Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 34253432

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Energy Conversion and Management

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An experimental and numerical study on the improvement of the performance of Savonius wind rotor
Burin Deda Altan *, Mehmet Atlgan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Pamukkale University, Knkl 20070, Denizli, Turkey

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
In the present study, a curtain has been designed to increase the low performance of the Savonius wind rotor, a type of vertical-axis wind rotor, and the effect of this curtain on the static rotor performance has been analyzed both experimentally and numerically. Designed to prevent the torque that occurs on the convex blade of the rotor in the negative direction, this curtain has been placed in front of the rotor. Experimental measurements and numerical analysis have been conducted when the Savonius wind rotor is with and without curtain. The static torque values of the rotor have been measured by experiments and calculated by numerical analysis, and nally they have been compared. The best results have been obtained by means of the rotor with curtain. Low static torque values have been obtained with the short curtain dimensions, while a considerable increase has been acquired in the static torque values with the long curtain dimensions. Fluent 6.0 trade software has been used as the numerical method. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 4 June 2007 Received in revised form 9 January 2008 Accepted 17 August 2008 Available online 5 October 2008 Keywords: Savonius wind rotor Wind energy Curtain Numerical analysis

1. Introduction It is a well-known fact that the world population is increasing rapidly from time to time, as a result of which energy consumption also increases parallel to the developments in technology and industry as two elds of production to meet the needs of this growing human population. Another fact known to us apparently but alarmingly is that the supplies of fossil energy resources used for ages is limited and decreases in the face of the increased demand for energy. Considering the negative impacts of fossil energy sources on the environment together with the scarcity of these resources, it appears urgent and vitally important to nd new energy resources that are clean and renewable. Wind energy is, therefore, very important as one of these clean energy resources, and wind rotors are the most important of the wind energy. One of the wind rotors of a vertical axis, Savonius wind rotor was developed by a Finnish engineer, Sigurd Savonius, in 1925 [1]. The performance of these rotors is lower than that of the other conventional wind rotors but even so, they have a number of advantages over the others. For example, design of such rotors is simple and cheap. They start to run on their own and they are independent of the direction of the wind. They also have a high starting torque. Despite such a certain number of advantages of Savonius wind rotors, they are not preferred so much due to their low aerodynamic performance levels. To eliminate this disadvantageous quality of Savonius wind rotors, several studies have been done in recent years in order to improve their aerodynamic perfor* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 258 295 31 52; fax: +90 258 295 32 62. E-mail address: bdeda@pau.edu.tr (B.D. Altan). 0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2008.08.021

mance. Therefore, a lot of theoretical and experimental studies have been carried out to increase the performance of Savonius wind rotors. A number of scientists have tested many models through the studies that they have done in the static and dynamic state of Savonius wind rotor. In these studies they have experimentally and numerically examined the effects of various design parameters such as the rotor aspect ratio, the overlap and the separation gap between rotor buckets, the prole change of the bucket crosssection, the number of buckets, the presence or absence of rotor endplates, and the inuence of bucket stacking [16]. Signicant steps have been taken in the improvement of power and torque performances of Savonius wind rotors through the above mentioned studies. In another group of studies, however, pressure distributions on the blades have been measured to analyze the ow eld and aerodynamic performance in and around a rotating and static Savonius wind rotor experimentally and numerically [7 18]. Aldoss [19] has carried out an experimental study on the aerodynamic performance of Savonius wind rotor by using a swinging blade rotor. Later, Aldoss et al. [20] have developed this study and improved the performance of Savonius wind rotor by allowing the rotor blades to swing back with an optimum angle. Tabassum and Probert [21] and Reupke and Probert [22] have found out that with the Savonius wind rotor with hinged blades, which they have separately designed, higher torques could be acquired at rather lower end speeds than with the conventional Savonius wind rotors. Ogawa et al. [23] have investigated the effects on the performance of a deecting plate which they have used in order to improve the performance of the Savonius wind rotor. Saha and Rajkumar [24] have examined the twisted blade in a three-bladed rotor system

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B.D. Altan, M. Atlgan / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 34253432

