Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Gato
Department of IVIectianical Engineering,
Instituto Superior T^cnico,
Performance of a High-Solidity
Universidade T6cnica de Lisboa,
1096 Lisbon, Portugal Wells Turbine for an OWC Wave
V. Warfield
Power Plant
The paper describes an experimental investigation, and presents the results of the
A. Thakker aerodynamic performance of a high-solidity Wells turbine for a wave power plant.
A monoplane turbine of 0.6 m rotor diameter with guide vanes was built and tested.
Department of l\/leciianicai and Aeronautical The tests were conducted in unidirectional steady airflow. Measurements taken in-
Engineering, clude flow rate, pressure drop, torque, and rotational speed, as well as velocity and
University of Limerick, pressure distributions. Experimental results show that the presence of guide vanes
Limerick, Ireland can provide a remarkable increase in turbine efficiency.
1 Introduction al., 1991). The input data for the turbine design were obtained
from experimental tests conducted on a 1/35-scale model of
Potentially, one of the most successful devices used in the
the wave power plant in an irregular wave basin. The design
harnessing of wave energy has been the oscillating water col-
method for the air turbine is based upon the quasi-three-dimen-
umn (OWC) wave energy converter. The OWC is a chamber,
sional analysis of the flow and uses the minimization of the
either floating or bottom standing, with the immersed end
outer rotor diameter as an optimization criteria, thus yielding
opened to the action of the sea (see Gato et al., 1991a). A
the turbine dimensions and rotational speed. A comparison of
reciprocating airflow is created by the action of the free surface
the turbine performance and size using several geometries (Gato
of the water within the chamber. The conversion of this airflow
et al., 1991) showed that the most suitable geometry to accom-
into mechanical energy may be achieved by means of a number
modate the given design conditions was the monoplane rotor
of devices.
with guide vanes.
A reciprocating airflow may be rectified in order to produce
A turbine of 0.6-m diameter was jointly manufactured both
unidirectional flow, by a series of nonreturn valves. This unidi-
at the University of Limerick and at Instituto Superior Tecnico
rectional flow may be used to drive a conventional turbine such
(1ST), Lisbon. Two sets of rotor blades were manufactured,
as a Francis turbine. Although the Francis turbine may reach a
each set giving the same solidity. The first set of blades was of
high peak efficiency, its average cyclic efficiency in oscillating
constant thickness with a NACA 0015 profile, along the blade
airflow is likely to be considerably small, since the turbine will
length, while the second set was of linearly variable thickness
be working far from the best efficiency point during a large
with NACA 0021 at the hub and NACA 0009 at the tip. The
part of the cycle (Raghunathan et al., 1985).
turbine was fitted with two sets of guide vanes, which could be
No rectifying valve system is required if a self-rectifying air removed for comparative testing. Experiments were conducted
turbine is used. Versions of such turbines have been proposed with unidirectional steady airflow, in the test rig at 1ST.
and built; namely, McCormick's counter-rotating turbine (Rich-
Details of the guide vane design are given in Section 2. The
ards and Weiskopf, 1986; McCormick and Surko, 1989), the
experimental procedure as well as the test rig used are described
impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes (Seto-
in Section 3. In Section 4, experimental results are presented and
guchi et al., 1993), and the Wells turbine (Raghunathan et al.,
compared for three different turbine configurations: constant
1985, 1989; Gato and Falcao, 1984, 1988). The rotor of the
thickness rotor blade and variable thickness rotor blade, without
latter consists basically of a set of symmetrical airfoil blades,
guide vanes; constant thickness rotor blade with guide vanes.
