Performance Study Of A Small Scale Wind Turbine
Open Access
- Author:
- Ray, Anagha
- Graduate Program:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- December 18, 2014
- Committee Members:
- Dennis K Mclaughlin, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Susan W Stewart, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- Skystream
Performance
small scale wind turbine
power
aerodynamics - Abstract:
- Wind Energy at The Pennsylvania State University is an exciting field of research. The Skystream 3.7 manufactured by Southwest Windpower is a 2.4kW system used for this research. The system is located at the Sustainability Experience Center that serves as a research facility for students. The purpose of this study is to do a comprehensive study of power performance and wind turbine aerodynamics using the Skystream 3.7. Data recorded from this 2.4 kW rated small scale wind turbine consisted of generator output power and RPM, acquired simultaneously with wind speed and wind direction in the immediate vicinity of the turbine. The resolution of the collected data is of 3 second intervals and this data is processed and averaged for analysis. The experimental data is compared with computed predictions using the code WT_Perf developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The study was performed over a wide range of both wind speed and turbine RPM comprising a comprehensive aerodynamic study of the performance of the wind turbine. The performance in power generation from experimental data compares favorably with manufacturer's published data.