Dr. Pokharel, McCoy School of Engineering
Dr. Azzouz, McCoy School of Engineering
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are at the forefront for wind energy research. They provide advantage over Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) in having generator at the ground which overcomes the limitation of the generator size and maintenance. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a measurement system which gives information about the flow field in real time. The PIV can be used in the Wind Tunnel to visualize the flow field in which the turbine is operating. PIV uses laser generated sheet and subsequent pictures capture camera. The pictures taken by the camera are converted by the software to generate velocity flow field data. The turbine performance is measured by connecting a physical electricity generator and using LabVIEW program to measure the output electrical power of the generator. As a part of UGROW 2024, this proposed research will employ a student worker to print and assemble a 3D printed Wind Turbine and run it in the McCoy Hall Wind Tunnel. A set of wind speeds are run to determine the power coefficient versus the tip speed ratio characterizing the performance of the wind turbine. The student worker is required to have a solid knowledge of SolidWorks software, and hands-on experiences on assembling mechanical parts. The worker will learn how to operate the PIV system and how to program the LabVIEW software with help from the instructors during the course of the research. After successful testing, data will be collected and analyzed to understand the impact of the wind around the turbine and determine its best performances.