Numerical simulation of the inlet channel geometry influence in the torque generated at the gravitation water vortex turbine

Keywords: vortex, geometry, turbine, energy, basin, inlet-channel, CFD, runner, torque, performance

Abstract

The gravitational water vortex turbine is presented as an alternative for electric power generation for both low head and water flow conditions, additionally it is easy and low cost to implement and maintenance. However, the experimentally reported efficiencies motivate the scientific community to develop new geometries in order to improve its performance. First, it is not clear how the efficiency of the turbine is obtained and second, not all studies report it. The turbine is mainly made up of a tank, the rotor and the electric generator. The geometry of the tank is important because it stabilizes the fluid and in this component that the generation of the vortex is induced, which determines, added to other factors like tank geometry and runner, the global efficiency of the turbine. The primary purpose of this study is to compare numerically the torque generated at six (6) geometrical configurations of the basin inlet channel for Gravitational Vortex Turbine (GVT) with a Savonius rotor. The study was developed in ANSYS® CFX, where a transient state VOF model was configured with a BSL K − ω turbulence model and a discretization a discretization of the control volume made in the ICEM module. The highest torque was 0.553 Nm at 25 rpm for the trapezoidal curved inlet channel geometry, increasing the efficiency respect to the conventional Square inlet channel of the 2.73 %. The increase of tangential velocity contributes positively to the vortex generation, and consequently, an increase in torque is obtained. On the other hand, the design of the rotor considerably affects the performance of the GVT, where it may or may not take advantage of the kinetic energy of the vortex

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Andres Burbano, Instituto Tecnologico Metropolitano

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Research Group – MATyER

Jorge Sierra, Instituto Tecnologico Metropolitano; Institucion Universitaria Pascual Bravo

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Research Group – MATyER

Department of mechanical Engineering

Research Group – GIIAM

Edwin Correa, Instituto Tecnologico Metropolitano

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Research Group – MATyER

Alejandro Ruiz, Instituto Tecnologico Metropolitano

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Research Group – MATyER

Daniel Sanin, Institucion Universitaria Pascual Bravo

Department of Engineering

Research Group – GIIEN

References

Pérez-Sánchez, M., Sánchez-Romero, F., Ramos, H., López-Jiménez, P. (2017). Energy Recovery in Existing Water Networks: Towards Greater Sustainability. Water, 9 (2), 97. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/w9020097

Liu, S., Zhang, L., Wu, Y., Luo, X., Nishi, M. (2006). Influence of 3D Guide Vanes on the Channel Vortices in the Runner of a Francis Turbine. Journal of Fluid Science and Technology, 1 (2), 147–156. doi: https://doi.org/10.1299/jfst.1.147

Capecchi, D. (2013). Over and Undershot Waterwheels in the 18th Century. Science-Technology Controversy. Advances in Historical Studies, 2 (3), 131–139. doi: https://doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2013.23017

Anyi, M., Kirke, B. (2010). Evaluation of small axial flow hydrokinetic turbines for remote communities. Energy for Sustainable Development, 14 (2), 110–116. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2010.02.003

Furukawa, A., Watanabe, S., Matsushita, D., Okuma, K. (2010). Development of ducted Darrieus turbine for low head hydropower utilization. Current Applied Physics, 10 (2), S128–S132. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cap.2009.11.005

Nishi, Y., Inagaki, T. (2017). Performance and Flow Field of a Gravitation Vortex Type Water Turbine. International Journal of Rotating Machinery, 2017, 1–11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/2610508

Zotlöterer, F. (2004). Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Application Area. Available at: http://www.zotloeterer.com/welcome/gravitation-water-vortex-power-plants/application-area/ Last accessed: 02.06.2021

Wanchat, S., Suntivarakorn, R. (2012). Preliminary Design of a Vortex Pool for Electrical Generation. Advanced Science Letters, 13 (1), 173–177. doi: https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2012.3855

Gheorghe-Marius, M., Tudor, S. (2013). Energy Capture in the Gravitational Vortex Water Flow.

