POWERENG 2009

Lisbon, Portugal, March 18-20, 2009

Climate effects in low speed wind turbines concentrators

J. A. Orosa, E. J. Garca-Bustelo1, J. A. Prez2
Department of Energy. Univ. of Corua. E. T. S. de Nutica y Mquinas, c.\ Paseo de Ronda 51, 15011, Corua, Spain. 1 Departament of Naval Construction. University of Corua. 2 Department of Industrial Engineering II. University of Corua. jaorosa@udc.es

Abstract-Galician climate conditions show the right ambience for wind turbines power generation during the winter and spring season whereas in the summer, the low wind velocity and the moist air density reduce the possibility of energy conversion. To solve this problem, low wind speed wind turbines were assessed during the last few years. In recent papers, some authors like Shikha have proved the feasibility to employ a wind concentrator for low speed winds turbines but in those studies moist air properties were not deeply analyzed, especially its effects on the moist air density and the wind velocity. In this paper a wind turbine concentrator was designed, manufactured and tested under different moist air density conditions. Results showed a variation in the flow lines when the ambience moist air density is low, therefore the output velocity would be increased regarding other previous studies. This wind turbine concentrator showed ideal working conditions during Galician summertime.

Important improvements in wind power generation technology. Complying with the Kyoto protocol that requires reducing CO2 emissions.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The Iberian Peninsula is located in the west winds zone of the mean latitudes of the North hemisphere during its peak time of the year. The Iberian winds are influenced by the seasonal movement of subtropical highest-pressure zones. In the summer, when this highest pressure zones move towards the North, the Peninsula is out of the way from the west wind zones, therefore during this season there is a fall of the wind intensity. Finally, the Galician wind regimen is defined by the global atmospheric circulation and the local effects generated by its land complexity. To sum up, we can find two characteristic situations: In the winter, the Ocean Atlantic fronts in the northwest peninsula are the source of the constant and energetic southwest winds. In the summer, the anticyclone is centered in the Azores islands, from which it takes its name, and gets in Galician as a wedge starting the northwest winds. Generally speaking, they are soft, but at times they are quite strong. As a result of these climatic conditions, Galicia has got nowadays a relevant position in the world wind power but this situation can change in the future, due to the appearance of new production regions according to the following three parameters: - A rise in the fossil combustible price and instability of its supply.

In this way, Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) offer a great number of advantages for Galician conditions, low wind speed and high relative humidity, with a more simple construction that could respond to changes in the wind direction or velocity more quickly. Also, its blades and their attachments are lower in cost and more rugged in operation. [1] To implement VAWTs wind energy conversion during the low wind velocity it is necessary to consider the conditions behind and in front of the converter [2]. The mechanical energy, which is extracted from the airflow by the disk-shape converter, corresponds to the power difference of the air stream before and after the converter. In order to provide a reference for this power output, it is compared with the power of the free-air stream, which flows through the same cross-sectional area A, without the mechanical power being extracted from it. According with Betzs law, this power is:

P0 =

1 v13 A 2

(1)

where; is the moist air density (kg/m3) v1 is the wind velocity (m/s) A is the cross sectional area (m2) Regarding this, Betz`s law showed that the mechanical energy obtained from an air stream passing through a given cross-sectional area is restricted to a certain fixed proportion of the energy or power contained in the air stream. These basic connections were thought for an ideal, frictionless flow, and the result was obtained without having a close look at the wind energy converter and can be summarized as follows: 1. The mechanical power, which can be extracted from a free-stream airflow by an energy converter increases with the cubic root of the wind velocity.

978-1-4244-2291-3/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

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2.

3.

4.

This power increases in line with the cross-sectional area of the converter transverse; it thus increases with the square of its diameter. Even with an ideal airflow and a conversion without any loss, the ratio of extractable mechanical work to the power contained in the wind is limited to a value of 0.593. Hence, only about 60% of the wind energy of a certain crosssection can be converted into mechanical power. When the ideal power coefficient achieves its maximum value cp=0.593, the wind velocity in the shape of the flow in the converter amounts to two thirds of the undisturbed wind velocity and it is reduced to one third behind the converter.

