Enhancing the efficiency of hydrokinetic Savonius turbine with guiding walls

Abstract

Hydropower offers a means of generating electricity through the conversion of water flow's mechanical energy using rotors. The helical Savonius rotor is recognized as one of the most commonly employed rotor types. An approach employed to boost power output involves the utilization of guiding walls, positioned upstream of the Savonius rotor. In this specific study, an investigation is presented into a helical Savonius rotor equipped with an innovative deflector design composed of guiding walls in the form of NACA-profiled plates. Ansys Fluent is used to simulate the water flow around the helical Savonius turbine and the guiding walls. The geometric parameters of this design of guiding walls are adjusted to identify the most efficient configuration. When examining all considered configurations, an improvement is noted in the maximum power coefficient, with a significant increase compared with a conventional configuration. In fact, the power coefficient could be improved by 44% using optimal dimensions of the guiding walls. The inclusion of the proposed guiding walls in conjunction with the optimized geometric parameters emerges as a strategy to enhance the rotor's power coefficient.