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Proceedings of the Eleventh (2001) hlternational Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference Stavanger, Norway, June 17-22, 2001

Copyright 2001 by Tile International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers ISBN 1-880653-51-6 (SeO; ISBN 1-880653-52-4 (VoL I); ISSN 1098-6189 (SeO

Comparison of 0.6m Impulse and Wells Turbines for Wave Energy Conversion Under Similar Conditions
A. Thakker, P. Frawley, H.B. Khaleeq and E.S. Bajeet
U n i v e r s i t y of L i m e r i c k L i m e r i c k , Ireland

ABSTRACT This paper presents a comparison of 0.6m Impulse and Wells turbines with same hub to tip ratio of 0.6 for wave energy power conversion under similar conditions. A 0.6m Wells turbine rotor with a solidity of 0.6, with guide vanes, was tested in a 0.6m test rig. Similarly, an Impulse turbine rotor consisting of 30 blades and with a set of symmetrical guide vanes on both upstream and down stream sections was tested under similar flow as well as testing conditions. This paper reports the comparison of performance characteristics of both these turbines under similar uni-directional steady flow conditions.
Based on this uni-directional steady investigation, it was seen that the Wells turbine might suit small wave sites whereas the impulse one might be ideal for large wave sites. This observation needs further investigation and authors are working on enhancing this comparison under irregular, unsteady real sea conditions.

INTRODUCTION For the last two decades, Scientists have been investigating and defining different methods for power extraction from wave motion. These devices utilize the principle of an Oscillating Water Column (OWC). OWC based Wave Energy Power Plants convert wave energy into low-pressure pneumatic power in the form of bi-directional airflow. Self-rectifying air turbines (which are capable of operating uni-directionally in bi-directional airflow) are used to extract mechanical shaft power, which is further converted into electrical power by a generator. Two different turbines are currently in use around the world for wave energy power generation, Wells Turbine, introduced by Dr. A. A. Wells in 1976 and Impulse Turbine with guide vanes by Kim et al. (1988). Both these turbines are currently in operation in different power plants in Europe and Asia on experimental basis. Currently, research around the world is focused on improving the performance of both these turbines under different operating conditions. Several reports investigate the performance of Wells Turbine, according to these results the Wells Turbine has inherent disadvantages: stalling and poor starting characteristics (Setoguchi et al., (1999)). To date, some novel versions have been tried to overcome these points. On the other hand, a number of impulse turbines for wave power conversion have been presented so far. From all these, the impulse turbine with self-pitching linked guide vanes was the most promising one (Setoguchi et al., (1996)). This turbine is a selfrectifying turbine with a set of mirror image guide vanes on either side of the rotor to act as nozzle and diffuser and vice versa under bidirectional flows. There are several reports on the performance of this kind of power extracting device. According to these reports, Impulse turbine with self pitch controlled guide vanes is far superior to Wells Turbine in starting and running characteristics under unsteady wave conditions (Inoue et al., (1996), Maeda et al., (1995), Sanathakumar et al., (1998), Setoguchi et al., (1993a, 1993b)), Setoguchi et al., (1996)). This design delivers useful efficiency over a wide range of flow rate, has a good starting characteristics and low operating speeds, therefore low noise. Although, the Impulse turbine with self-pitching linked guide vanes has superior characteristics, certain disadvantages are imposed by such variable geometry design. Presence of many moving parts lead to maintenance and operating life problems and more cost. If

K E Y W O R D S : Wave Energy, Wells Turbine and Impulse Turbine NOMENCLATURE : blade height b : torque coefficient Ca" : input coefficient CA : chord length of rotor blade lr : pressure drop 8p Q : flow rate : mean radius rR : mean axial flow velocity Va : number of rotor blades z : turbine efficiency under steady flow rl : setting angle of fixed guide vane 0 : hub-to-tip ratio V : flow coefficient : circumferential velocity at rR UR : pressure co-efficient kpo* : torque co-efficient T* : tip radius R : angular velocity of turbine rotor t.0

