Pilot Study for Vertical Wind Turbines

Because of their environmental impact and progress in the field of wind power technology, wind energy gained in the field of renewable energies are a steadily growing importance. This also applies to small wind turbines with a nominal capacity 5 to 25 kW for distributed generation of electricity. This situation has in recent years, interest in plants with a vertically arranged rotary axis - following the principle of Darrieus - rekindled after the technology was in the 80s pushed by concepts with horizontal rotation axis. The VAWT (Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines) have exhibit over conventional HAWT (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines), some advantages. The VAWT operates independently of the wind direction and thus requires no yaw. This results in simpler designs and potentially lower manufacturing and maintenance costs, making them appear particularly attractive for small system sizes. In contrast, a more complex aerodynamic design speed is due to the unsteadiness of the flow. The resulting aerodynamic load changes were the reason for the failure of some plants Darrieus in the 80s. In addition, the power output of the plant carried out so far with the same system size is smaller than horizontal axis competitors.
The aim of this project is to undertake an assessment of small wind turbines. Not only technical aspects but also particularly creative, economic, psychological and legal criteria are used. Under the direction of the Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther-University Halle - Wittenberg work together following institutions and companies: IFEU Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg, Technical University of Clausthal - Institute of Applied Mechanics, Giebichenstein College of Art and Design Halle - Faculty of Design, PSE AG - Freiburg, TASSA GmbH - Wolfsburg. A promotion by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

Contact

Dr.-Ing. Merim Mukinovic, Room 120, Tel. 05323 72-3563

Publications

  • Hübner et al, Pilot Studyon the Acceptance of Vertical Wind Turbines, Interim Report on BMU-EE Cross-Sectional Research Project, 2008.
  • Mukinovic, M., Brenner, G., Rahimi, A., Aerodynamic Study of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines,<(i> Proc. ParCFD Conference, Lyon, 2008.
  • Mukinovic, M., Brenner, G., Rahimi, A., Analysis of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, 16th DGLRSymposium of STAB, Aachen, 2008.