Development and Power Performance Test of a Small Three-Blade Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine

The parameterization, installation, and testing of a locally developed three-blade horizontal-axis wind turbine were carried out. The turbine blades were fabricated from Mansonia Altissima wood because of its availability, good strength, and resistance to both fatigue and soaking, with a rotor swept area of 3.65 m(2) and the blade angle of attack was experimentally determined to be 7(degrees). The turbine was installed on the roof top of the University of Ilorin, Faculty of Engineering Central Workshop Building at a hub height of 14.9 m from the ground level while the turbine generator was sourced locally. The direct current (d.c.) power output of the test turbine was measured at the battery bank terminal by a Power Analyzer and a direct current (d.c.) to alternating current (a.c.) inverter converts the d.c. power output to a.c. power and was measured by a digital wattmeter. An anemometer with a data logger installed on a meteorological tower (MET) measured the wind speed and direction over the test period. The cut-in wind speed, that is, the speed at which the wind turbine starts to produce power was determined to be 3.5 m/sec. One minutes averages of wind speed and power output was used to determine the power curve for the wind turbine. Measured power increase consistently with increased wind speed and the power curve obtained compared fairly well with standard power curves.