A micro Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) tested in the Jules Verne wind tunnel

摘要

In the context of small wind turbines, our recent work, carried out during the Aerojoules project [1] [2], has demonstrated the interest of using a Darrieus wind turbine as an attractive alternative to the traditional horizontal axis wind turbines. We have focused our research on 3 main topics: the design of a wind turbine model using static finite element simulations to determine the more efficient profile of the blades, the analysis of the static and dynamic phenomena and choice of the right devices and the development of an efficient electrical conversion chain [3]. Then the whole conversion chain from wind to battery has been tested and the power coefficient curve has been determined in the CSTB wind tunnel. In [4], we have presented an original method for the sensorless Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) of a small power wind turbine using a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) to supply a DC load. This method does neither require to measure the wind speed nor to know the turbine parameters.