Track: Energy

Abstract

One kind of environmentally friendly technology that generates power from vortexes created by gravity pulls is the gravitational water vortex power plant. Because of its favorable effects on the environment and low hydraulic head need, this kind of power plant is desirable. However, the development of this technique was dragged back by a lack of literature and exposure. This study focuses on how the geometry of the penstock affects the power plant's efficiency. An experimental configuration that mimics the low-head river and power plant was created by us. Experiments revealed that an increase in the feeding breadth of the penstock decreased the power plant's efficiency. It was also discovered that the power plant's efficiency was mostly unaffected by the model's length for the penstock. The power plant's efficiency was determined to be at its peak when the ratio of the basin's diameter to the outflow diameter was within the range of 0.16 and 0.18. Ultimately, the power plant's performance was determined to be enhanced by raising the inlet flow rate by the researchers. These results suggested that additional research on this technology is required to fully use low-head sites.