Enhancing Savonius Turbine Self-starting Capability by Installing a Circular Cylinder in Front of Returning Turbine Blade

Tri Yogi YUWONO (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Ramadhan Ananto Bagas (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Paramesti Suksmatatya (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Merbasari Mahardina Festy (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Lisdarina Elza (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Nabila Arif Vega (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Jeremia Dionisius (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Lawrence Budhiarto Michael (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)
Shuhufam Afiyah (Mechanical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember)

JMES The International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences
Vol 5, No 1 (2021)

The effect of installing a circular cylinder in front of the returning turbine blade in enhancing the self-starting capability of the Savonius wind turbine has been studied experimentally by measuring the static torque of the turbine at the angular positions of the blades. The circular cylinder with a diameter relative to the blade diameter d/D = 0.5 is installed at a distance corresponding to the blade diameter in front of the returning turbine blade which is varied by 1.2 ≤ S/D ≤ 2.6. The experiments were carried out for Reynolds number (Re) = 74,000, 136,000, and 175,000. The results showed that the presence of a circular cylinder installed in front of the returning turbine blade at a distance of 1.4 ≤ S/D ≤ 1.8 was able to achieve the self-starting capability of the Savonius wind turbine as indicated by the positive values of the turbine static torque coefficient at all blade angular positions. The highest performance of the Savonius turbine self-starting capability is obtained at the circular cylinder position S/D = 1.6 for the Reynolds number (Re) = 136,000, and 175,000.