A novel magnetic levitation assisted vertical axis wind turbine — Design procedure and analysis

Abstract

Malaysia exerts predominantly low wind due to its geographical location near to the equator. The monsoon winds are blocked by the Sumatra islands, and Borneo islands. Due to this wind technology is found be less efficient and is not expected to be adopted for sustainable energy. With a average wind speed of 2-3m/s, along the east coast of west malaysia and small islands[1] the positioning of horizontal turbine is expected to do little work for the energy crisis across. However the sustainability relies much on the renewable and inadverently it is necessity to top up with alternate form. This paper proposes the vertical axis turbine and the novelty of levitation concept is introduced into the design. Its efficiency, cost and power output is more competitive than its counterpart. It is expected that with the use of the levitated turbine design wind as low as 1m/s can produce power, and the output potential of wind farms can be significantly increased. This type of wind setup does not require any significant land for installation, as its can be easily incorporated in rooftop, tower, and buildings. With Maglev VAWT the cost is significantly low with smaller size generator, lower weight, and low maintenance and long lasting. The design of such a maglev based turbine design to demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed system is presented in this work.