project Team:
Project Date | December 2014 – September 2017 |
Funding Agency | Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation & Planning (KETEP) |
Leading Company | Donggu Infra Co. Ltd, Busan, Korea |
Total Fund | NPR 6.6 million |
Research Partners | Turbine Testing Lab, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University Flow Informatics Lab, Korea Maritime and Ocean University |
Summary
Micro hydropower plant (MHP) have a great role for electrifying the rural communities of Nepal.MHPprivate sector of Nepal is already providing its product and services inside and outside the country that has matured technically as well as substantially over the past 40 years.Despite the fact with such a successful history and development in MHPs, lacks research and development in the field of effect of sediments on MH turbine in practice. In the absence of such study, there is no significant contribution in field of hydro turbines to tackle the local problem of sediment erosion. The effect due to sand particles are not considered in design of micro hydro turbines.Obviously, the power output of turbines get affected when operated with higher concentration of sand particles, which is a major challenge in Nepal.
During the first phase of this project, numerical analysis of 5 kW cross- flow turbine was done with design modifications for optimization. During the second phase, samples collected from the proposed site i.e. Majhifeda VDC of Kavrepalanchwok district. The best design runner blades were observed with the sediment insertion in Rotating Disc Apparatus (RDA). Two types of coating i.e. Tungsten Carbide (WC) and Titanium Oxide (Ti02) were applied on the runner blades and series of experiments were done to observe the coating effect on erosion. Based on preliminary results obtained from RDA, 5 kW runner was designed and modelled on TTL, which was fabricated at Donggu Infra Co. Ltd. The design conditions include of 5 kW turbine with 642 rpm and 0.1 m3/s. Test rig was then installed at TTL and performance testing was done with various operating conditions as varying the guide vane openings, speed of runner and flowrate. Full opening condition gives the power output of 5.48 kW with 67.82% efficiency. Third phase commenced from October 2016 which includes the installation of 20 kW cross- flow turbine in ChauriKhoIa V Ml-IP and performance testing of the same.
