Design of a Vertical Wind Turbine to Power LED Street Lights

Design Team
Juan Berrocal, Paul Cabral
Brian Dolan, Michael Tangredi

Design Advisor
Professor Taslim

Abstract
Wind turbines and street lights are two expensive free standing structures which can benefit from
each other. The light poles are similar to the poles used to place wind turbines in the air. A design
to attach a wind turbine to an existing light pole to help power the light would be an
environmentally friendly way to reduce costs of powering a street light. The turbine should be
small, weighing around 50 pounds. The production cost of the turbine is intended to be below
$1000. The turbine will use net metering to the grid to store the energy rather than storing it in a
battery. The turbine will be 1 meter in diameter and 1.5 meters in height to reach the requirements
it must satisfy. It will have two arms that clamp to existing light posts. The cut in wind speed for
the turbine will be 2 m/s while spinning at 150 rotations per minute. At the optimal level, the
turbine will be able to produce 50% of the wattage to power an LED street light saving the
government around $100 per street light per year.

For more information, please contact m.taslim@neu.edu.

The Need for Project
The growth of green energy The proposed idea for a wind turbine attaching to existing light
has opened a market for posts will allow cities to cut back on wattage used, at a low cost.
efficient wind turbines. The city of Boston is currently moving towards the implementation
The shift towards LED street of LED street lights, which opens a perfect window for the production
lights provides a use for small of small wind turbines to power street lights. The wattage needed by an
scale wind turbines. LED street light is significantly smaller than that of a regular light, and
can be achieved by wind turbines that attach to existing light posts.

The Design Project Objectives and Requirements

The wind turbine is to power Design Objectives
the wattage required by an The vertical blade design is to be implemented in urban
LED street light, environments, attached to existing street lights. Their position on
approximately 45 W. existing poles allows them to be easily connected to the grid, or to the
The vertical wind turbine is to LED lights, and provide 50% - 100% of the 45 W used by the street
function at varying wind lights.
speeds of 4 m/s to 6 m/s. Due to competition of existing turbine designs, the rated wind
The turbine is to produce speed for the design is an essential specification to distinguish the
sufficient power at the turbine from its competitors. Major wind turbines work with an average
determined wind speed and rated wind speed of 10 – 15 m/s, while the intended design is to work at
with a coefficient of an average wind speed of 5 m/s.
performance below Betz’ Design Requirements
Limit of 59.3%. The turbine should have a start-up wind speed of 2 m/s, and an
optimal operational wind speed of 5 m/s (the average Boston wind
General equation for speed). At the optimal operational wind speed, the wattage production
calculating the theoretical is to be at least 25 W, about 50% of the required wattage of an LED
power obtained from wind street light.
turbines: Using the general equation for calculating the theoretical power
obtained from wind turbines, with a coefficient of performance of 30%
and an average wind speed of 5 m/s, the needed swept area of the
blades was determined to be 1.5 m2.
The design should also measure no taller than 80”, allowing the
required interstate highway vertical clearance of at least 840” above the
road. Finally, it should have a lifespan of 25 years, requiring minimum
to no maintenance.
Design Concepts Considered
4 different designs of vertical Horizontal and vertical wind turbines were initially considered, but
wind turbines were analyzed a vertical design was chosen for their greater efficiency in urban
and considered. environments and function at low wind speeds. The vertical design
Gorlov Helical Turbine: works with turbulent multidirectional flows, which match the intended
environment for where the turbine is to be implemented.
Two different blade designs were considered for the final design of
the vertical turbine, each with 2 variations, the standard straight vertical
blades and the Gorlov helical design. Two of the designs considered
using “scoops,” while the other 2 did not. The scoop design airfoils
were initially considered to mix drag and lift forces produced by the
airflow, but were quickly rejected due to their unproven efficiency and
Gorlov Helical w/ “Scoops:”
production cost. The 2 remaining designs were compared through a
design-decision matrix, analyzing reliability, efficiency, cost, and ease
of installation and maintenance. The Gorlov Helical Turbine was
chosen mainly due to its proven efficiency and low wind speed required
to function.
An extending arm from the existing light post was determined to
be the best method of attaching and holding the intended design in
Straight Vertical Turbine:
place. Two arm designs were considered; a 1 arm design and a 2 arm
design. The 1 arm model consisted of only 1 support on the bottom of
the turbine design, which provided a low cost and lightweight solution.
The 2 arm design clamps the turbine model in place, limiting possible
vibrations and sway from the turbine. The 2 arm design was chosen,
because it provided better safety measures for the turbine, as well as
Straight Vertical w/ “Scoops:” provided a method of easily accommodating a generator and needed
bearings.
The choice to attach the generator to a battery or directly to the
grid was analyzed, and ultimately determined to be connected directly
to the grid. Both alternatives come with elevated costs, but the idea of
the battery was eliminated due to the fact that one turbine might not
produce enough wattage to fully power an LED, meaning the battery
would permanently remain drained.
Recommended Design Concept
The design is a helical vertical Following the Gorlov helix design, 3 blades equally spaced were
turbine composed of 3 used, each consisting of an NACA 0018 profile. The NACA 0018
fiberglass blades. profile was chosen in order to follow the previous work done by the
The blades will be 6” in chord collapsible wind turbine capstone group. The previous capstone design
length, and have a NACA team determined the NACA 0018 profile as the most efficient for the
0018 profile. design of a vertical turbine functioning at low wind speeds.
The blades contain separate drill holes that line up with the spokes
to determine the angle of attack desired, 1°, 3°, or 5°. The spokes are
placed between to base plates which hold the spoke in place and rotate
Spokes equally spaced 120°
the center shafts, spindle, and generator.
apart will hold the blades in
The arms consist of hollow pipes which connect to a base plate that
place.
holds the spindle at the bottom, or the generator housing at the top. At
the other end, the pipes are welded onto a O-clamp, which are tightened
into place around the existing light post.
When analyzing the appropriate materials used, all parts were
analyzed to withhold a minimum force of 200 N, which approximately
relates to wind speeds of 15 m/s hitting the frontal area of the vertical
wind turbine. This value was chosen, because it is about 2 times greater
than the average wind speed of the “windiest” cities of USA.
All components, with exception of the spindle and bearings, and

