An experimental facility for the development of a gravitational water vortex turbine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24084/repqj21.447Keywords:
Water vortex power plant, experimental facility, conical basin, turbine efficiencyAbstract
Gravitational water vortex turbine (GVT) is a run-of-the-river hydroelectricsystem usedfor generatingelectricity in the absence of a large dam and a reservoir;i.e.,GVT generatespower using the water natural flow rate. Recently, the development of GVT is gaining a growing interest within the scientific community concerning theadvantagesassociated with the technology in the process of electric power production. This work describes the design of an experimental facility for the characterization ofaGVTin order to understand in a detailed waythe effect of the variation of hydrodynamic and geometric parameters on the performance curve of the turbine. The experimental results demonstratedthat a wider vortex is generated at lower channel inflow velocities.Additionally, a maximum efficiency of 0.495 at 140.25 rpm was found for the GVT tested.