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fixed guide vanes are used, it was felt that these problems would be mitigated even though the performance may be poorer but the results are far better than that of Wells turbine (Setoguchi et al., (1999)). Wave Energy Research Team (WERT) at University of Limerick, Ireland is currently investigating both these turbines under similar flow conditions. A 0.6m diameter Wells turbine with guide vanes with a hub to tip ratio of 0.6 was designed, manufactured and tested on a unidirectional test rig under steady flow conditions. Similarly, a 0.6m diameter Impulse turbine with fixed guide vanes with a hub to tip ratio of 0.6 was also designed, manufactured and tested on the same rig under similar flow conditions. This paper presents the initial comparative analysis of both these turbines under similar operation conditions.

machine using ABS Plastic. The details of the design and manufacture of turbine blades etc. can be found in Thakker et al., (2000a & 2000b). Two sets of mirror image copper guide vanes with a chord length of 131.38mm were manufactured using conventional sheet/metal and welding procedures. EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES AND METHODOLOGY

DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OF TURBINES Wells Turbine with Guide Vanes A CA9 rotor Wells turbine with symmetrical circular-arc guide vanes was tested on the rig. The solidity of the rotor was 0.5 and the hub-totip ratio was 0.6. The tests were carried out at Re = 5 x 105 and tip Ma = 0.2. The rotor blades were developed in Pro-Engineer and then CNCmachined out of aluminum. The guide vanes were made out of commercial steel sheet metal of 1.5ram thickness and rolled to the required shape. Impulse Turbine with Fixed Guide Vanes A 0.6m diameter Impulse turbine rotor with a hub to tip ratio of 0.6 was designed and manufactured at University of Limerick, Ireland for the said performance analysis. Basic blade and guide vane profile parameters were based on the published optimum design parameters (Setoguchi, T., (1999), Setoguchi et al., (2001)), but with a different hub to tip ratio. Blade chord length is 100ram. A 2D sketch of 0.6m turbine rotor and guide vanes is shown in Figure 1.
Ft, OW

A schematic layout of the experimental rig at University of Limerick is shown in Figure 2. It consists of a bell mouth entry, 0.6m test section, drive and transmission section, a plenum chamber with honeycomb section, a calibrated nozzle and a centrifugal fan. Air is drawn into the bell mouth shaped open end, it passes through the turbine and then enters the plenum chamber. In the chamber, the flow is conditioned and all swirls/vortices are removed prior to passing through a calibrated nozzle and finally exhausting at the fan outlet. The flow rate is controlled by using a valve at fan exit. The maximum diameter of the test section is 0.6m with a hub-tip ratio of 0.6. Details of the test rig calibration etc. can be found in Thakker et al., 2001. The turbines were mounted on a shaft in a cylindrical annular duct, with a blade tip clearance of l mm. The shaft is coupled to a motor/generator via a torquemeter.

FAN

PLENUM ~HAMBER

ROTOR

/
~ AIR FLOW

/
NOZZLE

................

1
!

L;

i
DRIVE

i_J

l t;t

HONEYCOMB

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of 0.6m diameter test rig at University of Limerick.

Methodology used for Wells Turbine tests The turbine was ramped up to 1700 rpm and tests were carried out at that speed. The flow rate was varied to test for several operating conditions. The fan allowed a maximum flow rate of 5 m3/s, value which could be further increased with reduced rotor blockage. The stagnation pressure drop across the rotor was approximated to be equal to the stagnation pressure drop between the plenum chamber and the atmosphere.
R~r~

Figure 1.0.6m Impulse Turbine with fixed guide vanes

A 3D model of blades and hub was generated in CAD package ProEngineer v2000i. The blade model was used to manufacture turbine blades on FDM (Fused Decomposition Modeling) Rapid prototyping

