SIMULATION AND PIV EXPERIMENT OF THE DUCTED WATER CURRENT TURBINE AND EXTREMELY LOW HEAD HELICAL TURBINE

Abstract

This research introduced for the Ducted Water Current Turbine Triple Helix with very low head less than 2m and water current at river or in the ocean, economical ecological use for small hydro power rating between 100 to 1000 kW still represent an unsolved problem. Unlike conventional hydro installation, water current turbine in open flow and generate power from flowing water with almost zero in environmental impact. Developments in water current turbine design are review and some potential advantages of duct or “diffuser augmented” current turbine and extremely low head turbine will be explored. For the output expected from the project is helical turbine with control flow on duct. The turbine design is based on the vertical turbine with helical blades. The basic idea of this research is optimized the helical turbine model, which is usually used in free stream (directly to the river stream line) can be apply with the situation inside the duct. And this research also tries to optimize the duct design. Therefore, get the better efficiency than the free stream flow turbine. The research aims to apply the helical turbine inside the duct to find the parameter of the power coefficient Cp against tip speed ratio λ. Parameters obtained from simulation in Fluent and through the experimental of the flow analysis by using PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry).