Study and design of archimedes screw turbine for micro hydro power generation.

Owing to the soaring demand for energy supply, the need for unconventional sources of energy is increasing. The most dependable sources of energy is hydropower. Earlier to harness power from water, generally, large dams were built across rivers to harness the energy, but nowadays micro hydropower plants are considered in more numbers in low-head rivers to produce electricity. The Archimedes Screw turbine is the best option for a hydroelectric power plant with such a low head. This study focuses on the suitable design of the Archimedes screw that can be used for micro hydropower generation. Three different design configurations with varying numbers of blades were taken into consideration. The theoretical design parameters were calculated for those three configurations. The CAD models of these turbines are designed with the aid of CREO. The Ansys fluent analysis was later performed on the turbines to determine the pressure contours and velocity streamlines. Various performance parameters such as power, torque and efficiency were computed for comparison of the turbines. The turbine with three blade configuration was observed to strike an optimum balance between performance and effective hydrodynamic design. Hence, this study proposes that the three-blade Archimedes screwis most suitable for micro hydro power generation sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]