Small nomadic counter-rotating wind turbine : design and experimentation

Many studies show the efficiency of large-scale wind turbines in wind energy harvesting for collective applications. However, few examples relate to small one stage wind turbines (OSWT) for mobile and individual applications. This work details the modeling and the prototype realization of a 18 cm diameter wind turbine using counter-rotating propeller technology (CRWT). This device has been tested in a wind tunnel with wind velocities in the range of 3.5 to 8 m.s-1. First experimental results with a wind of 4.2 m.s-1 (which is the theoretical optimum wind velocity of the device) show that the wind turbine can provide a power of 0.6 W currently dissipated in a load resistance of 1.5 Ω. The power goes up to 2.8 W for a wind of 8 m.s-1.