A. Climatic data The climatic data was sampled by weather stations located near the town of La Corua, which has a mild, humid climate as it is affected by the Atlantic Ocean winds [10]. These meteorological stations sample variables such as temperature, relative humidity and wind speed, among others, with a sample frequency from about five to ten minutes. These weather stations have been chosen for this study due to the fact that they avoid buildings and other parameters that could interfere with the sample data, according to the ASHRAE 2005 measuring conditions. Its temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity margin of error is of 0.1 C, 0.2% and 0.1 m/s, respectively. A yearly climatic data obtained from Galician weather stations can be seen in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. B. Loggers The temperature, the relative humidity and the pressure parameters were simultaneously sampled by means of three PCE-MSR145 data loggers located in: the ambience, and in the inlet and exit concentrator areas, sampling one-hour time periods. These loggers show a sampling range from -10 C to 65C and a precision of 0.1 C. The relative humidity and the pressure were sampled with a margin of error of 0.2% and 2.5 mbar, respectively. The anemometer PCE-009 was used to sample the moist air velocity in the central flow line in the inlet and the exit of the nozzle with a sample range from 0.2 to 20 m/s and a margin of error of 0.1 m/s. III. A. METHODS

As a result of this, a concentrator is proposed. The basic idea common to all concentrators is to increase the power yield in relation with the rotor-swept area [1]. This can be achieved by non-rotating structures, which produce acceleration in the flow velocity to the rotor or, in some cases, even generate concentrating vortices. The intention is to achieve a drastic reduction in rotor size whilst hoping that the additional construction required for preconcentrating the wind energy will not become too expensive, using ducted rotors, a turbine with a diffuser duct and a funnel. In particular, references showed that the Savonius rotor experiments a clear implementation [3, 4]. For example, experiences [5] were done to improve the performance of the Savonius wind rotor by curtain arrangement reaching a power coefficient increase of a 38.5%. In our case, to implement this VAWTs with a typical Savonius rotor model, we used a convergent nozzle instead of a flat plate as suggested [6]. This nozzle amplifies the wind speed and prevents the negative torque, acting as a barrier for wind striking on the concave part of the blade and reaching an optimal speed at the entrance and exit. This paper shows the feasibility to employ a nozzle wind concentrator under different seasonal climate in Galicia, where the moist air is relatively humid and therefore the density changes. The tests will begin with the design of a nozzle according to the inlet/exit area ratio and length references and will show a special interest under low wind speed conditions. II. MATERIALS

In this current paper a new Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Concentrator design and a test were set up, according to Shikha [7 - 9], but we consider one more parameter, the moist air density, as a fundamental way to increase the wind turbine power conversion.

Fluid mechanics design The performance of the nozzle depends essentially on two main parameters, the inlet to the exit area ratio and the length of the nozzle. To find the optimum dimensions of the nozzle, Shika [7] tested five nozzle models with three different lengths (80 cm, 56 cm and 25 cm). The results obtained showed poor velocity ratios once the nozzle length is out of the range that differs from 25 cm to 55 cm. The inlet to the exit area ratio test with a range from 0.15 to 0.55, showed the best results with the lower area ratio with a speed rise of 2.0-3.7 times depending upon the length of the nozzle. Furthermore, for a ratio of 0.25, the moist air velocity increases 1.5-2.5 times and for a ratio of 0.35 the velocity increases from 1.1 to 1.7 times. Consequently, these values will be the maximum and minimum length and the area ratio limits for our nozzle design. In conclusion, we chose an area ratio of 0.25 and a length of 0.3 cm.

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Outdoor temperature
20 18

Temperature (C)

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
December January February M arch A pril M ay June July August Sept Octo ber November

If we consider that the heat and the work exchanged from the control volume defined by the nozzle is null and that the potential energy is negligible, the energy balance becomes as is shown in equation 4.

h2 +

V22 V2 = h1 + 1 2 2

(4)

Month

Fig. 1. Yearly Galician outdoor temperature.

When we employ the equation 4 between two states and consider the ideal gas under constant specific heat, we obtain the equation 5.

B. Thermodynamic process As it was already explained, the aim of this research is to get an optimal speed ratio between the entrance and the exit of the wind turbine according to Betzs law. To reach this aim, a subsonic nozzle was designed according to a constant pressure drop and by considering the moist air as the main fluid. In this design process the fluid was considered as a mixture of two ideal gases; dry air and water vapor and so were its specific heats only depending on its temperature in each point. Furthermore, this mixture was considered as a compressible fluid under a subsonic flow. When the ambience air mass is introduced into the nozzle, two basic laws were accounted for; the mass and energy conservancy. The material conservancy can be approximated in an internal flux and the steady state conditions as is showed in equation 2.