Nomenclature M r M r Vr H A D D0 e l1 l2 t positive torque (Nm) negative torque (Nm) wind velocity (m/s) height (m) rotor swept area (m2) rotor diameter (m) end plate diameter (m) gap distance (m) length of a curtain plate (m) length of b curtain plate (m) thickness of plate (mm) dynamic viscosity (kg/ms) turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2) Reynolds number, VrD/m Greek letters q density (kg/m3) a angle of a curtain plate b angle of b curtain plate Kronecker delta dij m kinematic viscosity of uid (m2/s) e turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate sij stress tensor (kg/ms2) Subscripts t turbulent eff effective

l
k Re

in a low-speed wind tunnel and compared its performance with that of semicircular blades. Moreover, an experimental study with twisted blades fabricated from bamboo strips has been performed by Saha et al. [25] for the small-scale power generation in rural areas. Grinspan et al. [26] have carried out experiments to develop conventional three-bladed straight and curved rotors by using aerofoil type and twisted type blades. There are also some other studies designing and developing small Savonius wind rotors for local electricity production [27,28]. In the present study, a curtain arrangement has been designed to deect the wind for the purpose of increasing the low performance of the Savonius wind rotor. This arrangement is both simple and cheap as it is composed of at metal sheets. While the Savonius wind rotor is static, the effect of this curtain arrangement on the torque values has been analyzed both experimentally and numerically. 2. Experimental study 2.1. Design of the Savonius wind rotor and the curtain arrangement A conventional Savonius wind rotor is made up of two semi-cylinders, called blades, which are placed in between two horizontal discs and the centers of which are symmetrically slided. The wind hitting the Savonius wind rotor at a certain speed creates a positive torque in the inner part of the cylinder forming the rotor and a negative torque in its outer part. Since the torque in its inner part is higher than the torque in the outer part, a rotation movement is se-

Mr+

D
Mr

Vr
Fig. 1. Direction of the torque exerted by the wind power on the rotor blades.

cured. Below is a simple gure for the running principle of the Savonius wind rotor (Fig. 1). The performance experiments of the Savonius wind rotor have been carried out by using a rotor made up from a 2-mm-thick steel sheets of which rotor diameter is D = 32 cm, rotor height is H = 32 cm and gap distance is e = 2.6 cm. Its lower and upper blade end-plates have been made from 4-mm steel sheets with a diameter of 35.2 cm. The designed Savonius wind rotor and its geometric parameters are shown in Fig. 2. The shaft of the Savonius wind rotor has been supported near the top and bottom with low-friction ball bearings to minimize the friction force. When the torque on the convex blade of the Savonius wind rotor is compared with the torque on the concave blade, it seems that

D0

e D
Fig. 2. An appearance of the Savonius wind rotor and its geometric parameters.

B.D. Altan, M. Atlgan / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 34253432

3427

b curtain plate

a curtain plate
1

curtain, respectively. Each curtain arrangement is made up from steel sheets which are 32 cm high and 2 mm thick. The top and bottom sheets of the curtain are xed, while the side sheets are designed as adjustable for any desirable angle. Curtain arrangements have been designed in such a way as to rotate by 360 around the rotor by means of a sensor in order not to do away with the ability of the Savonius wind rotor to take in wind from all directions. To measure the curtain angle, a protractor was placed on the bottom sheet of the curtain arrangement. 2.2. Experimental set up and procedure A schematic diagram of the experimental set up that has been used in the present study is shown in Fig. 4. The experimental set up consists of the wind tunnel, Savonius wind rotor, curtain arrangement and measurement devices. The wind tunnel used in the experiments is an open-circuit type and has a circular exit (/ = 50 cm). Its wind velocity could also be changed with the use of an adjustable damper. The Savonius wind rotor, curtain arrangement and measurement devices have been installed away from the exit of this wind tunnel. The Savonius rotor and curtain arrangement have been placed on a steel prole table. The Savonius rotor shaft has been supported near the top and bottom by very low friction ball bearing to minimize the friction force. Curtain arrangements constructed have been placed in front of Savonius wind rotor. And then measurements of static rotor torque and wind velocity have been measured by torque meter sensor and multifunctional anemometer. A computer-connected IMADA HGT-10 torque measurement instrument with a measuring range of 0 10 Nm has been used to measure the static torque that forms on the Savonius wind rotor shaft and the accuracy of torque meter sensor is 0.5%. A TESTO 435 multifunctional anemometer with the measuring range of 0.640 m/s has been used to measure the wind velocity and the accuracy of multifunctional anemometer is 0.2 m/s. The experiments have been carried out at an average wind velocity of 7 m/s and hence Reynolds number Re = 1.5 105. The Savonius wind rotor has been placed about L 5 m away from the wind tunnel exit in order to provide a uniform ow. The rotor arrangement with and without curtain placed at the exit of the wind tunnel is schematically shown in Fig. 5. The rotor arrangement with and without curtain has been installed at the same position for each measurement. Static torque values for each curtain arrangement have been measured at different curtain angles (a = 3060 and b = 10 15) and at three different positions of rotor angle h in the experiments as shown in Fig. 6. The uncertainty of parameter obtained from experimental study is given in Table 2 is calculated by Eq. (1) [32,33] given below:

