COVER FEATURE
INGENIEUR
Cross Axis Wind Turbine:
Crossing into the Future
By Assoc. Prof. Dr Chong Wen Tong
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Malaya
The Cross Axis Wind Turbine is a complementary
design to push the limits of wind turbine technology.
S
ituations such as low wind speed, high
turbulence and frequent wind-direction
changes can reduce the performance of
horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs). Certain
vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) designs have
the ability to operate well in these harsh operating
conditions but they generally possess low power
coefficients. In order to tackle the abovementioned
problems, a novel cross axis wind turbine (CAWT)
has been conceptualised to extract wind energy
from both the horizontal and vertical directions of
the on-coming winds to maximise the generation
of wind energy. The CAWT consists of three
vertical blades and six horizontal blades arranged
in a cross axis orientation. Initial testing showed
that the maximum rotations per minute (RPM)
generated by the CAWT is 166% higher than the
VAWT under the same experimental conditions
together with improved starting behaviour.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was
done to illustrate the flow field of the deflected
and channeled air stream by the omni-directional
shroud. The air streams deflected upwards by the
guide vane interact with the horizontal blades. The
CAWT is applicable in a wide variety of locations,
creating significant opportunities for the use of
wind energy devices and therefore alleviating
dependency on fossil fuels.
A wind turbine is a device that converts energy
from the wind into electrical power. There are
basically two types of wind turbine; the horizontal
6
26
VOL
- DECEMBER 2016
VOL68
55OCTOBER
JUNE 2013