현장실험을 기반으로한 헬리컬 터빈의 효율 평가

Abstract

The Korean peninsula has a number of coastal sites where the rhythmic rising and lowering of water surface due to tides results in strong tidal current. The kinetic energy of these currents can be efficiently exploited by the use of tidal current turbines. The in-situ experiment for construction of tidal current power plant was carried out at the Uldolmok narrow channel between Jindo and Haenam in Korea. This paper describes and analyzes some observation results of field test about the efficiency of helical turbine for tidal current power plant. The efficiency of turbines with diameter 2.2 m and height 2.5 m is evaluated measuring RPM, torque, and current velocity. The tested helical turbines had the maximum efficiencies of the bounds of 30 to 35 % in the current velocity range between 1.5 and 2.1 m/s. Also, the turbines had the tip-speed ratios (TSR) of 1.9 and 2.4 with the number of blades. This result shows that the pilot tidal current power plant needs three helical turbines with diameter 3.0 m and height 3.6 m to produce electric power 500 kW.