Performance Analysis of PLA Material Based Micro-Turbines for Low Wind Speed Applications

Various studies have been conducted in recent years to find solutions to the issues in wind energy conversion systems. A 100W horizontal axis micro wind turbine is built for low wind speed applications in this work. The Blade Element Momentum theory approach was used to design the 100W micro wind turbine blade. The wind turbine blade 3D model was created using the CREO CAD 3.0 software. Based on the aerodynamic studies, the airfoil S9000 is chosen among others for generating high power at low wind speed. The density, Young’s modulus, and the Poisson ratio of the proposed wind turbine blade model with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA) materials were compared. ABS and PLA materials were investigated using a 0.33 mm layer of infill ranging from 10% to 100%. PLA and ABS output values were compared in terms of deformation, equivalent stress, and equivalent strain. PLA materials, on the other hand, have less deformation and greater structural properties than ABS materials. The wind blade structural analysis was performed in ANSYS 15 software, and the details of experimental and simulated results are presented in this paper.