Plate Shape Effect on the Performance of the Vertical Axis Auto Rotation Current Turbine (VAACT)

The present paper explores experimentally the performance of two types of hinged plates which rotate about vertical axis when submitted to uniform current. A flat plate configuration and also a flapped plate (say, S shape) configuration have been investigated. The Vertical axis Auto rotation Current Turbine (VAACT) is one degree of freedom system (free to rotate in yaw direction). It is shown that a high efficiency for S shape type can be obtained of the order of 30 percent while flat blade type reaches approximately to 7 percent. Upper limit of tip speed ratio for flat blade type has been expanded approximately 0.9 whereas S shape approaches 1.3.Copyright © 2014 by ASME