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Effect of blade pitch angle on aerodynamic performance of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine

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Abstract

Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources, straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (S-VAWT) appears to be particularly promising for the shortage of fossil fuel reserves owing to its distinct advantages, but suffers from poor self-starting and low power coefficient. Variable-pitch method was recognized as an attractive solution to performance improvement, thus majority efforts had been devoted into blade pitch angle effect on aerodynamic performance. Taken into account the local flow field of S-VAWT, mathematical model was built to analyze the relationship between power outputs and pitch angle. Numerical simulations on static and dynamic performances of blade were carried out and optimized pitch angle along the rotor were presented. Comparative analyses of fixed pitch and variable-pitch S-VAWT were conducted, and a considerable improvement of the performance was obtained by the optimized blade pitch angle, in particular, a relative increase of the power coefficient by more than 19.3%. It is further demonstrated that the self-starting is greatly improved with the optimized blade pitch angle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China

    Li-xun Zhang  (张立勋), Ying-bin Liang  (梁迎彬), Xiao-hong Liu  (刘小红) & Jian Guo  (郭健)

Authors
  1. Li-xun Zhang  (张立勋)
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  2. Ying-bin Liang  (梁迎彬)
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  3. Xiao-hong Liu  (刘小红)
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  4. Jian Guo  (郭健)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ying-bin Liang  (梁迎彬).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(HEUCF110707) supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China; Project(E201216) supported by Heilongjiang Natural Science Fund, China

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Zhang, Lx., Liang, Yb., Liu, Xh. et al. Effect of blade pitch angle on aerodynamic performance of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine. J. Cent. South Univ. 21, 1417–1427 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-014-2080-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-014-2080-7

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