An Investigaion into a Small Wind Turbine Blade Design

A small wind turbine blade was designed to be aerodynamically efficient, economical and easy to be manufactured. Aerodynamic analysis was conducted using commercially available software. The aerodynamic analysis suggested laminar flow airfoils to be the most efficient airfoils for such use. Blade geometry was determined after calculating baseline geometric values to have low weight and drag while yielding maximum torque. The blade span was constrained such that the complete wind turbine can be roof-top mountable. The blade was designed without any taper or twist to comply with the low cost and ease of manufacturing requirements. For low cost and favorable strength to weight ratio, fiberglass-epoxy was used as the blade material. Computer simulated structural test results suggested that skin thickness of 1 [mm] of fiberglass-epoxy can sustain the loads on the blade.The wind turbine blade produces 3.1 [N] lift with 6.3 [N.m] torque at 4 [m/s] wind speed. Since it uses a relatively inexpensive material, fiberglass-epoxy, the cost of the blade is low. Fiberglass-epoxy is also easy to work with hence it contributes towards manufacturing ease. Overall, the research was successful in designing a wind turbine blade that is easy to be manufactured, economical and has high torque.