Performance Enhancement of Savonius Hydrokinetic Turbine with a Unique Vane Shape: An Experimental Investigation

Hydrokinetic turbine produces the power output from the kinetic energy available in the flowing water flow. For power production, there is no need of massive construction of dam, and power can be derived without changing the natural path of the water stream. In spite of many advantages of the hydrokinetic turbines, it suffers with the biggest drawback of very low power coefficient. Hence, in the present investigation, an attempt is made to enhance the performance of the Savonius hydrokinetic turbine by evaluating novel designs of the vane shapes. Two different types of the vanes are investigated, considering the efficiently flow pattern passing over from the turbine vane. The performances of the designed vanes are compared with the third conventional semi-cylindrical vane. The performances of all turbine vanes are investigated experimentally. The experimental results indicate that the extended semi-cylindrical vane, design—1, provides the best performance among all investigated turbine vane designs.