The utility of small wind turbines (SWTs) covering horizontal and vertical-axis types as off-grid, standalone, and decentralized energy supplement systems has gained market attention. Such turbines operate primarily at low Reynolds number (Re) and low tip speed ratio (λ) conditions. Under such circumstances, the design, development, and testing of SWTs have become a tedious task, mainly due to the lack of precise aerodynamic knowledge of SWTs. This article reviews the fundamental aspects of SWTs, including airfoil selection criteria, blade design, and aerodynamic improvement through passive flow control and augmentation techniques. It also reports several classes of potential airfoils that can be employed in the design of SWTs. The airfoils considered operate mainly in the range of Re = 0.3 × 105–3 × 105 and λ = 0.5–6. Aside from the classical approach, this article showcases the prospects of several bioinspired profiles/shapes that are meant for SWTs operating at low Re and λ conditions. Toward the end, various design constraints and applicability of SWTs are summarized.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
July 2022
Review Article|
August 05 2022
Blade design considerations of small wind turbines: From classical to emerging bio-inspired profiles/shapes
Ojing Siram
;
Ojing Siram
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Software, Writing – original draft)
1
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India
Search for other works by this author on:
Ujjwal K. Saha
;
Ujjwal K. Saha
a)
(Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: saha@iitg.ac.in
Search for other works by this author on:
Niranjan Sahoo
Niranjan Sahoo
(Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India
Search for other works by this author on:
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: saha@iitg.ac.in
J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 14, 042701 (2022)
Article history
Received:
April 18 2022
Accepted:
July 10 2022
Citation
Ojing Siram, Ujjwal K. Saha, Niranjan Sahoo; Blade design considerations of small wind turbines: From classical to emerging bio-inspired profiles/shapes. J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 1 July 2022; 14 (4): 042701. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0096402
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Citing articles via
Wind tunnel testing of wind turbine and wind farm control strategies for active power regulation
J. Gonzalez Silva, D. van der Hoek, et al.
Tilted lidar profiling: Development and testing of a novel scanning strategy for inhomogeneous flows
Stefano Letizia, Rachel Robey, et al.
A review of tidal energy—Resource, feedbacks, and environmental interactions
Simon P. Neill, Kevin A. Haas, et al.