Estudo do melhoramento do desempenho de uma turbina eólica modelo Savonius através do uso de obstáculos arranjados em simetria para guiar a direção do fluxo de vento

Abstract

The production of energy through the wind has proved to be one of the most attractive in reason of its cost-effectiveness, where, the vertical axis wind turbines have been gaining prominence in low-speed and variable wind direction environments. In this perspective, the present study aimed to analyze the use of obstacles symmetrically arranged in order to guide a preferential direction on wind flow, thus increasing the energy production efficiency of a Savonius turbine. Hence, the analyzes occurred through two methodologies: a numerical study using CFD software (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and an experimental study using a wind tunnel with a single speed built by the researchers themselves. The first analysis constituted on the air flow behavior study when passed into the obstacles proposed in six different angles of incidence, and finally, we tested the use and non-use the prototype in three different scales to generate energy through a turbine Savonius model. All experimental results had improvements in the energy production increase of a conventional Savonius turbine when compared to the non-use of the prototype, the great ones were between 85 of 95% (angles of 0 and 15 degrees and their respective symmetries in relation to the wind incidence), another aspect to be emphasized was the non-production of energy on the smallest scale without the use of obstacles. In addition, the airflow generated in the numerical simulation showed a field of directions in the same direction of the turbine rotation at all angles of wind incidence, thus avoiding turbine start problems. Finally, the prototype proved to be attractive to the wind direction variations present in the natural environment, where the angles of 30, 45 and 75 degrees and their symmetries showed increases between 55 and 75% and the angle of 60 degrees between 35 and 45 %.