Utilization of Horizontal Water System as Electrical Power Generation in Pico Scale with a Small Bulb Turbine

Abstract

Water systems such as pipelines, pumping stations and other channels in horizontal flow have the potential as pico scale hydropower. This study aims to observe the effect of the number of blades and the blade angle on the electric power generation in the small bulb turbine on horizontal flow. This study also observes how the number of blades and blade angle affected the electrical power generated using analysis of variance. The level on the parameter number of blades used was 4, 5, 6, and 7 blades, while the level parameters on the blade angle were 15, 20, 25, and 30 degrees and each level was tested 4 replication at the discharge of 13 L/s. This paper shows the results of turbine performance in the form of angular velocity, electric power, efficiency, and the test results of the analysis of variance using SPSS 17 software. The results of the study show the number of blades 5 with a 20 degree blade angle of the best performance compared another the number of blades and the blade angle with an efficiency of about 50%. The results of the analysis of variance show the blade angle of the blade has a more dominant effect on electrical power than the number of blades.

Keywords

• bulb turbine
• pico scale hydropower
• propeller
• water system