V2 = 2 (T1 T2 ) cp + V12
where; T is the fluid temperature (K) cp is the specific heat

(5)

Finally, if we introduce the specific heat in the equation 5 and employ this equation between two nozzle points we obtain the equation 6.

T2 P2 = T1 P 1
where

k 1 k

(6)

k=

cp cv

(7) (8)

1 A1 V1 = 2 A2 V2

(2)

cv = cp R

The principle of the conservation of energy can be represented by Bernoullis law for incompressible flows (e.g. most liquid flows) as well as compressible ones (e.g. gases) moving at low Mach numbers. Bernoullis law states that the sum of all forms of mechanical energy in a fluid along a streamline in a steady flow is the same at all points on that streamline, as we can see in equation 3.
P2 P1 1 2 + V 2 V12 + g ( z 2 z1 ) = 0 2

Equation 6 was employed to design nozzle areas under a constant pressure drop considering the moist air as a fluid. The software EES (Engineering Equation Solver) [11] was employed to automate the design process as well as to obtain the moist air properties as a function of the nozzle area according to [12]. Basically, in the nozzle, this moist air will reach a higher partial vapor pressure as a consequence of this pressure drop together with the transformation of the kinetic energy.
Outdoor relative humidity
90 80

(3)

where; P is the absolute fluid pressure (Pa) z is the height of the point above the reference plane (m). g is the acceleration due to gravity (m/s2) 1 and 2 are the entrance and the exit conditions. As it is shown in equation 2, when we study the compressible flow in nozzle and diffusers, the product of densities, the speed and the section of the duct are constant in each point.
Relative humidity (%)

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
December January February M arch A pril M ay June July A ugust Sept Octo ber No vember

Month

Fig. 2. Yearly Galician outdoor relative humidity

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Wind velocity
4,00 3,50

3,00 2,50 2,00 1,50 1,00 0,50 0,00

December January February M arch A pril M ay June July A ugust Sept Octo ber No vember

Month

Fig. 3. Yearly Galician wind velocity.

Nozzle Manufacture Once we obtained these equations, the design process is proposed, regarding parameters such as the ambience air speed, the pressure, the temperature and the relative humidity defined according to the Galician climate data. This climate data was obtained from the nearby weather stations, and the selected design parameters were: a wind velocity between 3 to 5 m/s, an ambience pressure of 101325 Pa (1 atm), a temperature of 293 K (20C) and a relative humidity of 70%. Once these ambience properties were stated, the entrance conditions in an initial nozzle section were defined at about 0.5 m2 to reduce the errors in the moist air variables sample. After this design process, the manufacture was done following these steps: 1. Mould: each nozzle section was calculated every 15 mm from the last section. 2. Wooden sections were done and polished with wax. 3. Two Gel-coat layers with its corresponding catalyst. 4. Fiber MAT: Fiber coat saturated with polyester resin with its catalyst for drying. 5. Inside polish. D. Low Speed Wind Tunnel The wind tunnel was designed according to [13] like in [7] with an outlet area exactly kept in the same way as the inlet area of the fabricated nozzle models. To reach our test conditions, our tunnel shows a temperature, a relative humidity and a wind speed control system, which are sampled by the data loggers and a digital anemometer. As far as this is concerned, the wind tunnel velocity was set in 3 m/s, despite the fact that other authors like [14, 15] prefer a wind tunnel test conducted in the range of 6-11 m/s. IV. DISCUSSION

C.

meteorological stations located in the main interesting points being sampled in real time. From figures 1, 2 and 3 we can conclude that Galicia shows a mild climate with a high relative humidity all the year around as a consequence of the Atlantic winds. In particular, in the summer we found out a mean temperature and a relative humidity of about 20 C and a 70% and in the winter season of about 5C and a 70%, respectively. On the other hand, the winds show a mean value of 2.2 m/s with peaks of 20 m/s and it can be a real problem [16]. A study of the wind velocities distribution proved that the mean wind velocity is very low most of the time, about three m/s. This mean velocity is nearly the same starting wind speed of the wind turbine therefore; consequently, an inadequate behavior is expected for faster velocity wind turbines. In the winter and summer season winds show a mean wind velocity of 2 m/s but there is a rise to 3.4 m/s during the spring season. After stating the need for low speed wind turbines, it is interesting to define the real effect of the moist air density on the wind turbine power conversion. This effect was analyzed in real wind turbine operations by [17], showing an increment of about 18% whenever the moist air density changes from 1.012 to 1.225 kg/m3. This density change was related to the wind turbine location. For example, at sea level the moist air density was 1.198 as a consequence of an average relative humidity and a temperature of 89% and 13.9 C, whereas at 962 m altitude under the same temperature and a relative humidity of 84%, the moist air density changes to 1.094 kg/m3. Once the need for low wind turbines, the wind concentrator and the moist air density effect on power conversion were confirmed, we will concentrate on the climatic effect on wind concentrator conditions. To start with, the wind concentrator design process was set up in the way as it was explained before, obtaining the nozzle showed in Fig. 4.

