Small Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Design

The Small Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Design participates in the European Wind Turbine Design Contest (EWTDC). This is a contest between universities regarding the design and construction of a small wind turbine. NHL Leeuwarden organizes the event. During the academic year, 5 university teams participate in the contest through two stages with a final experimental evaluation. The first stage involves wind turbine design with a maximum swept rotor area of 2m2. Once the committee accepts the design, the second stage involves the students in the turbine's manufacturing. The final event, the 2nd to 4th of July, consists out of several wind tunnel tests at TU Delft, in order to judge the best design, followed by a symposium in Leeuwarden. The EWTDC contest does not restrict the students to a specific type of turbine to be designed. Given the master study focused more on horizontal axis wind turbines, vertical axis type was the chosen approach. However, there is a large research gap between these two turbine types. For this reason, many variables had to be considered, i.e. VAWT topology, number of blades, airfoil type, control methodology, efficiency, etc. This is indeed a green project, as vertical axis wind turbines have great benefits. Whether offshore or inland, VAWT's are not resource intensive (tower) and harvest wind energy, independent of its incoming direction (less components).