Vr
Fig. 3. Design of the curtain arrangement placed in front of the Savonius wind rotor.

the former is lower because of the different resistance coefcients of the surfaces [29]. For this reason, the Savonius wind rotor rotates in the direction of the positive torque that forms on the concave blade (Fig. 1). To increase the rotor performance, it is important to prevent the negative torque that forms in the adverse direction of the rotors rotating direction. In a study by Deda [30,31], a new design has been put forward for the purpose of increasing the performance of the Savonius wind rotor without making any modications in its basic structure. To increase the performance coefcients and the effects of the wind speed, a curtain arrangement has been placed in front of the rotor (Fig. 3) so that it can prevent the negative torque that forms in the adverse direction of the rotors rotating direction [31]. In this curtain arrangement, ab represents the angles of curtain plates while 1 and 2 are the lengths of curtain plates. Dimensions of 3 different curtain arrangements experimented are given in Table 1. Types of the curtain arrangements curtain 1, curtain 2 and curtain 3 are named as long, medium and short

Table 1 Dimensions of the curtain arrangement Type of Curtain arrangement Curtain 1 Curtain 2 Curtain 3 Distance 1 (cm) 45 34 22 Distance 2 (cm) 52 39 26 Height H (cm) 32 32 32 Thickness t (mm) 2 2 2

Torque Transducer Unit Computer Savonius wind rotor

Torque Meter Sensor

Supporting upper table Anemometer Bearing

Exit of the wind tunnel

Curtain arrangement Supporting lower table Air Flow Rotor axis Bearing

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of experimental set up.

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B.D. Altan, M. Atlgan / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 34253432 Table 2 The uncertainty in calculated value Calculated value Re Uncertainty (%) 2.85

Exit of the wind tunnel

Exit of the wind tunnel

L
Fig. 5. Schematic appearance of the rotor arrangement with and without curtain.

kinetic energy (k) and dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (e) have each been solved with the use of the program. All these equations have been made by using the iteration method in such a way as to provide each equation in the central point of the cells, and secondary interpolation method with a high reliability level has been employed. In addition, pressure correction has been solved in order to maintain the availability of the pressure area and protection of the mass in each iteration. In calculating the pressure and velocity distributions, SIMPLE analysis algorithm has been used. The equations of mass and momentum protection used by the program can be written for the compressible and incompressible steady ows as follows in the cartesian tensor rotation [34]: Continuity equation:

WR

"

oR w1 ox1

2

oR w2 ox2

2

oR wn oxn

2 #1=2 1

o q uj 0 oxj
Momentum equation:

where R is the calculated parameter of the experiments, WR is the uncertainty in the parameter. The parameter R is a given function of the independent variables x1, x2, . . . ,xn. 3. Numerical analysis In the present study, Fluent 6.0 trade software has been used as one of the computational uid dynamics (CFD) package programs. By using it, the Savonius wind rotor with and without curtain in the static position has been analyzed from aerodynamic aspects. Fluent is an CFD software using the nite sizes method and having the capacity of solving the ow and heat transfer problems in or around complex geometries. Modeling of the study has been made by using the Gambit 2.0, a program of Fluent for creating a model and network. In the Fluent 6.0 program, physical properties of the ow have been dened; analysis technique and turbulence model have been selected; the number of iterations and convergence values have been determined by entering the values of boundary conditions, and nally analysis have been made. To do the numerical analysis in a shorter time, the model has been formed to have two dimensions. 3.1. Governing equations In this study Standard ke turbulence model has been used with logarithmic surface function in the analysis of turbulent ow. Momentum equation, x and y components of velocity, turbulent

o op q uj ui sij Si oxj oxj

In these two equations; xi ui p

sij

Cartesian coordinate (j = 1, 2, 3) absolute velocity components in the direction of xi Piezometric pressure = psqo g xm. Here, ps is static pressure, qo is the reference density, g is the gravity acceleration and xm is the coordinate dened by qo stress tensor components Here, the stress tensor is as follows:

sij l sij l

2 3

ouk dij oxk

Here, l is the viscosity of the uid. dij (Kronecker delta) and sij are the change of shape modication tensor and written as follows:

sij

oui ouj oxj oxi

If the Kronecker delta dij is i j ) 0, i = j ) 1 Effective viscosity is

leff l lt
Here turbulent viscosity is obtained from

lt q f l C l

Vr

Vr

Vr

b
Fig. 6. Rotor positions (a) h = 90, (b) h = 60 and (c) h = 45.

