Date of Award

6-2015

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Tianshu Liu

Second Advisor

Dr. Parviz Merati

Third Advisor

Dr. Javier Montefort

Keywords

Alternative Energy, Wind Energy, Green Energy, Wind Energy Harvester, Fundamental study of Wind Oscillator

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

This thesis describes in detail the design, mechanical, electrical and software considerations in developing a working model for the non-conventional wind power converter called Wind Oscillator. This was based on the concept developed and patented by Tianshu Liu in the paper “Wind Oscillator and Rotor for Power Generation”[1]. In order to verify the practicality of this idea, a working model of the Wind Oscillator was designed, built and tested in the Western Michigan University wind tunnel facility. LabVIEW data acquisition and photogrammetry was performed on the model so as to evaluate the power generated by the Wind Oscillator and to study the performance and ways to improve the device.

The study found that the root-mean-square (RMS) voltage output of the Wind Oscillator had a steady increase for increasing wind speed. The increase in the Angle of Attack (AoA) of the wing, AoA of the arm and the vertical position of the spring also increased the RMS voltage output of the device. The photogrammetric study of the arm and the wing reveals the difference in requested AoA for the arm and the wing by the user through the LabVIEW interface and the actual AoA of the arm and the wing. Finally, the pendulum photogrammetry helped to quantify the power output of the device.

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