Abstract
The high-speed supercritical flow in steeply sloped channels contains a significant amount of hydro-kinetic energy. A novel, horizontal axis, spillway turbine as presented in this paper attempts to convert that energy into electricity. We report on the turbine’s design and experimental testing. Its intended use is in low-head, low-flow, manmade, concrete-lined channels such as chutes, spillways and other similar steeply sloped open-channels. The design lends itself from an impulse turbine runner but without a pipe or a nozzle. The spillway turbine consists of 2 main components: 1) the runner and 2) an accelerator channel that directs the water towards the runner’s blades. The runner, once fitted with Pelton-inspired “cup inserts” shows performance improvements both in terms of efficiency and specific speeds. The specific speed and the speed factors calculated confirm that this novel spillway turbine runner can be categorized as an impulse turbine. The maximum efficiency obtained during laboratory testing is 43.4% and hence competes well with standard hydrokinetic turbines.
Highlights
The world population has reached 7.2 billion in 2014 and it is predicted to reach approximately 9.6 billion by 2050 if current growth trends are applied [1]
The specific speed and the speed factors calculated confirm that this novel spillway turbine runner can be categorized as an impulse turbine
In this paper we report on the design and experimental performance testing of the turbine runner and accelerator channel
Summary
The world population has reached 7.2 billion in 2014 and it is predicted to reach approximately 9.6 billion by 2050 if current growth trends are applied [1]. The European Union Directive from 2009 [3] set the objective to produce at least 20% energy from renewable energy sources by 2020. The predecessor of modern hydraulic turbines, the water wheel, was invented in the 1st century BC [7]. Kaplan or Bulb turbines are most commonly used for low head conditions and are classified as reaction turbines As reaction turbines such as Francis operate well for medium but not very high head flows, impulse turbines were developed for use in such conditions. Water energy is completely converted to kinetic energy and the pressure energy does not have an effect on the runner [11]. Impulse turbines were invented at the end of 19th century for use in very high head flows.
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