Development of testing equipment of gravitational water vortex turbine.

This paper presents the development of a gravitational water vortex turbine model for testing equipment. This testing equipment will be used to support the laboratory work and conduct research by the lecturers and students at the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Lampung. The design is based on the geometry of the circulation tank, the profile of the blades, and the number of blades. This testing equipment consists of a conical circulation basin with an inlet diameter of 60 cm and an outlet diameter of 10 cm and a turbine with a top diameter of 20 cm and a bottom diameter of 15 cm using curved blades. The tests were carried out for the different numbers of turbine blades by varying the flow rate from 8 l/s to 12 l/s. The test results showed the highest efficiency of 22,04 % using six turbine blades, compared to four or five turbine blades at a flow rate of 10 l/s. Test results of this testing equipment also showed it could provide the performance characteristics of a gravitational water vortex turbine properly to carry out the laboratory work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]