Wind tunnel testing in Holland

TU Delft are conducting tests on the 1800 turbine

The identification of the performance of the wind turbine will be done by means of wind tunnel testing. For this a 1.8 diameter wind turbine based on the design of Hugh Piggott will be used. The first set of wind turbine tests will result in a powercurve for the potential aerodynamic performance for different types of loads on the turbine.

From a second set of wind tunnel tests the real powercurve will result. In this test the complete generator system including the battery will be tested. From this test also the furling behaviour will be identified. These first wind tunnel tests will clarify the performance of the wind turbine and make bottlenecks visible. Next to the wind tunnel test also experience and feedback from the field is required, to make a plan for an improvement of the wind turbine. The new design will be tested in the wind tunnel again and compared to the current design.

I am not sure that the wind tunnel will give a realistic idea of the way the turbine furls in real winds, but the testing is bound to reveal ways to improve the design.

About hugh

I live off-grid in NW Scotland and have spent my life playing with wind turbines. I also love small hydros. Hands on renewable energy is my thing and I like to learn and to share my experiences.
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3 Responses to Wind tunnel testing in Holland

  1. admin says:

    Like I said I doubt if it will shed much light on the furling system behaviour if the wind is steady, but various aspects can no doubt be improved upon for efficiency (aerodynamic and electrical). So long as they stay withing the low-cost, low-skill philosophy of the turbine, then they will be real improvements to the design.

  2. Audun says:

    What kind of adjustments can they do to the design?
    I believe that a wind turbine design like yours, are mostly based on experience and knowledge?
    Thanks for posting.
    Audun.

  3. Joao says:

    Most interesting, thank you for posting !

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