fixed to a hub, with their plane of symmetry normal to the axis
of rotation. Versions of the Wells turbine have been studied
with and without stationary vanes (Gato and Falcao, 1990). In 2 Guide Vane Design
biplane or multiplane Wells turbines, the rotor blades are placed The quasi-three-dimensional analysis described in detail in
in more than one plane, in order to allow for greater total bladed Gato and Falcao (1990) was used to determine the flow angle
area (Raghunathan and Tan, 1983; Kaneko et al., 1991; Gato distribution at the exit of the inlet guide vanes, which yields
et a l , 1991b). A modified Wells turbine with variable pitch the required design flow conditions at the entrance to the outlet
rotor blades was found to provide a way of controlling the guide vanes, i.e., a2(r) = TT - a\{r) (see Gato and Falcao,
airflow rate and pressure difference independently from each 1990), Fig. 1. Once a2{r) = TT a i ( r ) is known, the shape
other, and therefore it can be used to enable an OWC wave of the guide vanes can be calculated from two-dimensional
energy device to be phase-controlled (Sarmento et al., 1990). theory. Due to manufacturing constraints, a circular arc profile
In addition to this, the capability of controlling the blades setting of constant radius was adopted for the guide vanes. We assume
angle can constitute an effective way to extend the flow range axial inlet flow and specify the exit flow angle a^ (or, equiva-
within which the turbine can respond with fairly high efficiency lently, fix the inlet flow angle a2 = TT - ai for the second row
(Gato and Falcao, 1989; Gato et al., 1991a). of guide vanes and assume axial exit flow). Furthermore, we
The paper describes an experimental study concerning the impose shock-free flow at the leading edge and Kutta condition
design of a Wells turbine to equip the European wave energy at trailing edge. A panel method code (Ferro, 1990) is then
pilot plant to be built on the island of Pico, Azores (Falcao et used to find iteratively the chord-to-pitch ratio and the cascade
stagger angle, for a given profile radius of curvature and thick-
ness. The same cascade geometry is obtained regardless of
Contributed by the Advanced Energy Systems Division for publication in the whether inlet or outlet guide vanes are considered. The profile
JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY . Manuscript received by the AES
radius of curvature is chosen to obtain a chord-to-pitch ratio
Division, October 14,1993; revised manuscript received June 12,1996. Associate
Technical Editor: R. J. Krane. distribution that closely satisfies the Zweifel criterion, applied
Nomenclature
c = blade chord Re = Reynolds no. p = density
E = pressure plus kinetic energy t = cascade pitch Lo = rotor angular speed
flux U = inlet flow (average) velocity
L = energy loss per unit of time Subscripts
U* = U/(uiR), flow rate coefficient
Ma = Mach no. V, W = absolute, relative velocity X, 9 = axial, tangential velocity
p = pressure (x, y) = Cartesian coordinate system component
Apo = energy available to turbine per a I, a'o = inlet, outlet blade angle 0, I, 2, B, C = far upstream (in the
unit volume fluid a, P = angle of absolute, relative ve- atmosphere), upstream
ApS = Apo/(pu>^R^) locity of rotor, downstream of
P = turbine power output $ = ratio of minimum and maxi- rotor, downstream of
Q = volume flow rate mum flow rate at which effi- outlet guide vanes, inside
r, 6, x = cylindrical coordinate system ciency is ?7 = 0.6r7,x the plenum chamber
r* = rlR rj = turbine efficiency Superscript
R, Ri = outer, inner radius
* = dimensionless value
Main fan
IH 4 ^ 4 : # ^ 3 ^
Ahn-'
1.3 m
20 m Pressure tappings
2.0 n
0.6 m
ever is the greater, could be obtained for values of pressure rates, at three rotational speed settings, both with and without
differences above 2 Pa. guide vanes (Warfield, 1994). The tests involved the collection
A cylindrical three-hole directional probe of 4-mm diameter of vast quantities of data. To facilitate the reliable and speedy
was used to take flow velocity and flow direction measurements. recording of these data, a computerized data acquisition system
The probe had holes radially drilled at 50 deg, in a cross section was developed.
