Development of a Linear Generator With Spring Mechanism for Vortex Bladeless Wind Turbine

Abstract

In this paper, the group wanted to maximize the amount of wind the prototype can gather using a linear generator with spring mechanism for vortex bladeless wind turbine using the wind energy conversion (WEC) system. A small – scale prototype was developed to harvest wind energy through the use of two linear generators that are designed to accept any angular movement from the horizontal plane. It utilizes the phenomenon called Vortex Shedding effect wherein once the wind passes through a bluff body, it produces shedding effect that yields vibration. The linear generator uses the mechanism of a spring wherein excess motion due to wind energy is captured by the spring and stored as elastic potential energy which will later be converted as oscillating kinetic energy when the speed drops. The prototype was subjected to a controlled and uncontrolled environment measuring the voltage and current according to the obtained wind speed. The increased rate of the linear generator with spring mechanism for controlled and uncontrolled environment are 35.54% and 20.05% respectively. From the wind profiling, the average wind speed obtained is 7.694 kph. It was evident that the linear generator with spring mechanism yielded a higher voltage than the one without spring with resulting values of 2.347 V and 1.873 V respectively.