A hydrogenerator’s cost price is considerably influenced by the used and computed design values. The most important parameters in the design of micro hydro power plants synchronous generators are the power blanket, the current density in the statoric winding and the air gap size. In this work we analyze the impact of these parameters on the cost price for a family of hydro power plant synchrono...

The low head hydro power plant in Wettingen, Switzerland, is in operation since 1933 and no effective cam optimization has been carried out up to now. The goal of the measuring campaign was to provide data enabling an economic study for a retrofit and upgrade project of the plant and the measurement of the efficiency improvement of turbines after refurbishment. The contribution discusses cam te...

Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) technology performance testing in the laboratory and field supports the US Department of Energy’s MHK program goals to advance the technology readiness levels of MHK machines, to ensure environmentally responsible designs, to identify key cost drivers, and to reduce the cost of energy of MHK technologies. Laboratory testing results from scaled model machine testing...

The primary goal of this paper is to evaluate an innovative Z-Blade turbine technology and its potential implications for production costs manufacturing techniques. From literatures, conventional pico-hydro technologies with a capability less than 5kW are getting more attention as good alternatives environmentally friendly power generation, but there expensive complex small generation domestic ...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of pole pair number on the efficiency of an induction generator designed for a mini hydro power plant. Six induction generators with different number of poles were designed: 2, 3, 6, 10 and 14. The basic point of this study is Kaplan turbine, which considering its rotational speed can be directly connected to a 14-pole induction generator. All othe...

This paper presents Maximum Power Point Control for variable speed wind turbine driven permanentmagnet generator. The wind turbine generator is operated such that the rotor speed varies according to wind speed to adjust the duty cycle of power converter and maximizes Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) efficiency. The maximum power point for each speed value is traced using Maximum Power Point...

At low flow rate operation, Francis turbines feature a cavitating vortex rope in the draft tube resulting from the swirling flow of the runner outlet. The unsteady pressure field related to the precession of the vortex rope induces plane wave propagating in the entire hydraulic system. The frequency of the vortex rope precession being comprised between 0.2 and 0.4 times the turbine rotational s...