Power coefficient of tornado-type wind turbines

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · J. Energy; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2514/3.62724· OSTI ID:6545128

Rangwalla, A A; Hsu, C T

In a tornado-type wind turbine the wind collecting tower is equipped with adjustable vanes that can be opened on the windward side and closed on the leeward side. The wind enters the tower tangentially through these open vanes and exits from the top. As a result, a vortex is formed inside the tower. A vertical axis turbine which is located underneath the tower floor admits air vertically and exhausts it into the vortex core. The pressure drop in the vortex core can be high, depending upon the vortex concentration, thus enhancing manyfold the total pressure drop across the turbine. The power coefficient C /SUB p/ of this system depends mainly on how low a pressure can be created in the vortex core. A maximum C /SUB p/ of about 2.5 was obtained by Yen for a spiral shaped tower. This is about 6.25 times the C /SUB p/ of conventional windmills. Analytical studies have been carried out by several investigators to study the C /SUB p/ of this vortex machine. Loth considered the conservation of angular momentum and obtained a C /SUB p/ based on the tower frontal area, which is not impressive.

• Research Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
• OSTI ID: 6545128
• Journal Information: J. Energy; (United States), Journal Name: J. Energy; (United States) Vol. 7:6; ISSN JENED
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
170602* -- Wind Energy Engineering-- Turbine Design & Operation
AIR FLOW
CALCULATION METHODS
EQUILIBRIUM
FLUID FLOW
GAS FLOW
MACHINERY
MASS TRANSFER
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
POSITIONING
POWER COEFFICIENT
PRESSURE DROP
REACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS
TORNADO TURBINES
TURBINES
TURBOMACHINERY
VANES
VERTICAL AXIS TURBINES
VORTEX FLOW
WIND TURBINES