I've helped test Wind Direction events. It seems like there are a lot of differences between the turbines that do well on the test stand and what a reliable, economical commercial wind turbine looks like.soyuppy wrote:Want to see if anyone has seen different performance.
in the attach picture, the leading edge is the straight untapered side.
In all actual wind turbine, the blade rotate in the direction of leading edge. But in our design, we get better performance when blade rotate into the tapered edge.
I want to see how we can improve, but having it spin into the leading edge is not improving.
Strong designs at the most recent test ranged from two blade designs out of curved plastic to three blade teardrop designs out of corrugated cardboard to plastic sheeting curved into a pinwheel design to two small teardrops mounted on a toilet paper roll. All of these designs spun very quickly.
One big difference between event designs and commercial wind turbines seems to be how three dimensional the blades are. Most of the designs I've seen work by having the air flow push on them, rather than by utilizing the effect of lift on a curved blade. I think you have to consider the fact that commercial wind turbines have a lower rotation rate and a much larger swept area. The test stand converts rotation to electricity right at the hub, not after the rotation has gone through a gearbox to create a higher electrical generation rotation speed.