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1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8

Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (e):

Experimental Numerical

Torque (Nm)

  o o l oe quj e eff qe ot oxj re oxj     e oui 2 ou oui e2 oui lt i qk dij C 2 f2 q C 3 qe C 1 f1 lt sij k oxj 3 oxi oxj k oxi 9
In the above equations, the subscripts i, j, k and the empirical constants for the turbulence model Cl, rk, re, C1e, C2e are equal to 1, 2, 3 and 0.09, 1.0, 1.3, 1.44, 1.92, respectively [34]. 4. Results and discussion When the rotor position is 45, 60 and 90 in the static position of the Savonius wind rotor, the static torques have been found for the rotor with and without curtain through the experimental and numerical analysis made by using experimental measurements and Fluent 6.0 program. Then they have been compared through gures. When the rotor position is 45, 60 and 90, respectively, in the static position of the Savonius wind rotor without curtain, the static torque values obtained through experiments and numerical analysis are given in Fig. 7. It is seen both from the experiment and the numerical analysis that the static torque values at 45 are the highest. When the rotor position is 45, 60 and 90, respectively, in the static position of the Savonius wind rotor without cur-

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

Rotor Angle ()
Fig. 7. Static torque changes obtained from the rotor without curtain through experiments and numerical analysis when the rotor position is 45, 60 and 90.

Turbulent kinetic energy (k):

  o o l ok quj k eff qk ot oxj rk oxj   oui 2 oui oui lt sij lt qk qe oxj 3 oxi oxi

Fig. 8. Velocity distributions for the rotor without curtain at 45, 60 and 90, which are obtained from numerical analysis.

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B.D. Altan, M. Atlgan / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 34253432

2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1. 5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

Torque (Nm)

Curtain Angle ()

Torque (Nm)

Curtain Angle ()

(a) = 10
Curtain 1 Experimental Curtain 1 Numerical Curtain 2 Experimental Curtain 2 Numerical

(b) = 15
Curtain 3 Experimental Curtain 3 Numerical

Fig. 9. The torque change obtained through experiment and program for b = 10 and b = 15 between the a values of 30 and 60 when the rotor position is 90.

tain, the velocity distributions obtained through numerical analysis are given in Fig. 8. In the present study, to increase the already low performance of the Savonius wind rotors, a curtain arrangement formed from wind deecting plates has been placed in front of the rotor so as to prevent the negative torque that affects the convex surface of the Savonius wind rotor. In doing so, the aim is to increase the speed of the wind entering the rotor and thus to improve its efciency. To analyze the effects of curtain angles (a and b), inuential in the curtain design, on the performance, both because negative torque increases when the ow comes on the convex blade at the values of curtain angle below 30 (a < 30) in the earliest experiments and because the torque values obtained tend to be small as the ow separations increase at the values of curtain angle above 60 (a > 60), the experiments have been continued by increasing the values of curtain angle between 30 and 60 by 5. Similarly, since enough ow cannot be collected at the values of the other curtain angle b below 10, the torque values have been found out to be low; at the values of the curtain angle b above 15, however, air ow comes from curtain plate belongs to angle b has been occurred the effect of braking in the adverse direction of the rotors rotating direction, so the torque values measured have also been low. The

experiments for the b curtain angle have been continued between the values of 10 and 15 because it is higher between these values. In the same way, numerical analysis have been made between 30 and 60 for a and between 10 and 15 for b. Fig. 9 shows the a angle-related changes of the static torque values obtained for the curtain 1, curtain 2 and curtain 3 through numerical analysis and experiments made at the values of a between 30 and 60 when the rotor position is 90 and b is 10 and 15. It is seen here that the torque values obtained for curtain 1 at b = 10 and b = 15 through experiment and numerical analysis are higher than the ones for curtain 2 and curtain 3. The highest torque value has been found to be around a = 45 at b = 15 for curtain 1. Moreover, the values obtained through numerical analysis have been found to be close to the experimental values but big. It has been concluded that this case may have been caused by the measurement errors and losses in the experimental study. Fig. 10 shows the a angle-related changes of the static torque values obtained for the curtain 1, curtain 2 and curtain 3 through numerical analysis and experiments made at the values of a between 30 and 60 when the rotor position is 60 and b is 10 and 15. It is seen here that the torque values obtained for curtain 1 at both b curtain angles (b = 10 and b = 15) through experiment

