1, 3, and 5kW proto-turbines were made for intensive wind power testing on the site.
In this paper, the 1kW, grid-tie turbine of 2.44m (D) ! 1.26 m (H) was tested for its
electric power produced at specified wind conditions in an open-type wind tunnel. To
eliminate the inevitable blockage effect by the size of turbine similarly compared with
the test-section size of the wind tunnel, the flow deceleration effect of the incoming air
to the turbine was analyzed through model testing and numerical simulation and
implemented to the proto-type testing so as to keep the same similarity of incoming
velocity distribution between the case of turbine sitting in an open space and the wind
tunnel testing case.
COMMUNITY-FRIENDLY JET-WHEEL-TURBO VAWT
Basic Theory of Wind Turbine
The output power P
T
from a turbine rotor and the wind kinetic energy per unit
time P
W
are given by Equations (1) and (2). The rotor power coefficient C
p
is defined
as the ratio between the rotor output power and the dynamic power of the air as
shown in Equation (3).
(1)
(2)
(3)
The C
p
can generally be expressed as a function of the tip speed ratio, !, defined
as shown in Equation (4). The tip speed ratio ! at the maximum power coefficient is
usually determined according to the turbine type.
(4)
The rotor power coefficient is regarded as the energy transformation efficiency. The
KR vertical-type wind turbine is designed to operate within 0.4 and 0.6 tip speed ratio
to achieve the highest rotor efficiency ever developed.

Principles of Jet-Wheel-Turbo Turbine
The incoming wind flow-rate should be equal to the outgoing flow-rate to satisfy
the mass conservation law if a control volume around a turbine is assumed. The
outgoing wind-speed distribution and its direction strongly determine the turbine
efficiency. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the upstream area (A
1
) is smaller than the rotor
area (A
2
) of the same stream tube due to the rotation of the rotor, thereby resulting in
unavailable wind energy upstream. The momentum transfer, which can be computed
by the difference of the upstream and downstream wind speeds, may be maximized
by reducing the wind speed (V
3
) in the wake.

Fig. 1 Stream tube passing the rotor plane

The inlet- and side-guide vanes of the KR turbine are designed to make the
streamlines as parallel to each other as possible (A
1
A
2
), and the rotor wake is
minimized by discharging the air through the upper and bottom openings of the
rotor
(7)
.

KR 1kW VAWT Model Specifications
The technical details of 1kW model are described in Table 1. The furling tail is
attached to the guide-vane system which is passively forced to rotate by the stabilizer.

Similarity of Incoming Flows to Turbine
To determine the deceleration ratio of the velocity in front of the turbine to the
free stream wind velocity, a numerical simulation was carried out for a turbulent flow

Table 1 1kW KR VAWT Specifications
Nominal Power (1 kW)
Type Vertical axis type
Blade number 7
Diameter 2.44 m
Height 1.26 m
Rotor hub material SS400
Blade structure 2-Dimensional, arc-type blade
Swept area 3.07
Rotational speed range 12.0 ~ 48.9 rpm
Rotor
Rotor speed control I.G.V. & S.G.V. position control
# of blades 7
Blade
Material PVDF Membrane
Main thrust bearing Taper Roller
Main radial bearing Self-adjusting Bearing
Guide vane bearing Taper Roller
Cut-in wind speed 3.0 m/s
Rated wind speed 12.5 m/s
Furling wind speed 17 m/s
Operating
Conditions
Survival speed 50 m/s
Gear type/Overall gear ratio Girth Gear/6.35:1
Power Transmission
Lubrication No lubrication
Type PMG
Rated power 1.8 kW
Rotational speed range 0 ~ 310 rpm
Rated voltage 500 Vdc
Generator
Protection level IP 54
Control mechanism Passive control by stabilizer and rudder I.G.V. + S.G.V.
Control Extreme wind control Furling tail & spring back

around the turbine. Figure 2(a) shows the observation locations in front of the
turbines and velocity vectors at one cross-section of the turbine. The average wind
speed is observed to decrease to 0.7 times of free-stream one in front of the turbine
according to Fig. 2(b), in which x/D represents the normalized distance from the
center of the turbine. Measurements with the downsized model of 580mm in

(a) (b)
Fig. 2 Simulated velocity field; (a) velocity vectors at one cross-section around turbine,
(b) deceleration ratio at observation locations in front of turbine


Fig. 3 Measured velocity distributions upstream and in front of turbine for downsized
model of 580mm

the wind tunnel test resulted in 0.87 times free-stream one in front of the turbine,
which is higher than the simulated one. The discharging velocity distribution from the
wind tunnel is set to have the similarity as close as possible to the measured one for
the downsized model. The free stream velocity is computed by multiplying 1/0.87 to
the test section exit velocity to account for this deceleration effect.

Stabilizer and Rudder Design
The KR turbine experiences non-symmetric torques generated by the inlet- and
side-guide vanes. Unless an extra control force for the guide vane is applied for the
alignment with the wind direction, the guide-vanes will have an offset angle to the
wind direction, resulting in a significant drop of efficiency. The KR small-class turbine
was designed to have the tail consisting of the stabilizer and a rudder.
As can be seen in Fig. 4, the net torque from the guide-vane and the stabilizer
is found to have zero-crossing angles at 20
o
and 180
o
by a numerical simulation. To
make 20
o
offset to move to 0
o
meaning the alignment with the wind, the rudder of an
NACA0012 airfoil is attached to the stabilizer with an incidence angle of 70
o
. Under
extreme wind conditions
(9)
, e.g. 25m/s, the tail consisting of the stabilizer and the
rudder is furled via a hinge against an elastic spring so that the guide-vane system
rotates to a yaw angle of 110
o
, thereby the air-braking acts on the rotor as can be
shown in Fig. 5..


