Numerical Simulation of Flow through Invelox Wind Turbine System

Abstract

INVELOX is a recently developed wind capturing system suitable for wind power harnessing. Rather than grabbing bits of energy from the wind as it passes through the blades of a wind turbine rotor, the INVELOX innovation catches wind with a funnel and directs it through a tapering passageway that actually accelerate its move through a venturi section. INVELOX catches wind flow through an omnidirectional intake and subsequently there is no requirement for yaw control to orient the wind turbine. Comparison between developer’s result and present results for a simple Invelox showed good agreement. The developed Invelox model was then analyzed with inclusion of a wind turbine to achieve a wind speed of 11.90 m/s at venturi section giving a speed ratio of 1.72. Comparison between Invelox wind turbine system and a traditional wind turbine was also attempted under similar conditions. Results indicate that the Invelox system can generate about 6 to 8 times more energy than the traditional wind turbine with the same size of turbine. The performance of Invelox system was analyzed with wind flows from 8 different directions (0˚, 45˚, 90˚, 135˚, 180˚, 225˚, 270˚, 315˚, 360˚) with respect to turbine axis. It is observed that higher speed ratios are achieved in all case expect 135˚ and 225˚ angles. Highest wind speed ratio of 2.014 is achieved in case of 45˚ and 315˚ angles.