Sustainable Power Generation Using Archimedean Screw Turbine: Influence of Blade Number on Flow and Performance

Erinofiardi Erinofiardi, Ravi Koirala, Nirajan Shiwakoti () and Abhijit Date ()
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Erinofiardi Erinofiardi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bengkulu, Bengkulu 38171, Indonesia
Ravi Koirala: School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
Nirajan Shiwakoti: School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
Abhijit Date: School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-25

Abstract: Hydropower has been one of the mature renewable energy systems encompassing a major fraction of renewable energy. Archimedean screw turbines are gaining new interest in hydropower generation that are suitable for low head applications. This paper empirically and experimentally studies the flow inside Archimedean screw turbines along with the influence of blade numbers on their performance. The major objective of this work is to investigate performance and conduct design optimization of a screw turbine operating under ultra-low head (<0.2 m) conditions. Experimentally verified empirical results show its reliability in estimating the performance of turbines at low operational speeds. Further, the results show that with the increasing number of blades, the efficiency and power generation capacity can be increased, but the overall performance improvement relative to one blade turbine peaks at around 7 blades. Increasing the power generation capacity can in turn make the turbine compact and could be fabricated at a low-cost.

Keywords: Archimedean screw turbines; turbine blades; very low head hydro power; nano-hydropower; renewable energy (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 (2)

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