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Background
The most used wind turbines are the Darrieus wind turbine, a vertical axis wind turbine
(VAWT) and the modern wind turbine, a three-bladed, horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT).
However, the modern wind turbine has proven to be the better of the two because of its reduced
cost and increased efficiency. The modern wind turbine has a peak efficiency of 50%, while the
Darrieus wind turbine has a peak efficiency of 40% (Schubel & Crossley, 2012). All of the
modern wind turbine's blades also contribute to energy production and require less maintenance,
contrary to the Darrieus wind turbine. However, the Darrieus wind turbine is still used today due
to the fewer components it has and since it is a safe alternative (Dvorak, 2014).
When designing a wind turbine, it is also important to consider the number of blades. The
three-bladed wind turbine is the most used turbine nowadays because of its smoother rotational
operation, lower noise, and a generally lower cost. When it comes to cost, both the one and twobladed turbine designs are the cheapest, but they are not used due to the amount of noise they
generate. However, if the amount of power generated was the only thing considered, four-bladed
blades are the best option. The reason why it is not used in the real world is because the marginal
improvement is not worth its the heaviness and high cost (Kalogirou 2014).
Figure 1: Main types of Wind Turbines (Kalogirou 2014)
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Method
To setup the experiment, a blow dryer was used as a substitute for wind, and the motor
was connected to the Arduino in order to measure the voltage of each blade. The blow dryer was
placed 6.5 cm away from the blades. To find the best type of blade, the voltage was recorded for:
1. Skinny Blade at a low blow dryer setting
2. Skinny Blade at a high blow dryer setting
3. Fat Blade at a low blow dryer setting
4. Fat Blade at a high blow dryer setting
The average voltage for each blade type was then calculated.
Results and Conclusion
A comparison of the blades showed that the fat blade was far more effective with an
average voltage of 4.01 V. It had a higher voltage for both low and high settings on the blow
dryer. The results matched the research. The fat blade had 4 blades and generated more power
than the skinny, 3 bladed one. Although it may not be as cost or weight efficient in the real
world, it is the better choice in this project since, we do not need to consider it.
Type of Blade
Voltage (V)
Skinny Blade (Low Setting)
3.03
Skinny Blade (High Setting)
4.00
Skinny Blade Average
3.52
Fat Blade (Low Setting)
3.53
Fat Blade (High Setting)
4.48
Fat Blade Average
4.01
Figure 2: Recorded voltage for two types of blades on various blow dryer settings
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References
Kalogirou, Soteris A.. (2014). Solar Energy Engineering - Processes and Systems (2nd
Edition) - 13.3.1 Types of Wind Turbines. Elsevier. Retrieved November 10, 2020 from
https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/pdf/id:kt00C5XFP4/solar-energy-engineering/types-windturbines
Dvorak, P., Dvorak, P., Daykin, P., Says, S., Petrenko, S., Says, L., . . . Webb, R. (2014, October
21). Vertical-axis wind turbines: What makes them better? Retrieved November 10, 2020,
from https://www.windpowerengineering.com/vertical-axis-wind-turbines/
Schubel, P. and Crossley, R. (2012, September 6). Wind Turbine Design. Retrieved November
10, 2020.