Ventilator Turbine Model Application to the Mosque Tower’s

Dome as Electricity Generator

Muhammad Razi 1, Nelly Safitri 2, Bukhari 3

1,3
Department Mechanical Engineering. Politeknk Negeri Lhokseumawe

2
Department Electrical Engineering, Politeknik Negeri Lhokseumawe

razi.pnl@pnl.ac.id

Abstract. Dome of the mosque tower with an altitude of over 40 meters above the ground
surface are getting strong winds, and it is commonly and widely applied to the mosque in
Indonesia. The wind can be used to rotate the dome of the mosque tower as turbine ventilator.
This paper develops a turbine ventilator model for mosque tower’s domes that eventually can
generate electricity. Dome tower constructed as turbine model, by a size of ventilator, 1250
mm and a stator shaft shaped solid and hollow. These two shafts are connected to the bearing,
while turbine blades are connected to the hollow. The speed of the turbine ventilator model of
the mosque tower’s domes is caused by the wind that rotates the turbine blade. The test is done
by using a wind tunnel equipped with an axial fan at its end. When the turbine rotates, the
hollow which is paired with a gear at its end has a ratio of 4:1, and is accelerated the rotation of
the DC generator shaft. At a wind speed of 3m/s, it produces a turbine rotation of 720 rpm, and
the generator shaft rotation is 2880 rpm. The output current is 98 A. When the wind speed is
increased to 5m/s, the turbine rotation increases to 1300 rpm, the rotation on the DC generator
shaft increases to 5200 rpm. The output voltage and current are 42 Volt and 130 A,
respectively. Both the output voltage and current are adequately generating electricity for
several lightings in the mosque.

Keywords: Turbine ventilator, mosque tower’s dome, DC generator, electricity.

1. Introduction
Indonesia is a country located in the tropics, Indonesia only has 2 seasons, with an average length
of 6 months per season. The dry season generally takes place around May-October. In this season, the
air temperature tends to be quite hot, which is around 28°-34°C during the day, for the Aceh region
where the research is carried out the temperature can reach 30°-35°C. While at night, the air
temperature will drop around 21°-25°C. In this season, the wind can blow at speeds of 2-11.12 m/s [1].
Because of the increase in temperature this season, many factories and housing are applying turbine
ventilators to reduce the temperature in the room [Figure 1 and 2], the use of a turbine ventilator as a
tool to reduce indoor temperatures can save electricity costs, because it does not use electricity as the
driver.
Wind energy is an indirect form of solar energy, because wind is affected by uneven heating from
the earth's crust by the sun. This energy is renewable energy and can be adopted for various uses such
as for pumping water, moving sailing vessels, and generating electricity. The use of wind energy as a
non-conventional alternative energy source, especially in developed countries has been widely applied
both to produce electricity and mechanical energy. In Germany for example, throughout 2003, 18,500
GWh of energy derived from the wind had been utilized. Wind energy is an environmentally friendly
energy source that does not produce exhaust emissions of carbon dioxide emissions. For this moment
In Indonesia, wind energy has been used to generate electricity by building a 72 MW windmill power
plant in Janeponto, Sulawesi [2].

Figure 1. Rooftop turbine ventilators Figure 2. Single turbine ventilator

2. Turbine Ventilator
The One of application of wind energy conversion system is used in turbine ventilators. Basically,
turbine ventilator serves to flow hot air from a room to the surrounding environment. Havens modelled
turbine ventilators combined with backward curved centrifugal fans and windmills. The rationale is
the fact that turbine ventilators capture and use wind power as a wind turbine. This model shows that
the ventilator rotation speed as a function of wind speed, then turbine ventilator is made to pump air
out of the room.
With inner vane- the experimental study by [3] on the impact of installing inner vane inside the
frame of turbine ventilator has confirmed that the added element can help the device to exhaust better.
However, the study concluded that the availability of inner vanes inside the turbine ventilator sized
20” (500mm) and 14” (360mm) do not mark significant differences in the ventilation rate induced.
According to [3], structural factors in the flow and the imperfect shapes of the inner rotating vanes
could be the major factors limiting its performance, which should be taken into consideration when
designing a new model of the turbine ventilator [3].

