Implementation of a Small-Scale Savonius Type Wind Turbine for Transmission Line Sensor Nodes

In smart-grid systems, sensor nodes are deployed on transmission structures to detect different forms of natural and malicious physical events that can adversely affect the performance of the grid. The operation of the sensor node is limited to its battery life. Usually solar, vibrational and thermal are used to power up these devices, but few only consider wind for this application. This paper focuses on the implementation of a small-scale Savonius wind turbine as an auxiliary supply to charge the battery of the sensor node. A wind enhancement device (WED) is designed and introduced to be able to utilize lower wind speeds for continuous operation. Its design was based on a typical open-circuit wind tunnel, and an optimum flange height for the diffuser section has been characterized using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation Software to further improve the wind speed inside the WED. The performance of the Savonius wind turbine was compared with and without the WED to determine its effect on the speed of the turbine, and output voltage, current and power of the generator. The results demonstrate the increase in the efficiency of the generator through the use of WED.