Design and Parametric Optimization of the High-Speed Pico Waterwheel for Rural Electrification of Pakistan

Muhammad Asim, Shoaib Muhammad, Muhammad Amjad, Muhammad Abdullah, M. A. Mujtaba, M. A. Kalam, Mohamed Mousa and Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar
Additional contact information
Muhammad Asim: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Shoaib Muhammad: Institute of Manufacturing, University of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Swat 19060, Pakistan
Muhammad Amjad: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Muhammad Abdullah: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
M. A. Mujtaba: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
M. A. Kalam: Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
Mohamed Mousa: Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11845, Egypt
Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Centre for Research & Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali 140413, Punjab, India

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: This research study presents an approach for analysis of pico hydro waterwheels by both experimental and numerical methods. The purpose of this research is to harness the energy efficiently from flowing water of irrigation channels and other shallow water sources in rural areas because the electrification of rural areas through connection to grid electricity is very costly. The novelty of this research work lies in testing of the waterwheel as a high-speed device, which is not usually explored. The review of existing literature reveals that pico waterwheels have been extensively studied but without changing the blade profile immersed in the water stream ot the inclination angle of the water stream. In this study, a pico scale waterwheel was tested with three different types of blade profiles, namely a C-shape blade, V-shape blade and straight blade, through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for different tip speed ratios (TSR), varying the immersed depth of the blade in the stream and changing the angle of the water conduit while keeping the number of blades and the diameter of the wheel constant. The numerical and experimental results were validated for the C-shape blade profile. A substantial improvement in performance is observed with a C-shape blade profile at a TSR of 0.88. The results show that by varying the angle of the water conduit, the maximum performance is achieved at inclination φ = 45°, with an overall improvement of 4.87% in the efficiency.

Keywords: waterwheel; analytical design; fabrication; C-shape blade; V-shape blade; straight blade; inclined channel; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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