Optimisation and design of two micro-hydro turbines for medium and low head applications.
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Date
2000
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Abstract
The necessity to develop an automated process for the design of micro-hydro power
systems was based on the increasing demand for hydropower as a renewable energy
source and to develop cost effective power supplies to rural areas. The application of the
formula for the design of these systems is then to simplify the selection of the turbine
sizing and is made possible by the similarity laws that exist within turbine and pump
families. in addition the sizing of the supply and exhaust piping is also a matter of
scaling. No selection process of turbine type is included due to the limitations of cost
effectiveness and the category of size into which the turbine was specified. Furthermore.
a new approach to turbine design was separately undertaken to satisfy low head and low
flow-rate conditions. However, it was only designed up to a cost analysis with no
manufacturing having been undertaken.
The axial flow turbine. which was most suited for micro-hydro was designed and built as
a prototype with a standardized mounting frame. The initial conditions used to generare
the velocity vectors and angles were specific to the installation site and used to
computationally generate the rotor and stator blades. This required an analysis of the
different profiles available as well as research into their design. Once the blade profile
stacking had been determined, this was translated into a software program that developed
the blades from site-specific initial conditions. However, the design of the blades was
interdependent on the dimensioning of the rest of the turbine components and designing
these in parallel proved to be an intricate task. With the design complete, the turbine was
then installed and testing proceeded with the use of pressure gauges and the results of
torque and rpm obtained from a dynamometer. Analysis of the results was undertaken
and presented in graphical format with comments on both the design and results.
Description
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.) -University of Natal, Durban, 2000.
Keywords
Turbines., Turbines--Blades., Hydroelectric power plants., Hydroelectric engineering., Water power., Theses--Mechanical engineering.