A New Methodology to Design Sustainable Archimedean Screw Turbines as Green Energy Generators
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Description of the Archimedes Screw Turbine Technology
- Z is the height of the head;
- Q, in m3/s, is the total flow passing through the hydraulic machine, the AST or the bucket elevator;
- Qleak, in m3/s, is the leakage loss flow due to leakage between two consecutive levels;
- Qoverflow, in m3/s, is the overflow loss when the design flow is exceeded. These losses appear in ASTs although they are not included in Figure 1a.
- P, in m, is the pitch of the screw;
- L, in m, is the length of the screw.
- (a)
- AST operates at the design flow, Qmax.:
- (b)
- AST operates below the design flow:
- (c)
- AST operates above the design flow, overflow:
- Qleak is the loss due to leakage (flow in m3/s);
- Qmax is the maximum flow (m3/s);
- Ls is the static leakage loss (%);
- Ω is the rotation speed of the screw (rpm);
- Q is the actual flow through the AST (m3/s).
- The AST must be understood as a bucket elevator and designed to take into account the filling level.
- The AST must be designed to ensure as low a percentage of leakage losses as possible.
2.2. Study of Theoretical Performance of the AST through Numerical Models using the Finite Element Method
2.3. Real Performance of the AST Using Experimental Prototypes
2.3.1. Small-Scale Prototype
2.3.2. Real-Scale Prototype
3. Results
3.1. Numerical Results
3.2. Experimental Results
3.2.1. Small-Scale Prototype Results
3.2.2. Real-Scale Prototype Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- Although buckets of the AST were not identified easily, the analogy with the bucket elevator presented in this work helps in understanding this concept. This analogy was a relevant contribution because the capacity of the buckets of an AST is one of the keys for an efficient design.
- Although the AST is a volumetric mechanism which works under atmospheric pressure, its efficiency strongly depends on the filling of the buckets. 100% filling would provide the highest efficiency in ideal ASTs. However, because of the movement of the screw, overflow losses occur above 85% filling and the efficiency of the turbine decreases.
- To ensure 85% filling of the buckets, an active speed control was suggested to ensure that the rotation speed decreased with the decrease of flow.
- Leakage losses, which are one of the most influential parameters on the efficiency of an AST, can be defined through the static leakage losses, the rotation speed and the design flow. This hypothesis was checked for other ASTs and for the two prototypes studied in this work.
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Parameter (Units) | |
---|---|
Slope (°) | 22 |
Outer diameter (m) | 0.564 |
Inner diameter (m) | 0.302 |
Pitch (m) | 0.972 |
Length of the screw (m) | 3.203 |
Head (m) | 1.20 |
Gap between flights and trough (mm) | 3 |
Parameter (Units) | |
---|---|
Slope (°) | 22 |
Outer diameter (m) | 0.564 |
Inner diameter (m) | 0.302 |
Pitch (m) | 0.972 |
Length of the screw (m) | 3.203 |
Head (m) | 1.20 |
Gap between flights and trough (mm) | 3 |
Rotation speed (Ω) | 73.239 |
Parameter (Units) | |
---|---|
Slope (°) | 22 |
Outer diameter (m) | 2.278 |
Inner diameter (m) | 1.273 |
Pitch (m) | 4.540 |
Length of the screw (m) | 4.179 |
Head (m) | 1.94 |
Gap between flights and trough (mm) | 3 |
Rotation speed (Ω) | variable |
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Alonso-Martinez, M.; Suárez Sierra, J.L.; Coz Díaz, J.J.d.; Martinez-Martinez, J.E. A New Methodology to Design Sustainable Archimedean Screw Turbines as Green Energy Generators. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 9236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249236
Alonso-Martinez M, Suárez Sierra JL, Coz Díaz JJd, Martinez-Martinez JE. A New Methodology to Design Sustainable Archimedean Screw Turbines as Green Energy Generators. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(24):9236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249236
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlonso-Martinez, Mar, José Luis Suárez Sierra, Juan José del Coz Díaz, and Juan Enrique Martinez-Martinez. 2020. "A New Methodology to Design Sustainable Archimedean Screw Turbines as Green Energy Generators" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 24: 9236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249236