Experimental testing of a horizontal-axis wind turbine to assess its performance

This paper describes a test procedure to investigate the performance of a micro wind turbine with horizontal-axis. A 3D model of a rotor with five blades has been designed by a MATLAB software; its airfoil is optimized to efficiently work at low wind speed. The rotor is coupled to an electric generator and this equipment is tested in a wind tunnel. An anemometer is used to measure and set the desired wind speeds. Electric quantities, i.e., voltage, current and power, are acquired by a digital multimeter. A variable resistance is used to change the operating point of the generator. Preliminary results are reported that refer to the application of the proposed test procedures to a wind turbine with a 0.2 m2 swept area.