6 mm forward from the rounded end of the tube. A Vernier With the exception of torque, rotational speed, and flow
protractor and spirit level incorporated into the probe provided angle, all the other values recorded were pressure differences.
an accurate method of measuring flow direction and a reliable All pressure measurements within the same range were recorded
system of ascertaining a horizontal datum. The instrument was using the same micromanometer. This procedure was adopted
mounted on a dial height gage which enabled it to be accurately to minimize errors.
traversed across the flow field. The three-hold directional probe All pressure tappings on the rig, as well as the micromano-
was used as a null-type probe to measure yaw angle, as well meters used for recording pressure drops, were connected to a
as the dynamic and total pressure. The flow direction was deter- bank of solenoid valves which were controlled by a computer.
mined by rotating the probe about its vertical axis: when the When recording a pressure drop, signals from the computer
recorded pressures at both side holes are equal, the horizontal operated the relevant valves on the lines to link the pressure
axis of the probe indicates the flow direction. The total pressure drop being measured to the selected recording instrument. The
and the dynamic pressure were obtained, respectively, from the outputs from all measuring instruments were connected to a
central hole reading and from the pressure difference recorded data acquisition board. This board converted the analogue input
between the central hole and any of the side orifices by means from the measuring instruments and generated the digital output
of a previous calibration in a wind tunnel against a standard to control the solenoid valves.
Pitot tube.
~---3:>^
'
U 0.75 1 r
^
- ^ U = 13.Sm/s
- o - U = 8.2ni/s
0.25 ^ i 1 1 ^ 11 1
Upstream of the guide vanes one velocity profile per flow rate
was measured, whereas downstream seven profiles per flow rate torque measured during the tests were then adjusted to compen-
were measured. The downstream profiles were measured along sate for the power consumed in overcoming mechanical losses.
radii at 1-deg spacing, over one blade pitch. Figure 3 shows the This procedure yields the true torque value developed by the
dimensionless velocity profile of the incoming flow measured rotor. At 1500 rpm the torque value measured with a bladeless
lAx = - 2 8 0 mm. The profile is quite flat outside the boundary rotor was 0.31 Nm. This represents about 5.5 percent of the
layers, and was found to be practically unchanged in the pres- maximum measured turbine torque at the same speed.
ence of other blade rows in subsequent turbine tests. Figure 4
Figure 5 presents the overall performance of two different
shows the circumferentially averaged values of the flow angle
high solidity monoplane configurations, both with and without
measured at the exit of the inlet guide vanes {x = - 7 0 mm),
guide vanes: constant thickness rotor blade (NACA 0015) and
plotted as a function of the radial coordinate. The curve in the
variable thickness rotor blade (NACA 0021 at the hub and
same figure represents theoretically predicted values for the
NACA 0009 at the tip). Both have the same solidity, blade
same conditions. They have been calculated by the quasi-three-
chord length, and number of blades. It can be seen in Fig. 5
dimensional method referred in Section 2. It can be seen that
that, for stall-free conditions, both turbines without guide vanes
the theory overestimates the flow deflection in the outer region
have very similar experimental curves for A / J * and rj. The main
by about 4 deg.
difference between the aerodynamic performance of these two
Results from the overall turbine performance are presented rotors is the maximum value of the flow rate prior to a sharp
in Fig. 5. These were recorded at a rotor speed of 1500 rpm. drop in turbine torque, due to blade stalling. For the Reynolds
Based on relative velocity this gives Re 3.9 X 10^ and Ma number prevailing in the experiments, the results reveal that
i=a 0.14 at the blade tip. The figure shows a dimensionless plot stall occurs at f/* 0.23 for the constant thickness bladed
of stagnation pressure drop across the turbine, and efficiency rotor, whereas for the variable thickness bladed rotor this will
against the flow rate. Values of the stagnation pressure drop occur for a smaller value of [/* ! 0.19. Defining $ =
across the turbine, Apo, were obtained by measuring the pres- Uf/Uf, where Uf and U^ are the minimum and maximum
sure difference between the atmosphere and the plenum cham- flow rate coefficients, respectively, at which the efficiency is
ber. The efficiency is defined as /? = P{Ql^po)~^, where Q is nominally 77 = 0.6rjrax< we obtain, for these turbines, $ =
the flow rate and P is the power output. The power output 0.189 and $ = 0.223, respectively, which clearly shows that a
includes mechanical losses which were determined by measur- judicious choice of the rotor blade profile is required to widen
ing the torque required to drive a bladeless rotor. All values of the range of flow rates for which the turbine performs effi-
ciently.
