• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.30-39
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• 2014

The cross flow turbine is economical because of its simple structure. For remote rural region, there are needs for a more simple structure and very low head cross flow turbines. However, in this kind of locations, the water from upstream always flows into the turbine with some other materials such as sand and pebble. These materials will be damage to the runner blade and shorten the turbine lifespan. Therefore, there is a need to develop a new type of cross flow turbine for the remote rural region where there is availability of abundant resources. The new design of the cross flow turbine has an inlet open duct, without guide vane and nozzle to simplify the structure. However, the turbine with inlet open duct and very low head shows relatively low efficiency. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to optimize the shape of the turbine inlet to improve the efficiency, and investigate the internal flow of a very low head cross flow turbine. There are two steps to optimize the turbine inlet shape. Firstly, by changing the turbine open angle along with changing the turbine inlet open duct bottom line (IODBL) location to investigate the internal flow. Secondly, keeping the turbine IODBL location at the maximum efficiency achieved at the first step, and changing the turbine IODBL angle to improve the performance. The result shows that there is a 7.4% of efficiency improvement by optimizing turbine IODBL location (open angle), and there is 0.3% of efficiency improvement by optimizing the turbine IODBL angle.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.76-86
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• 2019

The cross-flow turbine is a key hydraulic power system that is widely due to low costs, high efficiency, and low maintenance. In particular, the cross-flow turbine considered as the most suitable turbine for low head situations as it is known to operate down to 5 m of water head. However, the conventional cross-flow turbine is unsuitable for ultra-low head situations with less than a 3 m water head. In this study, we propose an inverted-type cross-flow turbine to overcome the limitations of conventional cross-flow turbines under ultra-low head situations. First, we described the limitations of conventional turbines and suggested a new turbine for the ultra-low head circumstances. Second, we investigated the performance of the new turbine using CFD analysis. Results demonstrated the effects of the design parameters, such as number of blades and rotor diameter ratio, on the performance of the suggested turbine. As a result, we developed an inverted-type cross-flow turbine with up to 60% efficiency under low water head conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2021

The cross-flow turbine is one of the most famous and widely used hydraulic power systems for a long time. The cross-flow turbine is especially popular in many countries and remote regions where off-grided because of its many benefits such as low cost, high efficiency at low head, simple structure, and easy maintenance. However, most modern turbines, including the cross-flow turbine, are unsuitable for the ultra-low head situation, known as less than 3m water head or zero head with over 0.5m/s flow velocity. In this study, we demonstrated a 20kW class inverted-type cross-flow turbine's performance. First, we reevaluated our previous studies and introduced how to design the inverted-type cross-flow turbine. Secondly, we fabricated the 20kW class inverted-type cross-flow turbine for the performance test. And then, we designed a testbed and installed the turbine system in the demonstration facility. In the end, we compare the demonstration with its previous CFD results. The comparing result shows that both CFD and real model fitted on guide vane angle at 10 degrees. At the demonstration, we achieved 42% turbine efficiency at runner speed 125 RPM.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.19-26
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• 2014

The cross flow turbine attracts more and more attention for its relatively wide operating range and simple structure. In this study, a novel type of micro cross flow turbine is developed for application to a step in an irrigational channel. The head of the turbine is only H=4.3m and the turbine inlet channel is open ducted type, which has barely been studied. The efficiency of the turbine with inlet open duct channel is relatively low. Therefore, a guide nozzle on the turbine inlet is attached to improve the performance of the turbine. The guide nozzle shapes are investigated to find the best shape for the turbine. The guide nozzle plays an important role on directing flow at the runner entry, and it also decreases the negative torque loss by reducing the pressure difference in Region 1. There is 12.5% of efficiency improvement by attaching a well shaped guide nozzle on the turbine inlet.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2015

Recently, the cross flow turbines attract more attention for their good performance over a large operating regime at off design point. This study employs a very low head cross flow turbine, which has open inlet duct and has barely been studied before, to investigate the performance of the cross flow turbine with air suction from the rear part of the runner. Unlike conventional cross flow turbines, a draft tube is attached to the outlet of runner to improve the turbine performance. Water level and pressure in the draft tube are monitored to investigate the influence of air suction. Torque at local blade passage of three parts of runner is examined in detail under the conditions of different air suction. Consequently, it is found that with proper air suction in the runner chamber, the water level in the draft tube gradually drops to Stage 2 of the runner and the efficiency of the turbine can be raised by 10%. Overall, the effect of air-layer on the performance of the turbine is considerable.