Design and Analysis of In-Line Turbine for Micro-Hydropower Plant

Abstract

Energy in different forms plays a key role in daily life. Electricity is one such form of energy. The fact that fossil fuels are depleting at an alarming rate, there is a need for alternative sources of energy. Hydropower is one of the important renewable energy sources and popular because of its advantages. The micro hydropower plant is one of the best solutions for energy crises. The micro hydropower plant can be operated with various streams, even in sewage treatment plants. The project aims to generate electricity from treated water of sewage treatment plant using an inline turbine. In the present work,the inline turbine is designed, which can be used to harness power from this water which otherwise is discharged into the river. The turbine selected is the Kaplan turbine. The expected efficiency was assumed to be 90%. Initially,the theoretical design was performed for determining the main characteristics which resulted in 90.17% efficiency. Theoretical design is approximate and has to be confirmed by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) which resulted in 85.76% efficiency. Static analysis is also performed to know the effect of working conditions through simulation. This methodology can be used at various water sources which can provide energy for general utilization at that site.