Studies on application of vertical axis hydro turbine for sustainable power generation in irrigation channels with different bed slopes

Abstract The present work is carried out to study the performance of a Savonius rotor for small-scale hydropower generation. It has been observed that some of the irrigation channels available in the rural areas are having enough bed slope to generate kinetic energy, which can be harnessed through a Savonius rotor. An in-house fabricated scale-down model of the Savonius rotor is tested at an inclination of the re-circulating indoor multipurpose tilting flume at 0°, 0.5°, 1.0°, 1.5° and 2.0° to determine performance under controlled conditions. It is observed that at the tip speed ratio of 0.92 and channel inclination of 0.5° compared to 0° inclination, the coefficient of power and coefficient of torque improved to 40% and 10%, respectively. Furthermore, it is found that the torque and power developed by the turbine are maximum at a bed slope of 2.0° owing to the maximum available energy.