Abstract
Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant (GWVPP) is an appropriate means to convert kinetic energy of water to rotational mechanical energy at the very low head site. This study aims to establish a basic reference for the design of the runner for the Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine (GWVT) with a conical basin. Seven different geometrical parameters have been identified for runner design, and the effect of these parameters on the system efficiency has been studied numerically and experimentally. The effect of these parameters has been studied over the range of speed with torque. The results from performance tests of these runners suggest that runner height is the most significant parameter to be considered in the design of a turbine runner for GWVPP with a conical basin. The results show that the efficiency of GWVT has improved up to 47.85% as obtained from experiments.
Highlights
A multicriteria analysis by Williamson et al [5] shows that Turgo and propeller turbines with a draft tube are the best solutions among turbines considered for low head, variable flow rate pico-hydro site in remote areas owing to ease of installation, operation, and maintenance
Viktor Schauberger is the pioneer to conceptualize the use of vortex for power generation his work did not make use of free surface water vortex [7] whereas the first use of free surface water vortex was done by Brown [8] with submerged outlet
It is designed to be fully submerged into the vortex pool the free surface depression at the center exposes part of runner blades to the air. e hub is a hollow cylinder connected to the turbine shaft and blades are protrusions from the hub. ere are claims that Gravitational Water Vortex (GWV) aerates the water in a gentle way unlike conventional hydropower—water cleaning effect—and has no effects on fish migration and lives due to the low speed of the turbine [12]; these claims, remain to be validated [6]
Summary
A combination of localized low pressure at the orifice (exit) and induced circulation at the inlet [11] forms a vortex pool. The efficiency of the system was found to be more with a conical basin when tested with the same runner under a similar condition of head and flow. An experimental study with a paddle-type runner for the cylindrical basin was done by Power et al [21] by varying blade size, blade number, inlet flow rate, and inlet height. E tests done in different flow rates revealed that the turbine with 5 blades and 50% baffle plate increases the overall efficiency by 4.12%, making it 38.68%. Different independent studies conducted to date are focused on the basin and its various geometrical parameters, but limited studies are carried out regarding GWV turbine, its
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