DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF A PICO HYDROELECTRIC TURBINE SYSTEM

Abstract

Hydroelectric power is both an efficient and reliable form of a clean source of renewable energy. It can be an excellent method of harnessing renewable energy from small rivers and streams. A Pico hydroelectric power system of a cross-flow turbine type is designed and simulated in this study. Model parameters such as runner diameter, runner length, blade spacing, radius of blade curvature, shaft diameter, water jet thickness, turbine speed, turbine power and the number of blades that play major role to achieve the turbine maximum efficiency were determined theoretically. The designed Hydro-electric power system’s maximum efficiency was estimated to be 87% with a head of 6390 mm at a flow rate of 0.089 . Numerically, analysis of the designed power generation system was carried out using (structural analysis and design) STAAD pro connect software and ANSYS tool. The performance evaluation results using the STAAD pro software for the system water reservoir sitting stanchion simulation indicated that the stanchion will not fail while carrying the load. Similarly, the numerical analysis of the designed cross-flow turbine type in this work using the ANSYS tool revealed that the shaft will be able to withstand deformation due to torsion when subjected to a maximum torque of 51.46 Nm. Hence the designed hydroelectric power system will be efficient to produce a 5kVA electrical power