Innovative Power-Augmentation-Guide-Vane Design of Wind-Solar Hybrid Renewable Energy Harvester for Urban High Rise Application

• Published in: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference 2009-10, Vol.1225, p.507-521
• Main Authors: Tong, Chong Wen, Zainon, M Z, Chew, Poh Sin, Kui, Soo Chun, Keong, Wee Seng, Chen, Pan Kok
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0094-243X

To generate greater quantities of energy from wind, the most efficient solution would be by increasing the wind speed. Also, due to the decreasing number of economic wind energy sites, there are plans to place wind turbines closer to populated areas. To site wind turbines out from rural areas, the current problems of wind turbines need to be resolved, especially visual impact, poor starting behaviour in low wind speeds, noise and danger caused by blade failure. In this paper, a patented wind-solar hybrid renewable energy harvester is introduced. It is a compact system that integrates and optimizes several green elements and can be built on the top (or between upper levels) of high rise buildings or structures. This system can be used in remote and urban areas, particularly at locations where the wind speed is lower and more turbulent It overcomes the inferior aspect on the low wind speed by guiding and increasing the speed of the high altitude free-stream wind through fixed or yaw-able power-augmentation-guide-vane (PAGV) before entering the wind turbine (straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine, VAWT in this project) at center portion. PAGV is a new and innovative design where its appearance or outer design can be blended into the building architecture without negative visual impact. From the studies, it is shown that the wind speed increment in the PAGV can be produced according to the Bernoulli's principle. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is used to optimize the geometry of the PAGV and the simulation results demonstrated the technical possibility of this innovative concept. The PAGV replaces the free air-stream from wind by multiple channels of speed-increased and directional-controlled air-stream. With the PAGV, this lift-type VAWT can be self-started and its size can be reduced for a given power output. The design is also safer since the VAWT is enclosed by the PAGV. By integrating the PAGV with the VAWT (the diameter and height of PAGV are 2 times larger than the VAWT's), the predicted power generated (at free-stream wind speed = 3.5 m/s) is 1.25 times higher than the VAWT that has the same size as the PAGV. This new wind energy generation configuration should generate interest in the international market, even for regions with weaker winds. The correlation between CFD simulation and wind tunnel test will be carried out and reported elsewhere.