Design and Fabrication of Horizontal Turbine for Rural Microhydroelectric Generations

There are many types of turbine which can be identified as hydraulic or water turbine, gas turbine or steam turbine. For the study, the author need to design a prototype of hydraulic turbine which is in the end, can assist Sek Kg Sungai Tiang in Grik, Perak in receiving electricity. The hydraulic turbine will be place onto the river (not fully submerge) and the velocity of the river should be at least 3ms-1. Hydraulic turbine is a prime mover that uses the energy of flowing water (river) and converts it into the mechanical energy.
The turbine can be categorized into two types which are impulse turbine and also reaction turbine. Impulse turbine can be defined as a prime mover in which fluid under pressure enters a stationary nozzle where its pressure (potential) energy is converted to velocity (kinetic) energy and absorbed by the rotor. For this kind of turbine, the rotor will rotate freely in atmospheric pressure and never be submerged in water of the tail race. It is different from the reaction where the turbine‟s rotor remains immersed in water all the time and water acting on the wheel is under pressure which is greater than atmospheric pressure.
The design of the turbine can be classified into two types, horizontal and vertical. This project is focusing on more on simulation (by using Catia) and fabrication of the prototype for the horizontal one (cross-flow turbine). A lot of studies have been done which mostly cover the part of finding the formula for the calculations and understanding the theory of run river turbine working principle. The fabrication part is done and try as much as possible following the theoretical value that have been calculated at first.