Savonius wind turbine

Category:

Savonius wind turbines are a type of vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT), used for converting the force of the wind into torque on a rotating shaft. The turbine consists of a number of aerofoils, usually—but not always—vertically mounted on a rotating shaft or framework, either ground stationed or tethered in airborne systems
Origin
     The Savonius wind turbine was invented by the Finnish engineer Sigurd Johannes Savonius in 1922. However, Europeans had been experimenting with curved blades on vertical wind turbines for many decades before this. The earliest mention is by the Italian Bishop of Czanad, who was also an engineer. He wrote in his 1616 book Machinae novae about several vertical axis wind turbines with curved or V-shaped blades.    None of his or any other earlier examples reached the state of development made by Savonius. In his Finnish biography there is mention of his intention to develop a turbine-type similar to the Flettner-type, but autorotationary. He experimented with his rotor on small rowing vessels on lakes in his country. There are no results of his particular investigation known, but Magnus-Effect is confirmed by König.
  Operation
     The Savonius turbine is one of the simplest turbines. Aerodynamically, it is a drag-type device, consisting of two or three scoops. Looking down on the rotor from above, a two-scoop machine would look like an "S" shape in cross section. Because of the curvature, the scoops experience less drag when moving against the wind than when moving with the wind. The differential drag causes the Savonius turbine to spin. Because they are drag-type devices, Savonius turbines extract much less of the wind's power than other similarly-sized lift-type turbines. Much of the swept area of a Savonius rotor may be near the ground, if it has a small mount without an extended post, making the overall energy extraction less effective due to the lower wind speeds found at lower heights.

Power and rotational speed
The maximum power in watts [W] of a Savounius rotor can be calculated with the following formula: Pmax = 0.18 · H · D · v3 [W] where H is the height and D the diameter of the rotor, both expressed in meters [m] and v3 the cube of the wind speed in meters per second [m/s]. The rotational speed in revolutions per minute [rpm] of a Savonius rotor is calculated using the following formula: n = (60 · λ · v) / (π · D) [rpm] where λ is a factor called tip-speed ratio (dimensionless number), v the wind speed in [m/s] and D the diameter of the rotor Savounius in [m]. The tip-speed ratio λ is a characteristic factor of specific windmill. Its value ranges between 0.5 and 14. It is obtained by dividing the speed of the tips of the blades by the wind speed. In a Savonius rotor λ is approximately equal to unity (λ = 1). Applying these two formulas to a Savonius constructed with the two halves of an oil barrel of approx. 200 liters (H = approx. 0.9 m, D = approx. 1.0 m) under a wind of 10 m/s (= 36 km/h), the rotor will have a power of approx. 120 watts and a rotational speed of approx. 150 revolutions per minute (depending on the load).
Use

    Most anemometers are Savonius turbines for this reason, as efficiency is irrelevant to the application of measuring wind speed. Much larger Savonius turbines have been used to generate electric power on deep-water buoys, which need small amounts of power and get very little maintenance. Design is simplified because, unlike with horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), no pointing mechanism is required to allow for shifting wind direction and the turbine is self-starting. Savonius and other vertical-axis machines are good at pumping water and other high torque, low rpm applications and are not usually connected to electric power grids. They can sometimes have long helical scoops, to give smooth torque.
    The most ubiquitous application of the Savonius wind turbine is the Flettner Ventilator, which is commonly seen on the roofs of vans and buses and is used as a cooling device. The ventilator was developed by the German aircraft engineer Anton Flettner in the 1920s. It uses the Savonius wind turbine to drive an extractor fan. The vents are still manufactured in the UK by Flettner Ventilator Limited.
Small Savonius wind turbines are sometimes seen used as advertising signs where the rotation helps to draw attention to the item advertised. They sometimes feature a simple two-frame animation.

Comments (0)

Отправить комментарий