Energy Conveyor Belt—A Detailed Analysis of a New Type of Hydrokinetic Device

Mithran Daniel Solomon (), Wolfram Heineken, Marcel Scheffler and Torsten Birth
Additional contact information
Mithran Daniel Solomon: Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Sandtorstraße 22, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Wolfram Heineken: Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Sandtorstraße 22, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Marcel Scheffler: Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Sandtorstraße 22, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Torsten Birth: Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Sandtorstraße 22, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Renewable energy technologies can help us combat climate change and hydrokinetic energy conversion systems could play a major role. The simplicity of hydrokinetic devices helps us to exploit renewable sources, especially in remote locations, which is not possible with conventional methods. A new type of hydrokinetic device called the Energy Conveyor Belt was designed, which works on the concept of conveyor belt technology. Numerical simulations are performed on the design of the Energy Conveyor Belt with Ansys FLUENT to optimize its performance. Some of the optimized models produced a maximum power slightly above 1 kW. The numerical results are then compared to the experimental results of other hydrokinetic turbines. The compactness and flexibility of the design give the Energy Conveyor Belt an advantage over other hydrokinetic devices in regions with fluctuating water levels. Further research has to be undertaken into cascading systems to increase the overall power generated by the system.

Keywords: Energy Conveyor Belt; hydrokinetic energy; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/5/2188/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/5/2188/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:5:p:2188-:d:1079168

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().