Experimental and numerical investigations on a new developed Savonius turbine for in-pipe hydro application

Abstract

Due to limitation of energy resources, a large body of research activities has been turned to investigate potential alternative avenues to supply energy. In this regard, the renewable sources, which can provide the sustainable and cleaner energy production, have increasingly become attractive. Hydropower has the highest proportion of the renewable energy sources. Availability and high efficiency are the undeniable advantages of the hydro potentials. In this paper, hydro-energy extraction from pipelines by a new designed vertical axis turbine is studied experimentally and numerically. The turbine scheme is inspired by the Savonius rotor turbine, which includes two semicircular blades that is built by the 3D printer and installed vertically in a 100 mm transparent pipe. A sloped block is used just before the turbine blades to concentrate the flow and enhance the efficiency. In experiments, flow rate ranges from 2.7 × 10−3 m3/s to 7.3 × 10−3 m3/s and pressure drop that occurs through the turbine is less than 10.5 kPa. Numerical results show an acceptable agreement with experiments and assure that numerical method is reliable. Following successful validation, numerical studies are expanded, in order to study more details on the new turbine performance. According to the numerical results, the characteristic curves of the new turbine are depicted and described. In numerical simulation, for different turbine rotational speeds, the flow rate and the pressure difference examined are up to 12 × 10−3 m3/s and 30 kPa, respectively. Using the obtained results, investigations and studies are performed to describe turbine behavior under the effects of changing the clearance and flow field conditions. Finally, cyclic variations of turbine flow rate, torque and minimum pressure on the turbine blade are described by velocities streamlines. This approach might preform design improving for such a turbine.

Numerical Simulation of a Propeller-Type Turbine for In-Pipe Installation

“…It was determined that a 5blade turbine was the optimal blade configuration for hydropower harnessing and smoothing out torque ripples. Similarly, a numerical and experimental study on the same turbine showed the effects of the clearance, flow rate variation, head loss, and performance, where it was concluded that the optimal performance was obtained at a rotational speed of 50 / and with a 4 mm clearance, generating 55 and 20 of pressure drop [29]. Lastly, an analytical, numerical, and experimental study was developed on the drag-type modified Savonius turbines, where a parametric study was realized determining the optimal geometric dimensions of the turbine and the deflector, which guides the flow for the increase of turbine efficiency [30].…”

Influence of Blade Number on the Hydrodynamic Performance of a Propeller-Type Axial Turbine for In-Pipe Installation

“…Michell-Banki turbines without section pipe modifications reach efficiencies as high as 42.4 % [21,22]. Next comes the vertical-axis Savonius turbine with variable and constant curvature blades reaching efficiencies between 28% [23,24] and 45% [25], respectively. Then, the Darrieus type turbine is also used for this application, especially the straight-bladed Darrieus with 30% efficiency [26], the spherical with helicoidal blades with 26% [27], and the spherical Darrieus with 40% [25].…”

Development and Numerical Performance Analysis of a Micro Turbine in a Tap-Water Pipeline

“…The drag-type turbine, sometimes named the Savonius turbine, has also been successfully developed and utilized on different occasions. Payambarpour et al [22,23] performed a parametric study on a 3D modified Savonius turbine with a deflector in a 100 mm water pipe by using both experimental and numerical methods, where they found that the relationship between the flow rate and aspect ratio depended on the blockage coefficient. Chen et al [24] designed a drag-type vertical-axis hydro-turbine for pico-hydropower in water pipelines and conducted an optimization study based on previous design scheme.…”