Influence of the number of blade in hydro microturbine due to flow velocity

Hydro Microturbine is a small device that can generate big amount of electricity from water flow. The simulation will be conducted using three different numbers of blades, namely 6, 7, and 8, blades in order to investigate the effect of these numbers of blade to the turbine movement and flow pressure. The turbine type used was Francis Turbine in 31 mm of inlet diameter, 41 mm of outlet diameter, and 38.75 mm of runner blade diameter. The inlet velocity was 3 ms-1. The numerical calculation was done using ANSYS Fluent. The effect of different numbers of blade due to the water flow velocity will be investigated. The results showed that those with 6 and 7 blades were able to move due to the water flow from the inlet area. Meanwhile, that with number 8 blades produced turbulence inside the turbine. Turbulence happens due to the angle of the guide vane is too small hence it is not suitable for the 8 blades. The results also showed the 7 blades had better performance than that of 6 blades in producing movement velocity and flow pressure. The flow velocity of the 7 blades was 3.56 ms-1, the pressure was 6.473 kPa before entering the blade and 39.6 kPa after exiting the blade. Meanwhile, the flow velocity of 6 blades was 3.1 ms-1, the pressure was 6.482 kPa before entering the blade and 29 kPa after exiting the blade.