Whirlpool Turbine

Need

Our Mother Earth is getting warmer day by day. The reason we all know, Global Warming. Since the pre-industrial period, human activities are estimated to have increased Earth’s global average temperature by about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), a number that is currently increasing by 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade.

However, everyone does not have an equal share in it. The world’s average carbon footprint is near 4 tons per year, but this data does not show the actual image. There is a significant disparity in the living conditions and lifestyles of people living in rural and urban India. The average annual per capita carbon footprint was estimated to be 1.32 tons CO2 emission in the urban area and 0.19 tons CO2 emission in the rural area.

However, development must be done in rural areas to elevate their living standard, keeping in mind Global Warming. Therefore, sustainable development is the need of the hour. Belgian company Turbulent has come up with a sustainable solution, Whirlpool Turbine, which generates energy 24/7 for small-scale rural areas, which can be a breakthrough for villages with a shortage or do not have an energy supply. However, for this, there must be a river or canal nearby.

What is Whirlpool Turbine? 🧐

An eco-friendly innovation that produces electricity continuously via Hydroelectric energy, i.e. energy made by moving water. The most astonishing thing is that Whirlpool Turbine takes a tiny place during installation. They can generate from 15 kW to 100 kW of power, depending on the equipment’s scale. Developers of this micro-hydropower plant say that the most prominent model’s energy output should be approximately enough for 60 homes when calculating based on average household energy needs.

According to the company, this kind of turbine does not harm local ecosystems. From the engineering perspective, it is also possible to produce larger scale models, although the current lineup is limited to a maximum of 100 kW.

How does it work🤔

We will not go deep into how electricity generates, but for now, we can learn that to generate electricity, a change of magnetic flux through a coil is necessary. For changing flux, we either need to change the orientation of the magnet or the coil. For changing the orientation of the coil or magnet, we need external force continuously. This external force is exerted via a turbine. So, for power generation, we need to rotate the turbine somehow.

In this case, this work is done by flowing water. A small tributary is taken out from a canal or river, which passes through the blades. The water molecules and blades have a collision, and kinetic energy of water is passed to the blade, and thus that blade is rotated and thus with rotating blades turbine rotates, and energy is generated. As in a canal or a river, water flows continuously, so energy is also generated 24/7.

Installation 🔩⚙️

The system can easily be installed within a week at every natural height difference in a river or canal. At first, a hole is dug near the water source to install a concrete basin from prefabricated parts. Then, a generator and impeller are installed inside the basin and earth is put back in place. When the river or canal wall is raised, water runs into the basin, forming the vortex and getting the turbine going.

Turbulent can be used either in rivers or on land. In the first case, the system can be a standalone installation. On land, the set up can be with a sudden drop (height difference of minimum 1.5 meters) or inclination (height difference of 3 meters over a distance of 100 meters).

Capacity 🔋

The design and generator come in three sizes, between 15, 30 and 100 kilowatts. In a river or canal, the whirlpool turbine is set up directly inside the waterway in a standalone manner. Setting up a single whirlpool turbine in such a way can provide electricity 24 hours a day using the water flow and can power up to 60 houses in the case of its 100-kilowatt model.

It is also possible to install multiple turbines along a canal or river to generate energy without a large dam, avoiding the risk of flooding or negative impact to local communities. In such cases, these hydro-power plants can provide as much as 10MW in power output, producing enough energy to power a small city of 300 people.

Cost 💰

Whirlpool Turbine is an investment. It supplies enough energy to power between 33 and 440 households, respectively. In a remote community, these numbers can add to 185 to 2000 households. This sustainable and eco-friendly technology will withstand severe weather conditions, such as floodings, which means no extra repair costs due to external factors. As the only moving part is the turbine, therefore the maintenance cost is meagre. On top of that company also claims that the return of investment is just 4–8 years.

Fish Friendly 🐡🐠🐟 Restraints 🤷‍♂️

Restraints 🤷‍♂️

Numerous advantages are associated with the usage of a Whirlpool Turbine for electricity generation. However, there are certain limitations associated with whirlpool turbines. For instance, the largest whirlpool turbine model can only energize around 170 households or 500 remote community households. Thus, the maximum amount of power that a whirlpool turbine can generate remains unanswered.

Water freezing is another challenge for a whirlpool turbine, as the turbine would stop working only if the water freezes. However, this is not a significant limitation, as running water rarely freezes.

Some Definitions

• Carbon Footprint: A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) generated by our actions.
• Global Warming: Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
• Sustainable Development: Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while simultaneously sustaining natural systems’ ability to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend.
• Turbine: A turbine is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into valuable work. The work produced by a turbine will be used for generating electrical power when combined with a generator.