As it was already mentioned before, this study will let us characterize the importance of moist air density in the design of the wind concentrators and its operation. To do this, a characterization of the real Galician climate conditions was done, especially during the summer, in 50

Wind velocity (m/s)

Fig. 4. Wind concentrator manufacture.

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After its manufacture, it was tested under different moist air density and the same input velocity of 3 m/s. The results of Figs. 5 and 6 showed a slight fall in the moist air temperature, the pressure and the density, together with a rise in the relative humidity and the wind velocity, as expected. Figure 7 shows the sampled moist air velocity in the central line at the inlet and the exit of the nozzle. These figures showed nearly the same output velocity but the inlet value present a higher variation in simulated conditions than in the sampled data. For example, the minimum and the maximum sample value are about 2 and 3 m/s in the real sampled data whereas the simulated values were about 1 to 4 m/s. Despite this, both sampled and simulated inlet velocity curves experiment the same tendency when the moist air density is highest than a certain value and the nozzle wind velocity is reduced from 1 m/s to 3 m/s. This effect will result in a different velocity ratio ranging from 2 and 6.5. We must bear in mind that, under dry air conditions, this velocity ratio shows a value of 3 and, therefore, this change in the moist air density becomes an uppermost factor to be considered when it comes to a wind concentrator design under a different climate. This moist air density effect is shown in Fig. 8 where isosurfaces of the moist air velocity in the nozzle are shown for low density at left and high density at right. These isosurfaces showed that, in low density, there is a certain moist air pool that reduces the nozzle inlet area and, consequently, there is a rise in the central line velocity to keep up the same mass flux. To sum up, a detailed analysis show higher sample values than the ones obtained by Shikha in this same ratio area of 0.25 due to the fact that in those experiences moist air properties were not considered at all. Another conclusion that we could draw from this result is that this wind concentrator will present its higher efficiency during the summer time, when the ambience wind velocity and the moist air density are lower.
Density
1,1657

Pressure
101590

101585

101580

Pressure (Pa)

101575

101570

101565

101560

101555 0 0,05 0,1 0,15 Length (m) 0,2 0,25 0,3

Fig. 6. Simulated moist air pressure in the nozzle.

Finally, it is interesting to point out that the output velocity remains nearly constant with the different central line velocity as a consequence of the flow lines distribution. V. CONCLUSIONS

The Iberian Peninsula is located in the west winds zone of the mean latitudes of the north hemisphere during all its peak time of the year. The seasonal movement of subtropical highest-pressure zones has got a strong influence on the Iberian winds. In the summer, when these highest pressure zones move towards the North, the Peninsula is out of the way from the western wind zones, therefore, there is a fall of the wind intensity during this season. To implement the wind energy conversion during this season, a low speed wind turbine with a wind concentrator system rotor is displayed, as it was studied by Shikha. After its manufacture, it was tested under different moist air densities at the same input velocity of 3 m/s to prove the effect of moist air density on the wind concentrator behavior.
Sampled data
9 8 7 Velocity (m/s) 6 5 4 3 2

1,16565

Density (kg/m^3)

1,1656

1 0 292,6
1,16555

Output velocity

Inlet velocity

293,1

293,2

293,9

294,5

297,2

299,5

301,5

301,8

302,0

Temperature (K)

Fig. 7. Sampled velocity ratio at different moist air temperature.

1,1655 0 0,05 0,1 0,15 Length (m) 0,2 0,25 0,3

Fig. 5. Simulated moist air density in the nozzle.

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[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

Fig. 8. Simulated moist air velocity in the nozzle with high and low inlet densities.

The results of the tested and simulated data show a rise in the velocity ratio whenever the air density is reduced because of this thermodynamic process. Thorough analyses show higher sample values than the ones obtained by Shikha in this same area ratio of 0.25 due to the fact that the different moist air conditions in those experiences were not sampled. Another conclusion that we could draw from this result is that this wind concentrator will present its higher efficiency during the summertime, when the ambience wind velocity and the moist air density are lower. REFERENCES
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