Design, Analysis, and Fabrication of Water Turbine for Slow-Moving Water

The energy crisis of the modern era may be overcome by hydrokinetic energy, the most readily and free source of energy available, to provide basic electricity needs to remote and urban areas at a low cost. The kinetic energy of flowing water at low speed could be extracted effectively by designing an appropriate design of the blade, as the turbine's performance is dependent upon the shape of its blade. In this study, the wind turbine model with some modifications was used to design a blade for the hydrokinetic turbine. The horizontal axis turbine model with propeller type configuration was selected for obtaining higher efficiency. The optimum hydrofoil was selected and designed with an optimal twist angle for the maximum energy extraction process. The model was designed in three-dimensional (3D) modeling software solidworks, and then the power analysis was carried out through numerical simulations using the commercial computational fluid dynamics package ansys fluent. The power output was analyzed with a different number of blades, and performance curves were generated for the most efficient system. The calculations exhibited that for 1.5 m/s rated speed of water with the rotor diameter of 0.6096 m provides the rated power of approximately 150 W at 110 RPMs. The power curve of the turbine was analyzed for the selection of an efficient Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator, and a direct drive system was preferred to reduce the weight and losses. The turbine model was 3D printed for testing and experimentation. The analytical efficiency calculated was 30.52%, and the experimental efficiency achieved was 28.24%. This study shows that the optimum design of hydrokinetic turbines could be integrated into series to provide energy to remote areas where the construction of dams and other resources are not available.