Performance Analysis of Savonius Wind Rotor for Directed Flow Operation

The Savonius wind rotor is commonly used in a free air stream environment and is installed vertically. In the present work, the rotor is subjected to mathematical modeling and numerical analyses to study it’s suitability for energy conversion in artificial wind generator. In this application, the rotor is installed horizontally. Three installation configurations are proposed, modeled mathematically and analyzed numerically. In the first proposed configuration, the entire rotor is subjected to the wind stream. In the second configuration, the flow is diverted to be captured by the down concave vane, only. In the third configuration, a guide plate is inserted to apply as a casing for the rotor. Some of the obtained results have been compared with previous experimental results to verify the adopted numerical analysis. The third configuration has produced considerable enhancement in the turbine performance. The power coefficient is increased by 34% and the torque coefficient is increased by 70% compared with the traditional configuration. The analyses confirm the possibility of using the modified wind rotor for the artificial wind generator, as well as further applications requiring ducted installation of the rotor.

Keywords: Wind Energy, Wind rotor, Savonius , Numerical Modeling