2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

Torque (Nm)

Curtain Angle ()

Torque (Nm)

Curtain Angle ()

(a) = 10
Curtain 1 Experimental Curtain 1 Numerical Curtain 2 Experimental Curtain 2 Numerical

(b) = 15
Curtain 3 Experimental Curtain 3 Numerical

Fig. 10. The torque change obtained through experiment and program for b = 10 and b = 15 between the a values of 30 and 60 when the rotor position is 60.

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2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 25 30 35

2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 25 30 35

Torque (Nm)

Curtain Angle ()

40

45

50

55

60

65

Torque (Nm)

Curtain Angle ()

40

45

50

55

60

65

(a) = 10
Curtain 1 Experimental Curtain 1 Numerical Curtain 2 Experimental Curtain 2 Numerical

(b) = 15

Curtain 3 Experimental Curtain 3 Numerical

Fig. 11. The torque change obtained through experiment and program for b = 10 and b = 15 between the a values of 30 and 60 when the rotor position is 45.

and numerical analysis are higher than the ones for curtain 2 and curtain 3. The highest torque value for the curtain 1 has been found to be around a = 45 at b = 15. Fig. 11 shows the a angle-related changes of the static torque values obtained for the curtain 1, curtain 2 and curtain 3 through numerical analysis and experiments made at the values of a between 30 and 60 when the rotor position is 45 and b is 10

and 15. It is seen here that the torque values obtained for curtain 1, the longest curtain, are higher than the ones for curtain 2 and curtain 3. Furthermore, the highest torque value for the curtain 1 has been found to be around a = 45 at b = 10. The fact that the torque values at b = 10 is higher than the ones at b = 15 is due to the fact that the gap between the curtains b plate and wind rotor blade has increased when the rotor is 45.

Fig. 12. Velocity distributions in maximum static torques for the curtain 1, which are obtained from numerical analysis.

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B.D. Altan, M. Atlgan / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 34253432 [4] Modi VJ, Fernando MSUK. On the performance of the Savonius wind turbine. J Sol Energ Eng 1989;111:7181. [5] Mojola OO, Onazanya OE. Performance testing of a Savonius windmill rotor in shear ows. Wind Eng 1984;8(2):10921. [6] Mojola OO. On the aerodynamic design of the Savonius windmill rotor. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 1985;21:22331. [7] Fujisawa N. Velocity measurements and numerical calculations of ow elds in and around Savonius rotors. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 1996;59:3950. [8] Fujisawa N. On the torque mechanism of Savonius; rotors. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 1992;40:27792. [9] Fujisawa N, Taguchi Y. Visualization and image processing of the ow in and around a Savonius rotor. J Flow Visual Image Process 1993;1:33746. [10] Fujisawa N, Shirai H. Experimental investigation on the unsteady ow eld around a Savonius rotor at the maximum power performance. Wind Eng 1987;11(4):195206. [11] Fujisawa N, Gotoh F. Pressure measurements and ow visualization study of a Savonius rotor. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 1992;39:5160. [12] Fujisawa N, Gotoh F. Visualization study of the ow in and around a Savonius rotor. Exp Fluids 1992;12:40712. [13] Aldoss TK, Kotb MA. Aerodynamic loads on a stationary Savonius rotor. JSME Int J 1991;Series II, 34(1):525. [14] Aldoss TK, Kotb MA. Theoretical calculations of the ow eld around a Savonius rotor. Wind Eng 1988;12(3):194203. [15] Ishimatsu K, Kage K, Okubayashi T. Numerical study for the ow elds and performances of Savonius-type and bach-type rotors. In: The 10th international symposium on ow visualization, Kyoto, Japan; 2002. p. s.17. [16] Kotb MA. Floweld around a partially-blocked Savonius rotor. Appl Energy 1991;38:11732. [17] Fernando MSUK, Modi VJ. A numerical analysis of the unsteady ow past a Savonius wind turbine. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 1989;32:30327. [18] Ogawa T. Theoretical study on the ow about Savonius rotor. J Fluids Eng 1984;106:8591. [19] Aldoss TK. Savonius rotor using swinging blades as an augmentation system. Wind Eng 1984;8(4):21420. [20] Aldoss TK, Najjar YSH. Further development of the swinging-blade Savonius rotor. Wind Eng 1985;9(3):16570. [21] Tabassum SA, Probert SD. Vertical-axis wind turbine: a modied design. Appl Energy 1987;28:5967. [22] Reupke P, Probert SD. slatted-blade Savonius wind-rotors. Appl Energy 1991;40:6575. [23] Ogawa T, Yoshida H, Yokota Y. Development of rotational speed control systems for a Savonius type wind turbine. J Fluids Eng 1989;111:538. [24] Saha UK, Rajkumar MJ. On the performance analysis of Savonius rotor with twisted blades. Renew Energy 2006;31:177688. [25] Saha UK, Mahanta P, Grinspan AS, Kumar PS, Goswami P. Twisted bamboo bladed rotor for Savonius wind turbines. J Sol Energy Soc India (SESI). 2005;4:110. [26] Grinspan AS, Kumar PS, Saha UK, Mahanta P, Ratna Rao DV, Veda Bhanu G. Design, development and testing of Savonius wind turbine rotor with twisted blades. In: Proceedings of 28th national conference on uid mechanics and uid power, Chandigarh, India; 2001. p. 42831. [27] Menet JL. A double-step Savonius rotor for local production of electricity: a design study. Renew Energy 2004;29:184362. [28] Percival MC, Leung PS, Datta PK. The development of a vertical turbine for domestic electricity generation. Eur Wind Energy Conf Exhib 2004. [29] Le Gourieres D. Wind power plants theory and design. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press Ltd.; 1982. p. 285. [30] Deda B. Wind energy and increasing the performance of Savonius wind rotors. MSc thesis in mechanical engineering. Denizli, Turkey: Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Pamukkale University; 2000. p. 102 [in Turkish]. [31] Deda Altan, B., Performance investigation of Savonius wind rotor with curtaining method. PhD thesis in mechanical engineering. Denizli, Turkey: Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Pamukkale University; 2006. p. 147 [in Turkish]. [32] Binici I. Industrial measurement and calibration. Istanbul: Birsen Press; 2001. p. 231. [33] Genceli OF. Measurement technique. Istanbul: Birsen Press; 1998. p. 23. [34] Fluent users guide, vol. 5. Fluent Inc.; 2001. p. 511.

