An experimental investigation of a class of resistance-type,direction-independent wind turbines

The resistance-type, direction-independent wind turbine is suitable for the generation of power on a small scale in developing countries. So far, all work on this class of wind turbine seems to be restricted to the Savonius rotor. The present paper reports the findings of an experimental investigation of an entire class of wind turbines which includes the conventional Savonius rotor. The influence of four rotor-geometry parameters (i.e. number of blades, blade angle, blade location and angle of setting of the blade) is studied and discussed on the basis of two performance criteria (i.e. turbine efficiency and performance on the basis of blade area). The existence of optimum, design parameters is established and the possibility of improving substantially on the performance of the Savonius rotor is demonstrated. Some possible applications of the present class of turbines are briefly commented on.