Results of the experimental study of the flow field of a stationary air flow during the operation of a four-blade bidarrieus-1 turbine

Abstract

There are a great variety of wind turbine constructions but by their principle of operation they are divided into three main types - sail (Savonius wind power unit), propeller and airfoils (Darrieus wind turbine). At present, propeller-type wind-turbines are the most widely spread. They are produced on a commercial level in many countries. Other conditions being equal, the power produced by wind power unit (WPU) is proportional to the area being swept around by a wind wheel. Therefore, Megawatt propeller-type wind turbines have blades with the length of 40 and more meters. Only aircraft works with a highly-qualified personnel and corresponding equipment can produce such long blades of a specific shape. Of high interest have become airfoil wind turbines (Darrieus WPU) lately. They are of a simpler construction and have a quite high wind power utilization factor (ξ=0.45). In spite ofthe fact that this is a good index of WPU efficiency, the workers of al-Farabi Kazakh National University havedeveloped a new version of a wind turbine which allows increasing 1.3-1.6 times the value of this coefficient. This apparatus is named a Bidarrieus unit. This paper presents the description of a Bidarrieus unit, the principle of its operation and the possibility of increasing the wind power utilization factor. Also, the results of testing an acting laboratory model in an aerodynamic tunnel