Conceptual Design and Center-point Force Dynamic Simulation of a New Horizontal Axis Semi-exposed Wind Turbine (HASWT)

Abstract

Renewable energy sources are fast growing. Nowadays much effort has been made by inventors to devise new and more efficient configurations of wind turbines. This paper describes mechanical design and resultant-force dynamic simulation of innovative wind turbine structure HASWT. The innovation in wind turbine structure includes flat shape of its blades and their orientation that minimizes the axial component of wind force that generates, in turn, disturbing axial forces on the rotor bearing. Instead, all power of the wind is spent to generate useful rotary or radial force that drives the rotor shaft. This enhances the efficiency of the turbine as compared to complex shape blades in traditional HAWT. The distinctive feature of the system is an oscillating shield that automatically protects the generator shaft at extreme wind speeds from over speeding, and therefore generating power above its capacity or even causing physical damages. The center-point force dynamic load models on the rotor blades have been derived for various wind conditions. The simulation algorithms have been tested in MATLab Simulink environment. The results of simulation show the efficacy of the system and an advantage of using this system with the over speed shield protection