A New Methodology to Design Sustainable Archimedean Screw Turbines as Green Energy Generators

Mar Alonso-Martinez, José Luis Suárez Sierra, Juan José del Coz Díaz and Juan Enrique Martinez-Martinez
Additional contact information
Mar Alonso-Martinez: Construction and Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, EDO-7 Campus de Viesques, 33204 Gijón (Asturias), Spain
José Luis Suárez Sierra: Construction and Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, EDO-7 Campus de Viesques, 33204 Gijón (Asturias), Spain
Juan José del Coz Díaz: Construction and Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, EDO-7 Campus de Viesques, 33204 Gijón (Asturias), Spain
Juan Enrique Martinez-Martinez: Construction and Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Oviedo, EDO-7 Campus de Viesques, 33204 Gijón (Asturias), Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: Current energy demand and climate target plans are leading to green energy facilities which are efficient and sustainable. Archimedean screw turbines (ASTs) are used to generate hydroelectricity in low heads. They have been manufactured and installed worldwide. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how to design them efficiently. In this study, the performance of ASTs is analyzed using an analogy between ASTs and bucket elevators. Based on this analogy, a theoretical hypothesis on how to produce efficient ASTs is proposed. The new methodology for the design of ASTs is based on two considerations: the filling level of the AST buckets must be 85% and the increase of leakage losses must be minimized. This hypothesis is numerically and experimentally studied. Two experimental prototypes were developed and installed in the north of Spain. The numerical and experimental results are provided. A discussion comparing the results of this work and other results from the literature is presented. Finally, conclusions are drawn from this work that contribute to the improvement of AST technology as a sustainable facility to generate green energy.

Keywords: Archimedean screw turbine; green energy; sustainable construction; resilient structures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9236/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9236/ (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:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:24:p:9236-:d:459970

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

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