(a) (b)
Figure 3. Typical configuration of turbine ventilator (a) with inner vane (b) without inner vane

With Extractor Fan – In ensuring the reliability of the turbine ventilator operation in low-wind
velocity condition, one of the most strategies that seem promising is by combining a wind-driven
turbine ventilator and solar-powered extractor fan, as shown in Figure 4(a). The prototype 20”
(500mm) hybrid solar-wind turbine ventilator developed by [4] by replacing the existing inner vane
with 16” (400mm) PV powered DC inner fan showed that it succeeded to increase the ventilation rate
(m³/s), especially with a rated rotation speed of 1500rpm and at low outdoor wind speed of up to 5m/s.
However, in high outdoor wind speed condition, the study showed that the evaluation indicator (inner
fan enhancement) was negative; meaning that raising the inner fan rotational could reduce the
ventilation fraction. The study also suggested that for the best performance of the device in Taiwan
building and factory, the optimum power of PV panels should be 74.76W, charge controller is 3.2A
(24V), 10.35 Ah at 24 batteries for one day storage and at least one dc/ac inverter [4].

(a) (b)
Figure 4. Hybrid PV-Wind Powered Turbine Ventilator (a) Illustrative diagram of the prototype
device developed in [3], (b) Full-scale model developed in [5]

On the other hand, [5] also developed a hybrid PV-wind turbine ventilator but the main intention is
to maximize free flow of air in the absence of sunlight by placing the motor-fan at the upper part of the
turbine (Figure 5(b)). In line with [4] result, this study revealed that such combination showed better
performance compared to conventional wind driven turbine ventilator, especially at zero to low wind
speeds [6].
In India, [6]. Developing rooftop turbine ventilator (RTV) consist of stationary part and rotational
part. The stationary part is composed of base and fixed shaft and rotational part is composed of fan
blades and bush put on the fixed shaft on stationary part. The AC generator is connected to ventilated
ball and also connects to external battery charger to supply the electric current for Light Emitting
Diode (LED) lamp [5]. The main component of the system is the auxiliary current generator is showed
in figure 5. It will convert the kinetic energy from the wind to the electricity for using. The generated
electricity then will go Ac-DC rectifier to convert it to direct current (DC) voltage.

Figure 5. The main components of system electric power generation by RTV

2.1. Efficiency of Turbine Ventilator, η

The efficiency of turbine ventilator is the comparison between the power produced by turbine
ventilator and the total power of wind flow that enters the turbine ventilator. The power of it is
calculated using the following equation;

P=VxI (1)

Where V is the voltage generated by turbine ventilator (volts), i is the electric current generated by
turbine ventilator (Ampere), so the efficiency of turbine ventilator can be calculated using the
following equation:
𝑃
η = 𝜌 𝐷2 𝑈3 (2)
∞

when p is power that been distributed by the turbine ventilator (Watt), ρ is air density, (kg/m3), and D
is diameter of the chimney pipe turbine ventilator (m), and U∞ is velocity of air freestream (m/s).

2.2. Strouhal, St Number

In this experiment, the Strouhal number is used to represent the angular velocity of the rotation
produced by a turbine ventilator. The magnitude of angular velocity can be calculated using the
following equation;
2𝜋𝑛
ω= (3)
60

where n is rotation of turbine ventilator (rpm), So that the magnitude of the Strouhal numbers is:
𝜔𝐷
St = (4)
𝑈∞

when ω angular velocity for turbine ventilator (rps), D is diameter of the chimney pipe turbine
ventilator (m), and U∞ is velocity of air freestream (m/s).

