Development of a Mechanical Passive Pitch System for a 500W Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

摘要

The goal of this paper is to design, analyze, manufacture, and test a mechanical passive pitch mechanism for a small horizontal axis wind turbine. Several pitching concepts were investigated in the wind industry and related fields before ultimately deciding on a centrifugal governor design concept in a pitch-to-stall configuration. Inertia! and aerodynamic models were developed in order to predict steady-state performance and an optimization routine was created to optimize the pitch mechanism configuration subject to manufacturing constraints. Dynamic modeling in HAWC2 validated the steady-state design code, aeroelastic simulations were performed in turbulent wind conditions to simulate the pitch system dynamics. Physical testing of the full turbine was not completed, however the hub sub-assembly was tested on its own to validate the passive pitch characteristics and showed good agreement with the simulation tools developed.