VELOCITY ENHANCEMENT OF HYDROKINETIC TURBINE OPERATION IN OPEN CHANNELS USING A MUTLI AEROFOIL DIFFUSER

Abstract

Indian states are full of canals and waterways used for irrigation and as water transport in different parts of the country. Installing low-cost hydrokinetic turbines in these canals can prove highly beneficial and would reduce the operational load on the conventional power generation units. However, there is a limitation on the maximum energy that can be extracted from the flowing stream by these turbines. Thus, diffusers or ducts are modeled around these turbines to increase the power output of these turbines. The axial hydrokinetic turbines are the most commonly used turbines for extracting the energy of a flowing water current, river, ocean or tides. This paper focuses on the development of a multi aerofoil diffuser profile that can increase the power output of these axial hydrokinetic turbines. This is done by using high lift aerofoil geometries to model the diffuser which leads to a velocity enhancement of the flow around the turbine. The effect of the variation of different diffuser angles of the secondary diffuser on the flow velocity is considered. Also, the pressure distributions along the exit area of the turbine are also studied. Development of such efficient geometries of diffuser can lead to widespread application of this technology and thus provide renewable power to the masses at lesser costs.