• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Bifurcation refers to wye division of penstock to divide the flow symmetrically or unsymmetrically into two units of turbine for maintaining economical, technical and geological substrates. Particularly, water shows irrelevant behavior when there is a sudden change in flow direction, which results into the transition of the static and dynamic behavior of the flow. Hence, special care and design considerations are required both hydraulically and structurally. The transition induced losses and extra stresses are major features to be examined. The research on design and analysis of bifurcation is one of the oldest topics related to R&D of hydro-mechanical components for hydropower plants. As far as the earlier approaches are concerned, the hydraulic designs were performed based on graphical data sheet, head loss considerations and the mechanical analysis through simplified beam approach. In this paper, the multi prospect approach for design of Bifurcation, incorporating the modern day's tools and technology is identified. The hydraulic design of bifurcation is a major function of dynamic characteristics of the flow, which is performed with CFD analysis for minimum losses and better hydraulic performances. Additionally, for the mechanical design, a simplified conventional design method as pre-estimation and Finite Element Method for a relevant result projections were used.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.146-153
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• 2017

Sediment flow through hydropower components causes hydro-abrasive erosion resulting in loss of efficiency, interruptions in power production and downtime for repair/maintenance. Online instruments are required to measure/capture the variations in sediment parameters along with collecting samples manually to analyse in laboratory for verification. In this paper, various sediment parameters viz. size, concentration (TSS), shape and mineral composition relevant to hydro-abrasive erosion were measured and discussed with respect to a hydropower plant in Himalayan region, India. A multi-frequency acoustic instrument was installed at a desilting chamber to continuously monitor particle size distribution (PSD) and TSS entering the turbine during 27 May to 6 August 2015. The sediment parameters viz. TSS, size distribution, mineral composition and shape entering the turbine were also measured and analysed, using manual samples collected twice daily from hydropower plant, in laboratory with instruments based on laser diffraction, dynamic digital image processing, gravimetric method, conductivity, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and turbidity. The acoustic instrument was able to capture the variation in TSS; however, significant deviations were found between measured mean sediment sizes compared to values found in the laboratory. A good relation was found for turbidity ($R^2=0.86$) and laser diffraction ($R^2=0.93$) with TSS, which indicated that turbidimeter and laser diffraction instrument can be used for continuous monitoring of TSS at the plant. Total sediment load passed through penstock during study period was estimated to be 15,500 ton. This study shall be useful for researchers and hydropower managers in measuring/monitoring sediment for hydro-abrasive erosion study in hydropower plants.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.207.1-207.1
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• 2011

The performance of a francis turbine is studied by applying a new performance evaluation tester. the performance of a francis turbine is predicted under several operating conditions and the prediction results are compared with model test data. As a result, it is demonstrated that the present method can predict the performance of a francis turbine with high accuracy and has usefullness as an engineering tool on the performance of hydraulic turbines.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.287-295
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• 2017

The most detrimental pressure pulsations in high-head pump-turbines is caused by the rotor-stator interaction (RSI) between the guide vanes and runner blades. When the pump-turbine operates in the S-shaped region of the characteristic curves, the deteriorative flow structures may significantly strengthen RSI, causing larger pressure pulsations and stronger vibration with an increased risk of mechanical failure. CFD simulations were carried out to analyze the impacts of flow evolution on the pressure pulsations in the S-shaped region of a model pump-turbine. The results show that the reverse flow vortex structures (RFVS) at the runner inlet have regular development and transition patterns when discharge reduces from the best efficiency point (BEP). The RFVS first occur at the hub side, and then shift to the mid-span near the no-load point, which cause the strongest pressure pulsations. The locally distributed RFVS at hub side enhance the local RSI and makes the pressure fluctuations at the corresponding sections stronger than those at the rest sections along the spanwise direction. Under the condition of RFVS at the mid-span, the smaller flow rate make the smaller difference of pressure pulsation amplitudes in the spanwise direction. Moreover, the rotating stall, rotating at 35.7%-62.5% of the runner rotational frequency, make the low frequency components of pressure pulsations distribute unevenly along the circumference in the vaneless space. However, it have little influence on the distributions of high components.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.363-370
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• 2013

Small scale hydropower is one of most attractive and cost-effective energy technologies for installation within sewage treatment plants. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of a semi-kaplan micro-hydropower (MHP) system for application to sewage treatment plants with high flow fluctuations and a low head. The semi-kaplan MHP is equipped with an adjustable runner blade, and is without a guide vane, so as to reduce the incidence of mechanical problems. A MHP rating 13.4 kWp with a semi-kaplan turbine has been considered for Kiheung Respia sewage treatment plant, and this installation is estimated to generate 86.8 MWh of electricity annually, which is enough to supply electricity to over 25 households, and equivalent to an annual reduction of 49 ton $CO_2$. The semi-kaplan turbine showed a 90.2% energy conversion efficiency at the design flow rate of 0.35 $m^3/s$ and net head of 4.7 m, and was adaptable to a wide range of flow fluctuations. Through the MHP operation, approximately 2.1% of total electricity demand of Kiheung Respia sewage treatment plant will be achievable. Based on financial analysis, an exploiting MHP is considered economically acceptable with an internal rate of return of 6.1%, net present value of 15,539,000 Korean Won, benefit-cost ratio of 1.08, and payback year of 15.5, respectively, if initial investment cost is 200,000,000 Korean Won.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.294-303
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• 2015

The present study is conducted to identify a better design and optimal number of Francis runner blades for sediment laden high head micro hydropower site, Tara Khola in the Baglung district of Nepal. The runner is designed with in-house code and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed to evaluate the performance with three configurations; 11, 13 and 17 numbers of runner blades. The three sets of runners were also investigated for the sediment erosion tendency. The runner with 13 blades shows better performance at design as well as in variable discharge conditions. 96.2% efficiency is obtained from the runner with 13 blades at the design point, and the runners with 17 and 11 blades have 88.25% and 76.63% efficiencies respectively. Further, the runner with 13 blades has better manufacturability than the runner with 17 blades as it has long and highly curved blade with small gaps between the blades, but it comes with 65% more erosion tendency than in the runner with 17 blades.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.902-909
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• 2012

This study is aimed to develop a new type of micro cross-flow hydro turbine which has very simple structure and relatively high efficiency. Micro eco cross-flow hydro turbine (ECFT) is proposed to apply in the ranges of very low and middle specific speeds in order to extend the operational range of the turbine. In order to not only obtain a basic data for a new design method of ECFT but also improve the turbine efficiency, experiments and CFD analysis on the performance and internal flow characteristics of the turbine model are conducted. According to the present study results, anti-recirculation block (ARB) and relatively wide turbine width with high flow rate improve the turbine efficiency.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.690-692
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• 2005

Among many other alternative energy resources, small scale hydropower has been brought into attention as a reliable source of energy today, which had been relatively neglected since 1960s. Present low head of Francis turbines and small scale hydro turbines, however, have limitations in the minimum required head and flow rate for efficient operation. This study attempts to develope the Francis turbine which is expected to run efficiently even in very low head and small flow rate, so that the limitations on the conventional small scale hydropower could be alleviated and competition with other alternative energy sources in the changable design conditions could be attained. The Francis turbine of a new concept was designed based on changable design conditions, hydrodynamics and theory of power transmission.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2839-2844
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• 2007

Micro hydraulic power generation of which the output is less or equal to a 100kW is attracting considerable attention. This is because of its small, simple, renewable, and abundant energy resources. By using a small hydropower generator of which main concept is based on using the different water pressure levels in pipe lines, energy which was initially wasted by use of a reducing valve at the end of the pipeline, is collected by turbine in the hydropower generator. A propeller shaped hydroturbine has been used in order to use this renewable pressure energy. In this study, in order to acquire basic design data of tubular type hydraulic turbine, output power, head, efficiency characteristics due to the flow coefficient are examined in detail. Moreover influences of pressure and velocity distributions with the variations of runner vane angle on turbine performance are investigated by using a commercial CFD code.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.237-243
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• 1996

Current low head and small scale hydroturbines have limitations in the minimum required head and flow rate for efficient operation. This study attempts to develop a new concept hydroturbine which is expected to run efficiently even in very low head and small flow rate, so that the limitations on the conventional small scale hydropower could be alleviated and competition with other alternative energy sources in the economic respect could be attained. A small scale catapillar track- hydroturbine was fabricated and the performance test was carried out in a water tunnel over the head range of H = 0.8 m ~ 1.26 m. The peak turbine efficiency was 41.3% at the speed ratio of 0.6, and the turbine loss was mostly due to the friction at the chain drive used for power transmission from the runner to the shafts. This type of turbine is expected to become competitive when some improvement in the power transmission mechanism is made.