Optimization and experimental investigation of 3D printed micro wind turbine blade made of PLA material

Abstract

This paper presents the design, development, and optimization of a 3D printed micro horizontal axis wind turbine blade made of PLA material. The objective of the study was to produce 100 watts of power for low-wind-speed applications. The design process involved the selection of SD7080 airfoil and the determination of the material properties of PLA and ABS. A structural analysis of the blade was carried out using ANSYS software under different wind speeds, and Taguchi’s L16 orthogonal array was used for the experiments. The deformation and equivalent stress of the PLA material were identified, and the infill percentage and wind speed velocity were optimized using the moth-flame optimization (MFO) algorithm. The results demonstrate that PLA material has better structural characteristics compared to ABS material. The optimized parameters were used to fabricate the turbine blades using the fusion deposition modeling (FDM) technique, and they were tested in a wind tunnel.