Counter-rotating dual rotor wind turbine layout optimisation

Abstract

General energy demand is continuously increasing, thus the energy generating assets need to be optimised for higher efficiency. Wind turbines are no exception. Their maximum efficiency can be determined on a theoretical basis. The limit is approached by researches day by day, utilizing the latest developments in airfoil design, blade structure and new and improved ideas in conventional and unconventional wind turbine layouts. In this paper, we are reviewing the conventional and unconventional wind turbines and their place in smart cities. Then, an unconventional wind turbine design, the CO-DRWT (counter-rotating dual rotor wind turbine) is analysed with a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) code, varying the axial and radial distances between the two turbines. After the simulations, the power coefficients for the different turbine configurations is calculated. At the end of this paper, the simulations results are summarized and consequences are drawn for the CO-DRWT layouts.