Design and implementation of a smart vertical-axis wind turbine

A smart, flexible, and environment-friendly Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) prototype was designed and implemented. Novel electronic, mechanical, control, and programming designs were used to give the VAWT an intelligent and futuristic touch, suited for a smart city environment. The turbine end-user should be able to remotely control its operation, track its energy production, geographical location, and various statistics via an interactive website that may be accessed through a smartphone. In order to protect the turbine’s mechanical and electrical components, various safety measures were integrated in the design such as Gradual Breaking System (GBS), Dynamic Load Management (DLM), and Safety Halt System (SHS). All the smart features of this VAWT were successfully tested in practice. The average output power of this initial turbine prototype ranged between 3 W for a low wind speed (5 m/s) to a maximum of 7.3 W for a stronger wind speed (about 15 m/s) with an estimated efficiency of 10 %. Boosting these figures is simply achieved by upscaling the turbine geometry along with its electric generator’s ratings. Thanks to its several features, this VAWT may be used in a wide area of applications ranging from networked highway energy distribution points to stand-alone domestic portable generators.