Arms will attach to the top and the generator, were bought from McMaster-Carr and machined in
bottom of the design and house.
clamp around the existing The generator used is a direct drive permanent magnet generator,

street light: which eliminates the need for a gear box in order to function properly.
The generator used also functions at low wind speeds, and requires 150
revolutions per minute to begin producing power. Tests will be carried
out to determine if the RPM required is met by the prototype and
produce the intended wattage.
The advantage of this idea is its location. The turbine design
requires an existing pole rather than the need to buy a new pole. The
two arm design provides stability for the turbine, while making it easier
to install than other models. The vertical design is better for urban
environments while current wind turbines placed on street lights have a
horizontal design. The price tag on the model is also on the lower side
with current competitors.
Financial Issues
Financial constraints were a The biggest financial issue encountered occurred when
big limiting factor in the determining how to make the blades. The original plan consisted of
intended production of the having entire blades 3-D printed, but due to elevated costs and lead
helical blades. time, the idea was rejected. Use of molds was also considered, but due
to restricted budget and time concerns it was also eliminated. Foam was
Price to date ~ $1,300.00 finally used for the construction of blades.
Currently, the prototype is above the intended budget by
approximately $300, which was mainly caused by shipping costs of
foam, as well as required minimum order size of materials needed
(screws, nuts, washers, etc.). These costs would be greatly lowered
once production of multiple units begins, and different production
methods implemented.

Recommended Improvements
Fabrication of the blades needs Despite various attempts at Northeastern University to construct
to improve to provide accurate vertical wind turbines, there has not been any detailed procedure for
design results. ease of fabrication of helical blades. The lack of material from previous
A testing fixture for turbine turbine fabrications has led to a continuous improvisation of
projects will lead to accurate prototyping procedures. Having a proven manufacturing technique,
test results. easily available in the lab, will lead to greater quality blades.
A test stand is also essential to wind turbine groups, as there is no
adequate location for the testing of the prototypes produced at the
Capstone lab. Having a fixture available for testing would allow more
test runs to be carried out, as well as a standard test to accurately
compare different turbine prototypes.