2.3. Pressure difference coefficient, Kp

The pressure difference coefficient is a representation of the amount of pressure flowing in the inlet
and outlet of the chimney turbine ventilator pipe. The greater the pressure difference in the inlet and
outlet of the chimney ventilator chimney pipe, the greater the suction discharge flowing through the
chimney pipe of the turbine ventilator. To calculate the difference in static pressure in the turbine
ventilator chimney pipe, the static pressure at the chimney inlet and outlet pipe is calculated first.
Static pressure on the chimney pipe turbine ventilator inlet, pi:

pi = SGredoil x ρair x g (h2 – h1) x 2 x sinα

(5)

po = SGredoil x ρair x g (h2 – h1) x 2 x sinα

(6)

when SGredoi is specific gravity from red oil (0,804), ρair is water density (kg/m3), g is gravity
acceleration (m/s2), h1 and h2 are initial and final reading from Manometer (m), and α is tilt angle of
the manometer (m).
 So that the difference in static pressure between the inlet and outlet of the turbine ventilator
chimney pipe is:

Δp = po – p (7)

when Po is static pressure at the chimney of pipe inlet N/m2, the static pressure is at the chimney of
pipe outlet (N / m2). So that the coefficient of pressure difference is calculated using the following
equation;

Δp
Kp = 𝜌𝑈2 (8)
∞

when Δp is the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the chimney pipe (N/m3), ρ is the
density of air, (kg / m3). And U∞ is the velocity of air free stream (m/s),

3. Method

3.1. Development of turbine ventilator model dome tower of mosque

Turbine ventilator used in this study is a turbine dome model of a mosque tower with a diameter of
1500 mm which will be paired at the top of the mosque tower's dome, turbine ventilator works based
on the principle of wind speed that hit the blade of the turbine. When the wind hits the blade of the
turbine blade, the turbine ventilator will rotate, this it rotation will flow hot air from inside the tower
out through the blade of the turbine blade, the turbine rotation other than due to the wind flow that hit
the blade of the turbine blade is also due to the difference in indoor temperature outside the room, the
turbine rotation will rotate the driving shaft, where at the end of the drive shaft has been paired with
pulleys. Pulleys on the drive shaft are connected with pulleys on the electric motor shaft with the help
of bell conveyors, the ratio of drive pulleys with pulleys driven is 8:2. The comparison is made to
speed up the rotation on the generator shaft. In this paper, the wind speed is generated by a blower
placed in a wind tunnel, the wind speed can be adjusted to the settings of the blower.
Figure 6 shows the turbine ventilator model used in this study, this turbine then be placed at the top
of the mosque which has a height above 35 meters from the surface of the ground with a wind speed at
the top of the tower of at least 3 m / s, turbine ventilator this model has two parts the main one is;
 Turbine ventilator model of the minaret dome as a driving motor
 Motor DC that is driven.

Figure 6. Construction of turbine ventilator model of mosque’s dome

 There are two rotating principle of ventilator. the first principle is hydromechanics that can air flow
high temperature area to low temperature area to motivates blade to rotate. In that time when the
turbine is rotating the high temperature air will be discharge from the from so the air density in the
room can be reduced, then the outdoor cold air enters in the room to achieve the goal. The second
principle is the air it relies on the breeze to rotate its blades [7].

3.2. Modelling
Modelling is made using Matlab R2009a platform, with three degrees of freedom as shown in Figure
7. The DC motor data parameters used in this simulation are as follows;

RA = 2 Ohm LA = 0.005 H VT = 56 V J = 0.5 Kg/m2

K = 0.2388 V/(A rad/s) P = 1000 watt V wind = 5 – 8 m/s
N = 300 Rpm

Figure 7. Physical modelling

Furthermore, from physical modelling is made in mathematical modelling, so that mathematical

equations are obtained in the form of state variable equation 9.
1
𝜔̇ 1 = 𝐽 [ - B1 ω1 – k1 (θ1 – θ2) + τ1 (t)]
1
 1
= 𝐽 [ - B1 ω1 – k1 θ1 +k1 θ2 + τ1 (t)]
1
1
𝜔̇ 3 = 𝐽 [- Beq ω3 – k3eq θ3 + N1 k1 θ1 + k2 θ4 ]
3𝑒𝑞
𝑘 𝐵 𝛼2 𝛼
𝜔̇ 4 = - 𝐽2 θ3 – ( 𝐽4 + 𝐽 𝑅) ω3 + 𝐽 eit (9)
4 4 4 4𝑅

Based on the equation of the variable state, it can be made in the form of a matrix as follows;

