Highly Efficient Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine: Concept, Structural Design, Theoretical Basis, and Practical Tests Results

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have received increasing research interest due to their structurally simple design and superior adaptability to gusty, multidirectional, and highly turbulent wind conditions. However, their relatively low efficiency of wind utilization remains a significant limitation, necessitating extensive research into design optimization and performance enhancement strategies. As we show, efficiency can be achieved by arranging the blades not evenly around the circumference, as in a traditional VAWT, but in groups called “blocks”, which extracts more energy from the air flow using aerodynamic and thermodynamic phenomena. The experimental results of a 20 kW VAWT in an independent certified laboratory strengthen the theoretical study and prove that the efficiency of the proposed system is 1.7 times higher than that of known VAWTs, as well as horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs).