Numerical and Experimental Study on 30kW-class Impulse Turbine for Wave Energy Conversion

Abstract

This paper deals with the designing of optimum impulse turbine for 30kW class OWC (Oscillating Water Column) wave energy convertor. The diameter of turbine is determined as 0.8m through concept design process. For the basic design, the numerical model has established based on Navier-stokes equation using commercial CFD code Fluent. The numerical results has validated with experimental results. The design parameters such as number of blade, angle of guide vane, hub ratio andtip clearance are studied to optimize the impulse turbine using above numerical model. Based on the results, the Ring-type impulse turbine is proposed to improve the operating efficiency, and the effects design parameters are investigated.The depth of penetration, the thickness and length of ring are key parameters in the Ring-type impulse turbine. The experiments for evaluation of performance for the final proposed Ring-type turbine are carried out using wave simulator test rig. According with the dimension of wave simulator, the diameter of model turbine is designed as 0.38m. Comparing the result of model test, it was found out that ring-type model turbine has approximately 7.3% higher efficiency than that of ordinary model turbine.