Gravitational Vortex Powerplant

[charlestchan]

Anyone has ever came across this powerplant? I'm a final year mechanical student, and i was asked to design the turbine blade to harness tp obtain the maximum efficiency of the hydro vortex. I'll be glad if someone can help me out by giving me some vortex calculations,simulations or any related topics @_@. Thank you

 

[Mech_Engineer]

What exactly is a gravitational vortex powerplant?

 

[charlestchan]

Let's assume you have a cyclinder tank. You drill a hole at the bottom, middle of the tank. The water will drain out and have the effect of a vortex. Just like A Sink. I need the calculations for such vortex, and i also need to know how do i harness the maximum torque from such vortex.

 

[charlestchan]

Look at this two examples, and let me know if you're able to help me out @_@

 

[berkeman]

Anyone has ever came across this powerplant? I'm a final year mechanical student, and i was asked to design the turbine blade to harness tp obtain the maximum efficiency of the hydro vortex. I'll be glad if someone can help me out by giving me some vortex calculations,simulations or any related topics @_@. Thank you

Can you please show us your research on this school project so far? We do not do your homework or project assignments for you here. Show us your efforts so far, and if you have specific questions, we may be able to help.

 

[charlestchan]

Assume that it is a free vortex, can i assume that V(entrance) = V(angular) ? I am also planning to use Bernoulli equation where Q1 = Q2 . That means inflow = outflow. However, The water will rise to a certain level before it became steady.

Apply Bernoulli at the Point Inflow And Point Outflow. We have

(V1^2 - V2^2) / 2g = H

H is the height of water when it became steady. When it became steady, Inflow = Outflow that means A1V1 = A2V2.

Since i control the inflow of the water, it means A1V1 is known. The hole at the bottom of the tank is drilled by me. I can find out A2. Therefore, I will obtain V2.

Can i just subtitute V1 and V2 into the bernoulli, and obtain the H? Because i am not very sure how high my tank should be. I don't want water to spill from the tank. Thank You

 

[Mech_Engineer]

Let's assume you have a cyclinder tank. You drill a hole at the bottom, middle of the tank. The water will drain out and have the effect of a vortex. Just like A Sink. I need the calculations for such vortex, and i also need to know how do i harness the maximum torque from such vortex.

The maximum energy that can be harnessed from such a system would be the total potential energy of the water before it started draining. All you need to do is add a turbine on the drain; there's no need to try "harnessing" the vortex because it doesn't have any more net energy than the system had to start with.

Sounds to me like you're barking up the wrong tree.

 

[charlestchan]

well, the truth is that we are actually focusing on efficiency, and not trying to harness additional power. It is believed that this vortex powerplant enable us to harness more power than the usual hydro powerplant. Am I wrong?

As for my part, i was asked to design a blade to increase efficiency. Therefore, if there is any references on the shape of turbine blade which may affect its efficiency, i hope you will let me know. Thank you :)

 

[maimonides]

Have you checked the references given here?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation_water_vortex_power_plant

 

[charlestchan]

of course i did . I'm hope someone can give me some references so i know where i should refer when i want to design a turbine for such set up. It is really tough because i have no idea so far.

 

[maimonides]

If you have done so, you may also have noticed:
- patent claims by at least two persons/companies
(meaning: nobody will help you copy their design)
- a scarcity of actually working plants
- a lot of marketing hype. The vocabulary used is uncomfortably close to water and vortex mysticism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schauberger) and green/environmentalist dogmatism (like "only micro hydroelectric power is good hydroelectric power").
- Everybody in the field is looking for investors.

There´s one (imho fairly reliable) third party report of ~40% hydraulic efficiency (~25% over all) for a comparable design here:
http://web.fhnw.ch/technik/projekte/eit/Herbst2010/CerGaf/ergebnisse.html
So claims of >80% hydraulic efficieny are ... remarkable.
Have you tried the Swiss cooperative? http://www.gwwk.ch/

The German wikipedia page has a few more links but nothing really new.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserwirbelkraftwerk

If you really want to design: the turbine works like an inverted centrifugal pump. Get yourself some CFD code for a centrifugal pump and start modifying.

 

[charlestchan]

thanks pal. I got enough information ;)

 

[charlestchan]

thanks pal. I got enough information