Optimization and experimental study of a horizontal axis wind turbine with diffuser with 1 kW power

Humankind has always been in search of energy from the very beginning to the present day. However, over time, it seems that these non-renewable energy sources can be depleted and at the same time have started to cause significant damage to nature. Therefore, with the help of developing technology, infrastructure and important developments, renewable energy sources have gained significant momentum in recent years. One of these renewable energy sources is wind energy, namely wind turbines. Nowadays, wind turbines of many different types and features have been produced worldwide. However, this study is the first of its kind in Turkey and is rarely seen in the world. The main purpose of this study is to optimize the blade cross section of the horizontal axis wind turbine, which is the most common and widely used wind turbine among wind turbines, and at the same time to increase the efficiency obtained by adding a diffuser around the wind turbine. After optimizing all design parameters, including the parameters of the added diffuser and blade cross-section geometry, with the ANSYS Adjoint Solver optimization tool, ANSYS Goal Driven Optimization Technique was used to optimize the 3D parameters, so that all parameters affecting the wind turbine could be solved conjugately at the same time. In the optimization process performed in this study, the criteria that have a very important effect on the turbine efficiency are taken into account. Therefore, the blade's angle of attack, trailing angle, diffuser angle and length were optimized and the efficiency was increased with the addition of a diffuser and a new unique airfoil was produced. Then the turbine with and without diffuser is analyzed in CFD program and the values are compared. The effect of the diffuser on the efficiency is shown. Finally, the CFD and experimental results of the turbine with diffuser are compared and the losses affecting the efficiency are mentioned. As a result of the experiments, the targeted 1kW power was achieved at 9 m/s wind speed. As a result, a brand new blade was designed with a unique design that is not available in the market and a diffuser was added to this blade, so that the efficiency of the wind turbine increased between 8% and 11%. At the same time, materials such as carbon fiber and glass fiber used in the production of the blades have made the blades light and strong. Thanks to this lightness, even at the lowest wind speeds, for example 1.75 m/s, the turbine produced energy.