Abstract:
In recent years, a palpable surge in exploring prospects of alternate solutions to growing energy needs of humanity has been observed. Among the most popular of these means to extract sustainable, environmentally-friendly, and cheap energy is electrical power generation through wind. The work presents a detailed overview of globally prevalent wind turbine designs in general and those of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines in particular. Additionally, a theoretical comparison of common VAWTs against key performance benchmarks has been performed that underscores the merits and demerits of each design and discusses their relative feasibility of operations in urban surroundings with low annual average wind speeds. Furthermore an optimized VAWT design that is not only efficient and cheap but also capable of being deployed in environments with frequent and erratic fluctuations in critical independent variables such as wind speed, turbulence etc. and is, to a fair extent, modular, affordable, and easy to maintain and manufacture. For this purpose, detailed software analysis of most suitable VAWT design (after a detailed scholarly study of major designs) is also performed with an aim to optimize said design for urban conditions of Pakistan. Lastly, a downscale prototype of finalized design is manufactured and tested under real-world conditions in order to cross-check and verify mathematical models and performance standards, draw conclusions, and make future recommendations in this regard.
