Conceptualizing a Design and Prototyping Method for a Reconfigurable and Portable Archimedes Spiral Wind Turbine

Wind energy harvesting has become one of the most promising renewable energy-based electrical power production methods. Wind turbines are classified into two categories based on the axis orientation: horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) and vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT). HAWT designs generally utilise lift force, and VAWT designs utilise drag force. Archimedes spiral wind turbine (ASWT) is a specialised design that falls under the HAWT classification, which uses both the lift and drag forces and hence possesses a low cut-in speed. Most of the existing wind turbine designs are permanent location designs. When travellers, hikers, adventurers, fishers, and the military are considered, they have to stay in remote areas for long durations. In that case, they might run out of power for their electronic mobile devices such as a mobile phones, where the need for a portable power generation device emerges. This paper attempts to describe the design concept of a portable and reconfigurable/foldable ASWT and a method for making a prototype. SOLIDWORKS software was used for designing and analysis of the ASWT. The simulation study was done, and the results were analysed for the strength of the proposed ASWT design. A wind speed of 13 m/s and 300 rpm of ASWT were considered to be the extreme operating conditions. To our knowledge gained from the existing literature, this is the first study that attempts to develop a portable and reconfigurable ASWT.