Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

Development of small wind turbine adopting folded-plate blades and testing the performance of blades with one and two straight folded lines

World Congress and Exhibition on Wind & Renewable Energy

July 28-30, 2016 Berlin, Germany

Churchill Saoke

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl

Abstract :

The world population is expected to grow some 9 billion around the year 2050. Such a rapid expansion of the population will bring increase in demand for food, water, energy and pollution of the environment. Therefore, a priority issue for 21st century is to assure enough energy and water in the developing countries needed for increasing agricultural output. Development of wind power equipment will be essential in achieving these power needs. This will require the use of â�?�?appropriate technologyâ�? to reduce cost and localize manufacture to developing countries because such technologies are perfectly applicable to the individual conditions of the people of a particular region. The main advantage of appropriate technology is that it emphasizes on; simple design using indigenous materials at low cost while operation and maintenance are practiced by local people. In this study, a five bladed wind turbine of a 600 mm rotor diameter was fabricated using a 2 mm thick aluminum curved plate that is folded at different angles from one side. Different tip lengths, root lengths, pitch angle and folded angles were varied. The blades pitch angles were changed manually and confirmed by protractor. By changing the pitch angles, the power performance of the wind turbine was tested in the wind tunnel and results obtained showed maximum power coefficient of 0.372 at a blade pitch angle of 20�?º and when the two folded lines are at angles of 5�?º and 10�?º parallel to the forward edge.

Biography :

Churchill Saoke completed his PhD from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) School of Physical Sciences in Kenya. He is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Physics and a counterpart Researcher for the JICA Bright project for rural electrification using renewable energy in Kenya. He has published more than 10 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of JAGST (Journal of Agriculture Science and Technology).

Email: msheibani@ymail.com