Methodology used for Impulse Turbine tests The similar methodology was adopted to test Impulse Turbine, to keep the similar operating conditions for both turbines. Turbine was tested under a constant rotational speed of 350 rpm, with varying axial velocities. Data was collected by varying the flow rate from 0.7 m3/s to 2.5 m3/s, thus giving a flow co-efficient range of 0.44 to 1.59 under uni-directional steady flow conditions. The Reynolds number based on the blade chord length was 0.74 x 105 at peak efficiency. Data for torque and pressure drop across the rotor for varying axial velocities was collected. 631

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS Wells Turbine Typical performance parameters, listed below, were used to rate the performance of CA9 blades.
Flow Co-efficient
=

It should also be noted that the impulse turbine operates at speeds that need ramp up to match generator and that this will decrease the overall efficiency of the system. Typical speeds for the Wells turbine will be around 1500 rpm and more suitable for matching. The Wells turbine is also a simpler design and does not necessarily need guide vanes to operate. It is interesting to see that the Wells turbine is highly efficient at very low flow coefficient and this would tend to suggest its application for small wave sites. This is confirmed by the power curve of figure 4. It shows clearly that the Wells turbine extracts more power at low flow rates while the impulse one is more efficient at higher flow rates. This fact was observed at relatively higher flow rate of 2.5 m3/s. At this flow rate, turbine generated torque around 23 N-m, which was over the torque handling capability of the torquemeter in the test rig (20 N-m). Therefore, the graph in figure 5 has been extrapolated, so that it can be compared with the data available for Wells turbine.

Va/U R

(1)

Efficiency q = Tm/SpQ = CT/CAq~ Pressure Co-efficient Apo* = (Ap0/po32R2) Torque Co-efficient T* = T/(p(oSR 5)

(2) (3) (4)

Impulse Turbine The overall performance of Impulse turbine was evaluated by the turbine angular velocity m, torque generated T, flow rate Q, and total pressure drop 8P across the rotor. The results are expressed in the form of torque coefficient CT, and input power coefficient CA in terms of flow coefficient ~. The efficiency is calculated using equation 2. The definitions of CT and CA are given below
Torque Co-efficient CT = T /{ P (Va 2 q- UR2)b lr z rR / 2 } Input Co-efficient CA = 8p Q/{ p (Va2 + UR2) b lr z Va / 2 }

2_5
S

[] o

0.6IT 0,6W

~1.5 (5)
(6)
0

'~--- - - Extrq~diQ_~~ [ ...........

a. 0.5
E X P E R I M E N T A L R E S U L T S & DISCUSSION
0

Fig-ure 3 shows the comparative efficiency curve for both turbines. It can be seen that the impulse turbine has a far better range of efficient operation than the Wells turbine. This also means that it can operate at lower rotational speed. Its higher operational range compensates for its lower maximum efficiency (44% compared to 74% for Wells turbine). Because of its design it is 'stall-free' and is able to cope with higher flow coefficients and high wave sites. It is also inherently self-starting, which gives it another edge over low-solidity vaneless Wells turbines. It should however be noted that the difference in operating speed of the Wells turbine (1700 rpm) and impulse turbine (350 rpm) can lead to confusion in the interpretation of the flow range. This is so because the impulse turbine will obviously have a wider flow coefficient range due to its lower speed.
Efficency
0.6m Wells

O,[Z]

O~

1.00 1.50 2CD 250 3.[Z] 3.50 &03 450 5.[Z] 5.50

Row rate rn3/s


Figure 4. Power vs flow rate plot for both 0.6m Wells and Impulse Turbines The effect of the difference in Reynolds number on the performance of the two turbines is assumed to be negligible. But it should be mentioned that higher magnitudes of Reynolds number (over 5 million) will further enhance the performance of the turbine by improving the resistance of the suction side boundary layer resistance to stall and hence asymptoting towards an inviscid turbine. This means that comparing prototype scale turbines might produce a different nature of results.

vs Flow Co-efficient & Impulse Turbines

] ~o.6

IT GVs

i--

I ---~--0.6 WT GVs !

