MODELING, SIMULATION AND FABRICATION OF AN UNDERSHOT FLOATING WATERWHEEL

This paper presents modeling, simulation and fabrication of an undershot floating waterwheel for power generation for run-of-the-river applications. For the undershot floating waterwheel, analytical modeling and simulation are per- formed to estimate the optimal design parameters. Moreover, the dependence of output power on various parameters of waterwheel is also investigated during simulations. It is found, during analysis that the water flow velocity is the major factor affecting the output power and due to availability of high flow velocity stream the parameters of the waterwheel, such as, radius and width of wheel can be reduced considerably. For a flow velocity of 1.5 m/s, design estimates for waterwheel producing 1 kW power are obtained with the devised analytical model. The simulations performed for the 1 kW power development, show that a 1 m radius waterwheel with 10 number of blades, each having a width of 1.75 m and height of 0.55 m, are capable of generating the desired power from stream flow velocity of 1.5 m/s. Moreover, a prototype of an undershot floating waterwheel is also fabricated from low weight materials, such as, fiber glass and mild steel square tubes. For electrical power generation a DC generator is coupled with the output shaft of the waterwheel. The developed prototype wheel successfully produced a maximum power of 0.6 kW from a water stream flowing at 1.2 m/s in an irrigation channel.