EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON A KINETIC HYDRO TURBINE - GENERATOR ASSEMBLY

The present paper is part of a larger project whose purpose is to develop a new hydrokinetic turbine-generator assembly, suitable for very low head water courses. It presents the experimental results of a turbine–generator physical model, installed on the tailrace of Mihailesti Hydropower Plant. In order to carry out the measurements, a floating structure and an anchoring system was installed on the power plant tailrace. This system also allowed the translation of the assembly between the two shores. A first set of measurements followed the water velocity and depth in the channel at various load values of the hydropower plant units, in order to determine the proper conditions for testing the model. The turbine gives the possibility of blades adjustment at three different angles, 0, 9 and 14 degrees respectively. Therefore, a set of measurements has been performed for each position of the blades. The measured parameters were the electric parameters of the generator such as voltage, current and the power variation with rotation speed. For the blades adjustment of 9 degrees and 1.76 m/s water velocity, the generator reached its maximum power of 500 W. The results retrieved will be used for the optimization and design of a new enlarged scale turbine–generator assembly. They will also be used as input data for the numerical modeling of the generator. Also, the exact knowledge of the channel geometry and flow parameters is valuable in studies preceding testing a prototype in the site.