CONCLUSIONS This work is a preliminary comparative study of the two selfrectifying turbines and its aim is to enlighten engineers upon the features of each of the two turbines and help the turbine selection for prototype plants. This study was based on steady flow analysis only. The Wells turbine had a maximum efficiency of 74% while the impulse one attained a maximum value of only 44%. However, the Wells turbine performance was found to stall rapidly while the impulse turbine was 'stall-free'. It was seen that the Wells turbine might be more suitable for smaller wave sites while the impulse one might suit the bigger waves sites. This observation needs further investigation.

_4

0.00

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

1.25

1.50

Flow Co-efficient

Figure 3. Efficiency vs flow co-efficient plot for both 0.6m Wells and Impulse Turbines

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FUTURE W O R K

More comparative analysis is to be carried out in view of providing the entire research community with more information about the application of these two turbines for wave energy conversion systems. Authors are working on a more comprehensive analysis under unsteady, irregular flow conditions; this will depict a better and closer picture of the performance of each turbine under real sea conditions.

Setoguchi, T., Santhakumar, S., Maeda, H., Takao, M. and Kaneko, K., (2001). "A review of Impulse Turbines for wave energy conversion," Renewable Energy 23 (2001), pp 261-292 Setoguchi, T., Takao, M., Kinoue, Y., Kaneko, K., Santhakumar, S., Inoue, M., (1999). "Study of an impulse turbine for wave energy conversion," Proceedings of the Ninth (1999) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference. Thakker, A., Frawley, P., Bajeet, E.S., (2001). "Experimental investigation of CA9 blades on a 0.6m Wells Turbine rig," To be published in the proceedings of the 4 th European Conference on Turbomachinery, Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, March 2001, Florence, Italy. Thakker, A., Sheahan, C., Frawley, P., Khaleeq, H.B., (2000a). "The concurrent engineering approach to the manufacture of Impulse turbine blades," Proceedings of the 4 th International Conference on Managing Innovative Manufacturing (MIM 2000), Birmingham, UK. Thakker, A., Sheahan, C., Frawley, P., Khaleeq, H.B., (2000b). "The concurrent engineering approach to the manufacture of Impulse turbine blades using Rapid Prototyping Machine," Proceedings of the 17th Annual Conference of the Irish Manufacturing Committee (IMC-17), Galway, Ireland.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the support extended by the Department of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering, Department of Manufacturing & Operation Research and Wave Energy Research Team at University of Limerick, Ireland. Authors would like to acknowledge the valuable input of Prof. T. Setoguchi, Saga University, Japan, in the design phase of the turbines. Authors would also like to acknowledge contributions made by members of WERT.

REFERENCES

Inoue, M., Kaneko K., Setoguchi, T., (1996). "Simple theory of impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes for wave power conversion," Proceedings of the International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, v l. Kim, T.W., Kaneko, K., Setoguchi, T., Inoue, M., (1988). "Aerodynamic performance of an Impulse turbine with self-pitchcontrolled guide vanes for wave power generator," Proceedings of the 1st KSMY-JSME Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference, Korea. Maeda, H., Setoguchi, T., Kaneko, K., Kim, T.W., Inoue, M., (1995). "Effect of turbine geometry on the performance of impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes for wave power conversion," International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, v5, 1. Sanathakumar, S., Jayashankar, V., Atmanand, M.A., Pathak, A.G., Ravindran, M., Setoguchi, T., Takao, M., Kaneko, M., (1998). "Performance of an impulse turbine based wave energy plant," Proceedings of the International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, v 1. Setoguchi, T., (1999). "A review of Impulse Turbines for wave energy conversion" Setoguchi, T., Kaneko, K., Maeda, H., Kim, T.W., Inoue, M., (1993). "Impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled tandem guide vanes for wave power conversion," Proceedings of the Third (1993) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, Part 1 (of 4). Setoguchi, T., Kaneko, K., Maeda, H., Kim, T.W., Inoue, M., (1993). "Impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes for wave power conversion: Performance of mono-vane type," International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, v3, 1. Setoguchi, T., Kaneko, K., Taniyama, H., Maeda, H., Inoue, M., (1996). "Impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes for wave power conversion: guide vanes connected by links," International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, v6, 1.

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