Investigation of optimum working conditions of a micro cross flow turbine

Large-scale hydropower plants have major impacts on surrounding environment. This is mostly because of flooding land for the reservoir which destroys forests, wildlife habitat, agricultural, and scenic lands (Union of Concern Scientists [2015]: Environmental impacts of hydroelectric power). Small-scale hydropower systems, on the other hand, can be used as a much environmental choice especially for independent rural electrification. Dam or barrage requirements for mini and micro turbines are fairly small and water is stored in forebay tanks. However, financial considerations dictates utilisation of more efficient turbine technologies than currently available small-scale turbines can offer. Cross flow turbines (CFT) of small-scale hydropower plants are highly environmental considering their production and maintenance, but unfavoured due to their difficulty in achieving adequate and sustainable efficiency. Furthermore, maintaining power quality of micro hydropower stations with island operation setup is difficult. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) is applied to investigate and identify the operating conditions of a micro cross flow turbine. A quadratic model is developed through RSM and an experimental setup of CFT is established to investigate the combined effects of flow rate, head and guide vane angle parameters on the turbine performance. RSM analyses are performed for 50 Hz constant frequency as optimal working condition. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 1506–1511, 2015