Design and construction of horizontal axis wind mill For water pumping

Abstract

This paper presents design and construction details of a six-bladed horizontal axis wind mill suitable for small scale lift irrigation. The main outcome of the study is the improvement of the rotor performance by introduction of a hub fairing. The air flow that normally passes through the hub section, without energy been extracted, is deflected radially to pass through the rotor blades. The optimum radial variations of the blade twist and chord length are employed so that the available energy is converted to useful mechanical energy more effectively. The estimated increase in the power coefficient is approximately 16% at the design speed. The new rotor has a higher starting torque and thus starts at lower wind speeds compared with conventional rotors. The construction phase of the wind mill is nowr complete and tests are in progress to assess the field performance.