Simulation Of the Conical Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine (GWVT) Design in Producing Optimum Force for Energy Production

Abstract

Sustainable electricity power supply is crucial especially for less populated rural area. Micro hydropower generation in rural area is important in providing electricity especially in off-grid electricity area. This study aims to predict and harness power from micro hydropower generation through conical gravitational water vortex turbine (GWVT) via SOLIDWORKS flow simulation. Conical GWVT under study was designed as fully enclosed system with conical turbine basin. Two different turbine orientations were simulated i.e., vertical and horizontal at different blade angle designs i.e., 25°, 45°, 75°, 90°, and 120° and with different number of blades i.e., 8, 12, and 18 while forces were harnessed at tangential (z-axis) direction. The simulation results showed that it was possible to run and produce force from conical GWVT design in a fully enclosed system. It was found that vertical turbine orientation produced a slightly higher force than horizontally orientated turbine, using 12 runner blades at 90° angles where the distributed forces were 15.31N and 14.12N respectively, at tangential (z-axis) direction. The results are useful to predict turbine’s torque for small capacity micro hydropower electricity generation prior to actual conical GWVT set up, in rural area, to minimise cost implication and construction issues.

Experimental Study on Enclosed Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine (GWVT) Producing Optimum Power Output for Energy Production

“…The proposed turbine design in this study followed the conical GWVT features with additional modification to its casing, based on our previous study [28]. The inlet penstock used was 2" in diameter pipe angled radially from the turbine axial axis to ensure water enters perpendicularly.…”

“…In our previous study, we had simulated the turbine's optimal design parameter and determined its actual power output capacity at different flow rate using SOLIDWORKS® Flow Simulation [28]. Design parameters included enclosing the turbine casing using conical design, runner blade of 90°, and 12 numbers of blade were found to be the optimized turbine configuration.…”

“…Design parameters included enclosing the turbine casing using conical design, runner blade of 90°, and 12 numbers of blade were found to be the optimized turbine configuration. The orientation of the turbine selected was horizontal as this orientation provided better startup and reduced the torque fluctuation during turbine operation [28]. However, the actual experimental study in enclosed GWVT is still limited and yet to be established.…”

A Review of Gravitational Water Vortex Hydro Turbine Systems for Hydropower Generation

“…Aziz et al [69] conducted a numerical study using SolidWorks on the GWVHT with a conical basin with the turbines of different numbers of flat blades at both vertical and horizontal orientations. The selected numbers of the blades are 8, 12, and 18, and the blades were tilted at 25 • , 45 • , 75 • , 90 • , and 120 • , respectively.…”

Numerical Investigation of Variation Stroke Plane Effect on Aerodynamic Performance of a 2D Flapping Airfoil Naca 0012 in Hovering Flight

“…Abdul Aziz et al, [25] numerically investigated the power from micro hydropower generation through conical gravitational water vortex turbine (GWVT) via SOLIDWORKS flow simulation. Two different turbine orientations were simulated i.e., vertical and horizontal at different blade angle designs i.e., 25°, 45°, 75°, 90°, and 120° and with different number of blades i.e., 8, 12, and 18 while forces were harnessed at tangential (z-axis) direction.…”