𝜃̇ = 0.θ1 + 1.ω1 + 0. 𝜃̇3 + 0. 𝜔̇ 3 + 0.𝜃̇4 + 0. ω4

𝜃 1̇ 0 1 0 0 0 0
–𝑘1 –𝐵1 𝑁𝑘1
𝜔 ̇1
𝐽1 𝑤1 𝐽1
0 0 0
𝜃 3̇ 0 0 0 1 0 0
𝑁1𝐾1 𝐾3𝑒𝑞 𝐾2
𝜔̇3 = 0 𝐽3𝑒𝑞 0 𝐽3𝑒𝑞 0 +
𝐽3𝑒𝑞

𝜃4̇
0 0 0 0 0 1
−𝐾2 𝐵4 𝛼2
0 0 𝐽4
( 𝐽4 + 𝐽4𝑅
) 0 0
𝜔 ̇4
{ [ ]

𝛼
[0 1 0 0 0 ] (10)
𝐽4 𝑅

From the matrix equation above it is changed in the form of block Simulink diagrams shown in Figure
8.

Figure 8. Simulink model of system

Based on the parameters of the DC electric motor parameters and the wind speed notated above are
included in the Simulink diagram block.
4. Results and Discussion
The desired values, such as current, voltage and motor speed, torque and the resulting power can be
monitored through an oscilloscope block or by storing the results of the simulation results into a
worksheet and then plotted in the form of a time function graph. Drive simulations in the transient and
steady state of the above system can be seen in the following figures. Figure 9 shows the drive
response when given the initial step speed, with the motor without loading is 40 rad/s from the
stationary state given at t = 1 second.

Figure 9. The transient response of the motor is Figure 10. The transient response of the motor is
derived from a state of rest derived from state of idle

The above response shows a bit of overshoot which indicates that the controller parameters can
still be tuned to get a slightly better (under damped) response. More responses are achieved after re-
tuning and the results as shown in Figure 10. Based on the Simulink model that has been done in
Figure 8, the relationship between wind speed, voltage and electric current is shown in Figure 11.
Voltage
(volt)
Current (A)

Figure 11. Voltage, Current and time graph

The graph of the relationship between the output voltage and the increase in current with time
according to the characteristics of the Generator DC shunt is inversely proportional, the output voltage
will decrease within 40 seconds along with the increase in load current at the same time. As a voltage
source, the use of this generator is certainly not good, because a generator should have a constant
output voltage, but this can be fixed by using a compound DC generator. From Figure 11 the increase
in output current will be stable in 50 seconds, which is 130 Volt. The graph of the relationship
between the rotation speed of a turbine, torque, and power versus time is shown in figure 12.
 Figure 12. Speed, Torque and power versus time graph

By inputting the wind speed of 5 m/s in the Simulink model above, Figure 12 shows the
relationship between power, torque and speed for DC motors versus time. From the graph, it can be
seen that the torque is inversely proportional to the speed of rotation, in other words there is a tradeoff
between the torque produced by the motor and the motor rotation speed. DC motor speed will be
constant at 1300 rpm in 50 seconds and this is in accordance with the practice. In fact, a constant DC
motor speed does not depend on the load (up to a certain torque) after its speed decreases and is
therefore suitable for commercial use with a low initial load. Speed can be controlled by installing
prisoners in series with dynamo (decreasing speed) or by installing resistors in field currents
(increasing speed).
Based on Figure 12 shows the generator power is directly proportional to the torque produced and
inversely proportional to the rotation speed of the generator, the occurrence of a very sharp power
surge at the beginning, because the motor requires a lot of power when starting, then the power
stabilizes after 20 seconds.

5. Conclusion
Turbine ventilators with mosque tower dome models with a diameter of 1500 mm, at wind speeds
of 4-5 m/s, capable of turning turbine ventilators up to 1300 rad/s within 50 seconds, and generate
electric current up to 130 Ampere. While the biggest torque occurs in less than 10 seconds which is
equal to 80 N.m. With a current of 130 Ampere can be used to turn on some lighting lights in the
mosque room. Whereas to get the power, even greater voltage and current can be done by increasing
the wind speed to 10 m/s. Furthermore, to test the results obtained in this study is valid, being
experimentally carried out directly on the real turbine ventilator by entering parameter parameters as
in the simulation.
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