The use of a curtain design to increase the performance level of a Savonius wind rotors

Abstract

In this study, a curtain design has been arranged so as to improve the low performance levels of the Savonius wind rotors. Designed to prevent the negative torque on the convex blade of the rotor, this curtain has been placed in front of the rotor, and performance experiments have been carried out when the rotor is with and without curtain. It has been determined from here that a significant increase can be achieved in the rotor performance by means of the curtain design. Experiments of the curtain design have been conducted in three different dimensions when the Savonius wind rotor is static, and the highest values have been obtained with the curtain 1. Therefore, the curtain designs and curtain angles in which the highest values obtained have been analyzed numerically with Fluent 6.0 program and the results obtained experimentally have been supported with numerical analysis. Moreover, performance experiments have been made for the curtain 1 with which the best performance values have been obtained when the rotor is in its dynamic position, and the results obtained have been given in figures. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.