Development of Wind Tunnel for Laboratory

Wind Turbine Testing

Dale S. Dolan, Danny Zepeda, and Taufik Taufik

Electrical Engineering Department
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California, USA

Abstract—This paper presents the development of a wind tunnel conducted using a controlled wind source. The obvious down
that will be used for wind turbine testing in a controlled side is that it is difficult to make a considerable amount of
environment. The prototype is designed to be able to provide wind without a large fan or large motor and create this wind
wind speeds of up to 20 m/s (~43mph) depending on the cross field over a large cross sectional area. For the development of
sectional area of the tunnel chamber. A 42 inch tube axial fan is the wind tunnel a tradeoff was made between a large cross
driven by a 5hp induction motor using a variable frequency sectional area and high wind speeds. The wind tunnel is
drive to allow continuously variable wind speeds from near zero intended for use in the Cal Poly Sustainable Energy Lab as a
up to the maximum wind speed. The fan is rated to produce tool for faculty and student research as well as a teaching tool
~25,000 CFM and the corresponding wind speed is therefore
to be used in selected courses from the electrical engineering,
dependent on chamber cross sectional area. There will be two
chamber sizes possible. One is 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet and the other
power and energy curriculum.
is 3.25 feet by 3.25 feet. The larger cross section allows larger
turbines to be tested while the smaller cross section allows
higher wind speeds to be reached. The paper also describes II. WIND TUNNEL DEVELOPMENT
some possible applications of the apparatus in the academic The heart of the wind tunnel is a large tube axial fan with a
environment. 42 inch diameter (shown in Figure 1). This is capable of
producing ~25,000 CFM when driven by a 5 hp motor (shown
in Figure 2). The fan is belt driven by the 3 phase 208V
I. INTRODUCTION induction motor. The speed of the motor is controlled by a
It is difficult to assess and effectively demonstrate wind VFD (variable frequency drive), shown in Figure 3, that can
turbine behavior in the traditional undergraduate laboratory be adjusted in .01 Hz increments from 0-60Hz. With the
setting, as environmental conditions cannot be reproduced appropriate gearing maximum wind speed is achieved at a
from one test to the next. Peak power tracking algorithms, speed of 880 rpm. The volume of air translates to wind speed
power management, conversion strategies and turbine according to the cross sectional area of the chamber into
aerodynamic performance cannot be readily observed without which it is contained. The setup has two possible cross
field testing a turbine. To overcome this problem many have sectional areas, one to maximize speed and the other to allow
developed wind turbine emulators or wind turbine simulators larger devices to be tested. The larger chamber has a
to mimic the shaft torque that would be available on a turbine dimension of 3.25 feet by 3.25 feet and the smaller chamber
shaft [1-3]. This approach has a number of benefits such as has a cross section of 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet. These correlate to
allowing a larger turbine to be emulated and permitting maximum wind speeds of ~14m/s (~30 mph) for the large
repeatability of various environmental conditions for various cross section and ~20m/s (~43 mph) for the smaller cross
performance studies. As shown in [4] an equivalent single section. It is clear that even with a large fan that the winds
wind speed can be used to represent a complex wind field speeds possible are limited as the cross sectional area
such that the resultant torque appearing on the shaft is increases significantly. As such it would be impractical to
equivalent. However the downside is that an actual set of increase the size of the chamber much past the current design.
turbine blades cannot experience a real wind field nor can a The wind speeds that are possible are sufficient to allow an
student see a real wind turbine in action and make real-time adequate testing of various wind energy capture devices,
measurements. The approach in this paper is to develop a although these devices must be limited in size to fit within the
lower cost wind tunnel where an Electrical Engineering limited size of the chamber. As an example one wind turbine
student can make live measurements and studies can be that will be tested is the 400W wind generator shown in
Figure 4.
Figure 1. Dayton 42” Diameter, Belt Driven, Tube Axial Duct Fan. With Figure 4. SunForce 400W Wind Generator. Peak output achieved at 28mph
5hp motor capable of 25,320 CFM. wind speed.

An AutoCAD sketch of the complete wind tunnel is shown

from two perspectives in Figure 5 and Figure 6. The axial fan,
the tunnel chamber and ducted adapter that connects the two
pieces can be clearly seen in the two figures.

Figure 2. Siemens 3 phase induction motor: 5hp, 13.4/6.7 Amp, Figure 5. Wind Tunnel Autocad Drawing – View A
230/460 V, 1740 rpm, NEMA B design, Frame 184T.

Figure 6. Wind Tunnel Autocad Drawing – View B

Figure 3. TECO Variable Frequency Drive, 5hp/3.7kW, Input: 3-Phase,

The wind tunnel is composed of two parts connected with
200-240V, 20.5A, Output:3 phase 0-400Hz, 0-240V, 17.5 A a ducted adapter. It must be modular due to its size to allow
transport from room to room when necessary. The first part is
the motor stand. The AutoCAD view of this component is such that items will not be sucked into the fan nor blown out
shown in Figure 7. The frame was constructed of over 70 feet causing potential damage to the setup or injury to the users.
of 2”x 2” -1/4”tubular steel. A photograph of the fan being A close-up of the motor installed under the fan is seen in
installed in the completed frame is shown in Figure 8. The Figure 10.
completed motor stand with both fan and motor installed
underneath is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 7. Motor Stand Autocad drawing Figure 9. Completed nstallation of fan in motor stans

Figure 8. Installation of fan in motor stand.

