Experiments With a Diffuser-Augmented Model Wind Turbine

The initial stages of the experimental development of the diffuser-augmented wind turbine (DAWT) employed various screen meshes to simulate the energy extraction mechanisms of a wind turbine. In this investigation in a 2 × 3 m wind tunnel, a three-bladed constant chord, untwisted turbine model was incorporated into a DAWT model. The objectives were to add real turbine characteristics such as swirl, and centerbodies effects, to the flow. Although this turbine model was not well matched to the diffuser, the model DAWT system increased the power output by more than four times that of the model turbine operating as a conventional wind energy conversion system; more than 3.4 times the power potential of an ideal wind turbine was measured.