Design and analysis of micro horizontal axis wind turbine using MATLAB and QBlade

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to design a 300W micro horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) using BEM theory. The design procedure is codified in MATLAB to simplify the routines. SG6040 and SG6041 airfoils are chosen as the hub and tip airfoils respectively while intermediate airfoils are interpolated between hub and tip airfoils. The design parameters like tip speed ratio, wind speed, and power produced are considered for the design. The average wind speed is assumed to be 5m/s based on the local wind speed data collected for a certain period of time. BEM procedure codified in MATLAB software is used to obtain the preliminary blade design parameters such as optimum drag and lift coefficients at various angles of attack, chord, twist, axial induction factor (a) and angular induction factor (a’). The QBlade analysis of 3m diameter wind turbine is carried out at a wind speed of 5 m/s. The results of the analysis show a maximum annual energy production (AEP) of 538kWh and a maximum torque of 15 Nm. This procedure could be effectively adopted for the design and analysis of HAWTs operating at higher wind speeds.