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.

Wind energy conversion systems (WECS) have gained increasing attention in recent years as promising renewable energy sources. Despite their potential, a clear research gap exists: the majority of WECS underperform in low wind speed conditions, limiting their applicability in many regions. To address this problem, this study proposes a novel approach by developing a 100 W micro wind turbine using Polylactic Acid (PLA) to generate efficient power in low wind speed conditions. The proposed wind turbine design employs Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT), which is commonly used for modeling wind turbine performance. Geometric design, mechanical analysis, and aerodynamic analysis are the fundamental considerations for designing any machine. In this work, the CREO 3.0 three-dimensional modeling software is used to create the geometric design of the proposed work. The airfoil SD7080 is selected due to its superior aerodynamic performance, and mechanical properties such as Young's modulus, density, and Poisson's ratio are attained to evaluate the wind blade's performance. Additionally, ANSYS 15.0 is used to conduct a detailed analysis of the proposed wind turbine, evaluating properties such as equivalent stress, deformation, and equivalent strain. Both simulation (ANSYS 15.0) and experimental setups are used to investigate the proposed wind turbine's performance, and the corresponding results are presented and discussed in this manuscript. The results indicate a significant performance improvement of the proposed wind blade when compared to conventional and ABS wind blades, demonstrating its potential as a more efficient solution for WECS. This proposed wind turbine design overcomes the problems like underprformance in low wind speed conditions and the wind turbine efficiency in all regions.