Design and Development of NACA Blade Profile in a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for an Improved Wind Energy Harvest

Abstract

This article captures the design of three blade models with the profiles of NACA 0009, NACA 0012 and NACA 0015 using Solidworks software. Towards experimental validation of the designed blades, the setup and calibration of a subsonic wind tunnel with National Instrument (NI) compact data acquisition (cDAQ) system are implemented for force balance interaction. Based on fully validated blade models in a wind tunnel experiment for aerodynamic performance characteristics, vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) prototypes with the blade profiles for output performance analysis are constructed and fabricated. Considering the state of the moribund experimental facility at the Thermofluid laboratory of the University of Lagos, newly designed force balance system with six (6) degree of freedom system and data acquisition accessories are procured and installed. Airfoil tool, Microsoft excel and SolidWorks software have been employed to achieve the blade model design. The blade specification is based on the boundary of the wind tunnel test section of the facility (Blade height is 0.15m, Chord length is 0.1m). It is anticipated that a performance sizing and control model will be integrated on the EnerghxPlus platform to drive the scalability of the process of blade selection, design and development of VAWT for consumers in the energy market.