Fig. 4 Torques for guide-vane and stabilizer at various angles of incoming wind
(V

=7m/s)

Fig. 5 Yaw angle of guide-vane and rotational speed of rotor by change of setting
angle between wind and stabilizer with rudder (V

=7m/s)



EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Wind Tunnel Specification
The performance of the proto turbine was tested in an open-type wind tunnel
shown in Fig. 6. The wind tunnel consists of a vane-axial fan, a diffusing part, a
reducer and a test section wrapped by silencing materials. The test section has a
cross-section of 2.3m ! 2.1m and affords a change in the wind speed from 0 to
16.7m/s continuously within low turbulence intensity levels. The wind speed in the
wind tunnel is automatically computed by using a digital micro-manometer with
density corrections by the measurement of room temperature and humidity.

Performance Prediction and Measurement
The PMG-type generator is connected to a girth gear via a pinion gear to
measure the grid-tie performance by applying variable loads to the system. The
rotational speed of the rotor and the electric power were simultaneously measured
and stored in a data logger via RS-232 communication.
The performance of the KR 1kW proto-type turbine was predicted at the design
stage by considering the effects of the blade number and the aspect ratio (H/D) on
the power coefficient (C
p
). Increasing the number of blades results in an asymptotic
increase in the power coefficient, and the aspect ratio H/D near 0.5 gives the maxima
of the power coefficient for the case of NZ=12, as shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 6 Schematic view of open-type wind tunnel and test turbine

Fig. 7 Apparatus setup for performance measurement

While the KR 1kW proto-type turbine which has 7 blades and the aspect ratio of
0.52 is supposed to have a maximum power coefficient of 0.52, the measured
performance in the wind tunnel test results in 0.47 as a maximum as shown in Fig.
9(a). This discrepancy is considered to come from the one-sided, compliant blade
surface, which is made of membrane. The grid-tie overall electric power coefficient is
summarized for various wind speeds with corrections described previously in Fig. 9(b),
where the overall transmission efficiency by gear, generator and inverter losses is
estimated as 63%.
Figure 10 shows the hybrid concept of wind and solar energy, which addresses
both power and aesthetic needs of developers and communities.

(a) (b)
Fig. 8 Maximum power coefficients measured in closed-type wind tunnel;
(a) (C
p
)
max
vs. NZ at H/D=0.8, (b) (C
p
)
max
vs. H/D at NZ=12

(a) (b)
Fig. 9 Power coefficients vs. tip speed ratio at various wind speeds of 1kW model;
(a) turbine power coefficient, (b) grid-tie system power coefficients

Fig. 10 Drawings of a hybrid system of wind and solar energy
CONCLUSIONS
In an effort to adjust the aspect ratio H/D and the number of blades (NZ) of KR
VAWTs to satisfy the requirement of the capacity factor at a given site, the 1kW, grid-
tie turbine of 2.44m (D) ! 1.26 m (H) was tested for its electric power at specified
wind conditions via an open-type wind tunnel. While the KR 1kW proto-type turbine of
7 blades and the aspect ratio H/D of 0.52 is considered to have a maximum power
coefficient of 0.52, the measured performance in the wind tunnel test results in 0.47
as a maximum. To eliminate the inevitable blockage effect by the size of the turbine
similarly compared with the test-section size of the wind tunnel, the flow deceleration
effect of the incoming air to the turbine was implemented to the proto-type testing so
as to keep the same similarity as the incoming velocity distribution between the case
of turbine sitting in the open space and the wind tunnel testing case.
All KR small-class turbines are designed to meet the structural safety
requirements for IEC wind turbine class III. Under extreme wind conditions, e.g.
25m/s, the tail consisting of the stabilizer and the rudder is furled via the hinge
against the elastic spring to protect the rotor from over-speeding.
A key element of KR Windpowers strategy is to provide a turbine product,
including a wind/solar hybrid concept, which addresses power and aesthetic needs of
developers and communities.

REFERENCES
(1) "US Wind Power Markets and Strategies" Emerging energy research, 2007
(2) Menet, J.-L., Valdes, L.-C. and Menart, B. A., 2001, A Comparative Calculation of
the Wind Turbine Capabilities on the Basis of the L-% Criterion, Ren. Energy, Vol.
22, pp. 491-506
(3) Menet, J.-L., 2004, A Double-Step Savonius Rotor for Local Production of
Electricity: A Design Study, Renewable Energy, Vol 29, pp. 1843-1862.
(4) Blackwell, B.B., Sheldahl, R.E. and Feltz, L.V., 1978., Wind-tunnel Performance
Data for Two and Three-Bucket Savonius Rotors, Sandia Laboratories Energy
Report, SAND76-0131, also Journal of Energy, Vol 2, pp. 160-164.
(5) Morcos, V. H., and abdel-Hafez, O.M.E., 1996, Testing of an Arrow-head Vertical-
axis Wind Turbine Model, Renewable Energy, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 223-231.
(6) Bell B. "A Technical Opinion on A Novel Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Concept"
Garrad-Hassan Report, 2007
(7) Lee, S., Nam, S.-K., Power Generation System having Vertical Wind Turbine of
Jet-Wheel Type for Wind Power, PCT/KR2007/002902
(8) Kim, B.-K., et al., An Experimental Study on the Performance of the Vertical-Axis
Wind Turbine, Journal of Fluid Machinery, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 17-24, 2007
(9) "Guideline for the Certification of Wind Turbines" Germanischer Lloyd, 2003