Design and Numerical Analysis of Wind Turbine for Energy Recovery in Electric Vehicles

In this study, a design for a horizontal-axis wind turbine was created to recover some of the energy lost by moving vehicles and turn it into electrical energy, and its effectiveness was examined using computer simulations. The geometry of the wind turbine system was modeled using SolidWorks software. The CFD simulation study was carried out using the SST k-ω turbulence model. ANSYS Fluent commercial software was used in the simulations. The initial inlet velocity was taken at three different values of 10 m/s, 15 m/s and 27 m/s, respectively. The results obtained indicate that the designed wind turbine has the potential to generate power for an electric vehicle. In the designed vehicle-type wind turbine system, it has been determined that an efficient blade design and consequent improvement of airflow characteristics will increase the generated electrical power and reduce the additional impact on vehicle aerodynamics. Furthermore, the position of the designed wind turbine on the vehicle significantly influences the vehicle's aerodynamics. It has been determined that positioning the wind turbine in a way that increases the vehicle's projection area may lead to an increase in the aerodynamic losses of the vehicle.