Marian, M. G., Sajin, T., Azzouz, A. (2013). Study of Micro Hydropower Plant Operating in Gravitational Vortex Flow Mode. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 371, 601–605. doi: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.371.601

Rahman, M. M., Tan, J. H., Fadzlita, M. T., Wan Khairul Muzammil, A. R. (2017). A Review on the Development of Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant as Alternative Renewable Energy Resources. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 217, 012007. doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899x/217/1/012007

Power, C., McNabola, A., Coughlan, P. (2015). A Parametric Experimental Investigation of the Operating Conditions of Gravitational Vortex Hydropower (GVHP). Journal of Clean Energy Technologies, 4 (2), 112–119. doi: https://doi.org/10.7763/jocet.2016.v4.263

Abbasi, T., Abbasi, S. A. (2011). Small hydro and the environmental implications of its extensive utilization. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15 (4), 2134–2143. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.11.050

Paish, O. (2002). Small hydro power: technology and current status. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 6 (6), 537–556. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s1364-0321(02)00006-0

Campbell, R. J. (2010). Small Hydro and Low-Head Hydro Power Technologies and Prospects. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290980770_Small_hydro_and_low-head_hydro_power_technologies_and_prospects

Bozhinova, S., Hecht, V., Kisliakov, D., Müller, G., Schneider, S. (2013). Hydropower converters with head differences below 2·5 m. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Energy, 166 (3), 107–119. doi: https://doi.org/10.1680/ener.11.00037

Date, A., Akbarzadeh, A. (2009). Design and cost analysis of low head simple reaction hydro turbine for remote area power supply. Renewable Energy, 34 (2), 409–415. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2008.05.012

Chattha, J. A., Cheema, T. A., Khan, N. H. (2017). Numerical investigation of basin geometries for vortex generation in a gravitational water vortex power plant. 2017 8th International Renewable Energy Congress (IREC). doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/irec.2017.7926028

Marian, B. G.-M., Sajin, T., Florescu, I., Nedelcu, D.-I., Ostahie, C.-N., Catalin (2012). The concept and theorical study of micro hydropower plant with gravitational vortex and turbine with rapidy steps. World energy Syst. Conf. – WESC.

Dhakal, S., Nakarmi, S., Pun, P., Thapa, A. B., Bajracharya, T. R. (2014). Development and Testing of Runner and Conical Basin for Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant. Journal of the Institute of Engineering, 10 (1), 140–148. doi: https://doi.org/10.3126/jie.v10i1.10895

Dhakal, R. et al. (2017). Runner for Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant,” 6th International Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications, 5, 365–373.

Sritram, P., Treedet, W., Suntivarakorn, R. (2015). Effect of turbine materials on power generation efficiency from free water vortex hydro power plant. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 103, 012018. doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899x/103/1/012018

Wanchat, S., Suntivarakorn, R., Wanchat, S., Tonmit, K., Kayanyiem, P. (2013). A Parametric Study of a Gravitation Vortex Power Plant. Advanced Materials Research, 805–806, 811–817. doi: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.805-806.811

Mulligan, S., Hull, P. (2010). Design and Optimisation of a Water Vortex Hydropower Plant, 21, 1–21.

Ruiz Sánchez, A., Guevara Muñoz, A. J. (2019). Numerical and Experimental Evaluation of Concave and Convex Designs for Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine. Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences, 64 (1), 160–172.

Mathew, S. (2006). Wind energy: Fundamentals, resource analysis and economics. Berlin: Springer, 246. doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-30906-3

Kayastha, M., Raut, P., Kumar, N., Sandesh, S., Ghising, T., Dhakal, R. (2021). CFD evaluation of performance of Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine at different runner positions. KEC Conference, 17–25. doi: http://doi.org/10.31224/osf.io/d9qn3

Anderson, J. D. (1995). Computational fluid dynamics: the basics with applications. McGraw, 547.

Versteeg, H. K., Malalasekera, W. (2007). An introduction to computational fluid dynamics: the finite volume method. New York: Pearson Education, 503.

Munson, B. R., Young, D. F., Okiishi, T. H. (1995). Fundamentals of fluid mechanics. Oceanographic Literature Review, 10 (42), 831. Available at: https://www.infona.pl//resource/bwmeta1.element.elsevier-013ce2bb-5df3-353d-9205-9c4162529c62 Last accessed: 09.12.2021

Alawadhi, E. M. (2020). Meshing guide. Finite Element Simulations Using ANSYS. CRC Press, 407–424. doi: http://doi.org/10.1201/b18949-12

Shashikumar, C. M., Vijaykumar, H., Vasudeva, M. (2021). Numerical investigation of conventional and tapered Savonius hydrokinetic turbines for low-velocity hydropower application in an irrigation channel. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 43, 100871. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2020.100871

Numerical simulation of the inlet channel geometry influence in the torque generated at the gravitation water vortex turbine

👁 307
⬇ 274
Published
2022-11-29
How to Cite
Burbano, A., Sierra, J., Correa, E., Ruiz, A., & Sanin, D. (2022). Numerical simulation of the inlet channel geometry influence in the torque generated at the gravitation water vortex turbine. EUREKA: Physics and Engineering, (6), 106-119. https://doi.org/10.21303/2461-4262.2022.002703
Section
Engineering