As a result of the experiments and numerical analysis made with the rotor with curtain of three different dimensions, the highest torque values have been obtained with the curtain 1. Therefore, the distributions of the velocity at which maximum static torques have been obtained through numerical analysis when the rotor is 45, 60 and 90 at b = 15. This event is shown in Fig. 12. 5. Conclusions A curtain arrangement, which is a simple wind deector, has been designed and placed in front of the rotor to prevent the negative torque affecting the convex surface of the rotor and also to increase the velocity of the wind entering the rotor for the purpose of increasing the performance of the Savonius wind rotor in the present study. A comparison between the results obtained through experiments and numerical analysis has shown that when the rotor is static for the same positions, the rotor with curtain can provide a better performance than the rotor without curtain. In the rotor with curtain, the best torque values have been obtained with the curtain 1, which is the longest one. On the other hand, it has been indicated by experiments and numerical analysis that the best performance for b = 15 and a = 45 has been obtained with curtain 1 when rotor blade is h = 60. When the rotor position is h = 90, most of the uid guided by the curtain escapes from over the convex blade and thus creates an adverse torque effect. This is the main reason why the lowest torque values have been obtained at h = 90 in the present study. However, more uid escapes from between the curtain-end and rotor blade, thus leading to a decrease in the value of torque exerted. When the rotor position h is 45, more uid escapes from between curtain-end and rotor blade, and the amount of torque that is exerted decreases in this case. That the experimental and numerical results are much close to each other has indicated that the choices of model, method and algorithm used in the numerical analysis are proper for the study. Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their appreciation to the Pamukkale University Scientic Research Projects Council, Turkey, Report No. 2003/MHF010 for providing nancial support for the present study. The authors would also like to thank Ege University and Professor Aydogan zdamar, who has allowed the Fluent 6.0 (CFD) program to be used for the study. References
_ [1] Ushiyama I, Nagai H. Optimum design congurations and performance of Savonius rotors. Wind Eng 1988;12(1):5975. [2] Sheldahl RE, Blackwell BF, Feltz LV. Wind tunnel performance data for two and three bucket Savonius rotors. J Energy 1978;2(3):1604. [3] Alexander AJ, Holownia BP. Wind tunnel test on a Savonius rotor. J Ind Aerodyn 1978;3:34351.