Figure 5 also shows the overall performance of the constant
thickness rotor blade turbine equipped with a double row of
guide vanes. If we compare the monoplane rotor (NACA 0015)
with and without guide vanes, experimental results show that
the presence of guide vanes has the effect of decreasing the
slope of the (approximately straight) curve of stagnation pres-
sure drop versus flow rate. An improvement in the maximum
efficiency of 17.1 percentfrom 0.603 to 0.706was obtained
U* r* I* L% L% (1 - nr
v
0.68 0.76 0.84 0.92 0.095 0.002 0.328 0.072 0.598 0.043 0.034 0.085
0.134 0.003 0.302 0.132 0.563 0.036 0.072 0.165
0.183 0.004 0.271 0.178 0.547 0.044 0.098 0.216
Fig. 4 Measured (symbols) and predicted (curve) radial distribution of 0.219 0.004 0.396 0.166 0.434 0.050 0.090 0.159
flow angle downstream of the Isolated Inlet guide vanes, for two inlet 0.243 0.005 0.550 0.139 0.306 0.051 0.083 0.120
flow average velocities
u* 1 *
'-'OX
J* 1* n 1*
u / ^
27r
/:[' +
2
-{yl + Vj) V,rdr
/W
where p, V^, and Ve are taken as functions of r. Numerical
values of E could be obtained from turbine tests at 2000 rpm
1 ' 1 1 1
0.68 0.76 0.84 0.92 1
*
r
- ^ u = o.os
-B-ll=0.1 (b)
-<-U=0.15
Fig. 7 Radial distribution of the axial (a) and tangential (b) velocity
components measured at the rotor exit for the NACA 0015 bladed rotor
= 0.25
turbine with guide vanes, for several flow rate coefficients
= 0.28
u
1
by integration from values of p , V,, and Vg that were measured
at X = 70 mm (section 1) and x = -t-70 mm (section 2) along
3E^ the radius, for several values of the flow rate coefficient [/*. In
the absence of guide vanes, the flow was assumed axisymmetric
1 1 1 1 1 at sections 1 and 2. For the turbine with guide vanes, the flow
0.68 0.76 0.84 0.92 was assumed axisymmetric at section 2 (between rotor and
* outlet guide vanes), whereas at Section 1 (between inlet guide
r vanes and rotor), a double numerical integration was made
(a) from results of p , V^, and Vg measured along seven radial lines
circumferentially spaced by 1 deg (i.e., over an annular segment
corresponding to one stator blade pitch).
- - U * = 0.05 Mechanical energy balances were performed between a sec-
- B - U * = 0.1 t.^.
tion 0, far upstream of the rotor (in the atmosphere), sections
- * - U * = 0.15
1, 2 and a section C, far downstream of the rotor in the plenum
- - U = 0.2
--C*=0.25
chamber, for the calculation of both the rotor and the energy
losses upstream and downstream of the turbine rotor. Assuming
U gage pressures, it seems adequate to define the following coef-
ficients: Loi = -Ei(ApoQ)~^ for the losses upstream of the
rotor (including guide vanes );Lfc=i+ 2(ApoG)"' for the
losses downstream of the rotor; Lji = (^i E2 P ) ( Apofi) '
for the rotor losses.
\ 1 \ 1 1 Results from the foregoing calculations are presented in Ta-
bles 3 and 4 for the NACA 0015 bladed rotor with and without
0.68 0.76 0.84 0.92 1
guide vanes. Also shown in the same tables are the axial and
* tangential kinetic energy coefficients
r
(b)
Fig. 6 Radial distribution of the axial (a) and tangential (b) velocity
components measured at the rotor exit for the NACA 0015 bladed rotor
np
ApoQ f V L rdr and
Apo2 JR,
VlgV2,rdr
turbine without guide vanes, for several flow rate coefficients calculated from values of V^ and Vg measured at sections 2 and