Empirical Study of Combined Airfoil of Wind Turbine for Using In Small Turbines

Abstract

In this study a wind tunnel experimental test was conducted on a new hybrid airfoil to obtain its performance specifications for the reason of taking advantage of such a hybrid in the structure of turbines that operate at low Reynolds numbers (i.e. small turbines work with low-speed wind). The hybrid airfoil for the current study was made of the two conventional airfoils used in the NACA 63-XXX and Wortmann FX wind turbines. Aerodynamic loads were measured by an aerodynamic balance device and the pressure distribution on the hybrid airfoil under investigation has been calculated by a pressure gauge installed on the device and finally, the obtained results were compared with previous airfoil designs. Due to the high lift coefficient and appropriate lift-to-drag ratio of the hybrid airfoil, the achieved results confirmed the suitability of the airfoil performance characteristics to utilize in the small wind turbines which operate at low Reynolds numbers.