Study on Size estimation and Performance evaluation of 30kW Impulse Turbine for OWC Wave Energy Converter

Abstract

The OWC wave energy converter is the most widely used device because of the benefit of maintenance. The impulse turbine is normally installed in the device as a 2nd energy converting system in the low incident wave energy site especially. This paper deals with the method of design the size and operating speed of impulse turbine according to rated power. The size of 30kW turbine is estimated as 0.8m, and the rated operating speed is designed at 800rpm. The integrated performance of the air chamber and the turbine is evaluated using numerical method. The numerical wave tank base on VOF model is established for evaluation of the performance. The 4 cases of shapes of air chamber and duct position are compared on the integrated performance under various incident wave conditions.