Dynamic stall was controlled on a double-bladed H-Rotor vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) using pulsed dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators in a feed-forward control configuration. The azimuthal angles of plasma actuation initiation and termination, that produced the largest increases in power, were determined parametrically on the upstream half of the turbine azimuth in a low speed blow-down wind tunnel at wind speeds of 5m/s to 7m/s. Three different actuator setups were tested on the turbine. A model was used to estimate transient torque and power developed by the turbine under the influence of plasma actuation. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) data was acquired in order to further characterize and understand the effects of plasma actuation on dynamic stall effects. A remarkable result of this investigation was that a net turbine power increase of more than 10% was measured. This was achieved by systematically reducing plasma pulsation duty cycles as well as the plasma initiation and termination angles. Nevertheless PIV measurements of the flowfield showed that actuation was not fully successful in controlling the dynamic stall vortex. This indicates even greater potential for improvement with more powerful actuation.
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