Experimental Assessment of Suitability of Darrieus and Savonius Turbines for Obtaining Wind Energy from Passing Vehicles

The article deals with the results of a comparative analysis carried out on the construction of wind turbines applied in energy generation systems using the wind of passing vehicles. The structures of turbines with horizontal and vertical axes of rotation were considered. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have been observed to operate in various wind directions, including highly turbulent winds. Therefore, for further experimental research, VAWTs have been selected, i.e., Darrieus and Savonius turbines and their modifications. For the purpose of experimental research, the authors developed and implemented their own laboratory setup. This setup enabled the measurement of quantities such as torque, power, and power coefficient and allowed for the determination of the start-up parameters of the investigated turbines. Moreover, as part of the research, wind speed was also measured in field conditions at a distance of 1 m from the expressway. The wind speed obtained from passing vehicles did not exceed 9 m/s. For this reason, the tests of the considered turbines using the experimental setup were performed for wind speeds in the range of 5.8–8.6 m/s. The investigations were conducted based on the obtained results, and it was concluded that the helical Savonius turbine possessed the highest efficiency (0.2047 from a wind speed of 5.8 m/s) in generating energy from the wind produced by vehicles traveling on roads.