Figure 10. Installation of motor to the underside of fan.
The 2 inch tubular steel used in the construction of the
motor stand weighs approximately 350 pounds. The entire The second part of the wind tunnel is the chamber itself
structure with motor, fan and tubular steel has a final weight where the wind energy capture device is installed. The
of ~600 pounds. Its completed dimensions are 44 inches in AutoCAD drawing of the chamber can be seen in Figure 5 and
width and 66 inches in height. The height is such that the Figure 6. A wind turbine in a representative chamber is
chamber will be at a suitable height for use, yet still fit through shown in Figure 11. Two chambers will be constructed such
a standard door frame. Guards are installed on both sides of that a greater wind speed can be achieved in the small
the fan for safety such that the fan cannot be touched and also
chamber and larger turbines can be housed in the larger
chamber.

Figure 13. Atmel STK600 AVR Microcontroller Development Board

Figure 11. The wind turbine in a wind tunnel chamber

Shown in Figure 12 are the connection boxes constructed

to allow measurements of motor current when required and of
the VFD. These are fused for protection of the motor and
VFD as well as to prevent overspeed of the fan. The VFD will
be controlled using the STK600 AVR Microcontroller
Development Board shown in Figure 13. This will allow the
user to either manually request a particular wind speed or to
program a varying wind speed time series that can be repeated
from trial to trial. A Matrix Orbital key display (shown in
Figure 14) is used as the input device such that a particular Figure 14. Matrix Orbital Key Display
speed can be requested or simply an increase or decrease in
speed can be requested. The key display has a 16-key key pad
and a 20 column by 4 line text display with up to 19.2 Kbps The final piece required for control is an anemometer for
communications over RS232 or I2C. The development board wind speed measurement. This measured wind speed is fed
has a USB interface to PC for programming and control. It is back to the microcontroller and adjusted until the reference
powered either from USB bus or an external 10-15V DC speed is reached. The anemometer is coupled with the
power supply. Ultimeter 2000 to interpret the pulse train generated and
convert this to a wind speed measurement. The anemometer
and Ultimeter 2000 combination are shown in Figure 15.
The key pad interface has the following options; A)
Measure Wind Speed, B) Change Wind Speed, C) Increment
or Decrement motor speed and D) Input desired wind speed.
The microcontroller processes the input and transmits the
required commands to the VFD such that the desired action is
implemented.

III. WIND TUNNEL APPLICATIONS

There are a number of potential applications for the
developed Wind Tunnel. One area that will explored is the
control systems used in small wind turbine MPPT algorithms
and for battery charging. Another possible application is for
testing of student designed small wind turbine blades and or
generators using existing blade sets. Students will also
explore open loop power generation and the effects of varying
Figure 12. Connection boxes and Variable Frequency Drive wind speeds on both open loop generation behavior and
controlled closed loop behavior. One of the additional
potential applications for this setup is in energy harvesting
testing with various piezoelectric type sensors to determine the technologies can be conducted. The wind tunnel allows
effectiveness and varying potential designs for low energy repeatable and controlled environmental conditions that are
demand systems using wind energy. unavailable in the field. Wind speeds of up to 20m/s (~43
mph) can be produced using a 3 phase, 5hp, 208V induction
motor driving a 25,000 CFM 42 inch tube axial fan. A cross
sectional area as large as 3.25 feet by 3.25 feet can be used at
a wind speed of 14 m/s (~30mph).

REFERENCES

[1]. L. Chang , R. Doraiswami , T. Boutot and H. Kojabadi, "Development

of a wind turbine simulator for wind energy conversion systems", in
Proc. Canadian IEEE CCECE 2000, vol. 1, Halifax, Canada, pp.550
2000.
[2]. D. S.L. Dolan, and P.W. Lehn, “Real-time wind turbine emulator
suitable for power quality and dynamic control studies”, presented at
the Int. Conf. Power Systems Transients, IPST05, Montreal, Canada,
Jun. 19-23 2005.
[3]. P.E. Battaiotto, R.J. Mantz, and P.F. Puleston, “ A wind turbine
Figure 15. Anemometer and Ultimeter 2000.
emulator based on a dual DSP processor system,” Contr. Eng. Pract.,
vol. 4, pp. 1261-1266, 1996
[4]. D. S.L. Dolan, and P.W. Lehn, “Simulation Model of Wind Turbine 3p
Torque Oscillations due to wind shear and Tower Shadow”, IEEE
IV. CONCLUSIONS Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp 717-724, Sept
2006.
A wind tunnel has been designed and developed for use in
a laboratory setting for research and teaching purposes. The
wind tunnel will allow electrical engineering students and
faculty to have access to a local wind tunnel where a variety of
testing and experimentation on wind energy generation