I just bought a turbine, looks similar to the AirX 403, but has an output of 48V/1KW at 12.5m/s from a 1.8 meter Carbon Fiber 5- bladed rotor.
I was thinking of doing a couple of changes to it to increase the perofrmce at lower wind speeds and output at any given wind speed, with two simple alternations.
- -Putting on blades extenders at the root of the blades to increase the swept area. (making it a 2.3m rotor dia.). Extending at the tips is a lot more risky and difficult to do.
- -Fabricating a new hub for three blades instead and replacing the 5-bladed rotor with a 3-bladed one.
I would appreciate any suggestions to this. My target is to have lower wind speed start ups and higher KW rating, as the generator is capable of 200% overload.
A-My understanding is that reducing the number of blades would result in higher rpm (meaning higher KW output) at any given wind speed, since the originally 5-bladed rotor was designed for lower rpm and less noise, which is not an issue for me.
B-By extending the blades at the roots would result in lower wind start-ups.
Am I thinking on the right track?
Regarding the blade extenders,
Would it be more efficient to add a simple metal pipe (20-40mm dia.) or would I be better of extending at the tips with fiberglass extension, which is much more complex than adding simple metal pipe extenders?
Any idea how much gain I could expect from:
i-Reducing the number of blades from five to three
ii-Extending the blades at the root, from 1.8m dia to 2.3m.
iii-Both of the above combined.
Any ideas or suggestions would be highly appreciated.
Thanks, Usman.