You-Taek Kim

Flow Boiling in an Inclined Channel With Downward-Facing Heated Upper Wall

Wall boiling and bubble population balance equations combined with a two-fluid model are employed to predict boiling two-phase flow in an inclined channel with a downward-facing heated upper wall. In order to observe the boiling behavior on the inclined, downward-facing heated wall, a visualization experiment was carried out with a 100 mm × 100 mm of the cross section, 1.2-m-long rectangular channel, inclined by 10° from the horizontal plane. The size of the heated wall was 50 mm by 750 mm and the heat flux was provided by Joule heating using DC electrical current. The temperatures of the heater surface were measured and used in calculating heat transfer coefficients. The wall superheat for 100 kW/m2 heat flux and 200 kg/m2s mass flux ranged between 9.3°C and 15.1°C. High-speed video images showed that bubbles were sliding, continuing to grow, and combining with small bubbles growing at their nucleation sites in the downstream. Then large bubbles coalesced together when the bubbles grew too large to have a space between them. Finally, an elongated slug bubble formed and it continued to slide along the heated wall. For these circumstances of wall boiling and two-phase flow in the inclined channel, the existing wall boiling model encompassing bubble growth and sliding was improved by considering the influence of large bubbles near the heated wall and liquid film evaporation under the large slug bubbles. With this improved model, the predicted wall superheat agreed well with the experimental data, while the RPI model largely overpredicted the wall superheat.

Analysis of a pico tubular-type hydro turbine performance by runner blade shape using CFD

There has been a considerable interest recently in the topic of renewable energy. This is primarily due to concerns about environmental impacts of fossil fuels. Moreover, fluctuating and rising oil prices, increase in demand, supply uncertainties and other factors have led to increased calls for alternative energy sources. Small hydropower, among other renewable energy sources, has been evaluated to have adequate development value because it is a clean, renewable and abundant energy resource. In addition, small hydropower has the advantage of low cost development by using rivers, agricultural reservoirs, sewage treatment plants, waterworks and water resources. The main concept of the tubular-type hydro turbine is based on the difference in water pressure levels in pipe lines, where the energy which was initially wasted by using a reducing valve at the pipeline of waterworks, is collected by turbine in the hydro power generator. In this study, in order to acquire the performance data of a pico tubular-type hydro turbine, the output power, head and efficiency characteristics by different runner blade shapes are examined. The pressure and velocity distributions with the variation of guide vane and runner vane angle on turbine performance are investigated by using a commercial CFD code.

A Study on the Nozzle Shapes of a Cross-Flow Type Hydro Turbine for Wave Power Generation

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of nozzle shapes on the performance and internal flow characteristics of a cross-flow type hydro turbine for wave power generation. The performance of the turbine is calculated with the variation of rotational speed for 4 types of the nozzle shape using a commercial CFD code. The results show that nozzle shape should be designed considering available head of the turbine. Best efficiencies of the turbine by 4 types of the nozzle shape do not change largely but overall performances varies mainly by the nozzle width. The output power of the cross-flow type hydro turbine changes considerably by the nozzle shape and a partial region of stage 2 in the runner blade passage produces maximum regional output power in comparison with the other runner blade passage areas.

Performance and Internal Flow of a Cross-Flow Type Hydro Turbine for Wave Power Generation

Clean and renewable energy technologies using ocean energy give us non-polluting alternatives to fossil and nuclear-fueled power plants to meet establishment of countermeasures against the global warming and growing demand for electrical energy. Among the ocean energy resources, wave power takes a growing interest because of its enormous amount of potential energy in the world. Therefore, various types of wave power conversion system to capture the energy of ocean waves have been developed. However, suitable turbine type is not normalized yet because of relatively low efficiency of the turbine systems. The purpose of this study is to investigate the internal flow and performance characteristics of a cross-flow type hydro turbine, which will be built in a caisson for wave power generation. Numerical simulation using a commercial CFD code is conducted to clarify the effects of the turbine rotation speed and flow rate variation on the turbine characteristics. The results show that the output power of the cross-flow type hydro turbine with symmetric nozzle shape is obtained mainly from Stage 2. Turbine inlet configuration should be designed to obtain large amount of flow rate because the static pressure and absolute tangential velocity are influenced considerably by inlet flow rate.

CFD Analysis on the Channel Shapes of Parallel Micro-Channels

An numerical analysis was performed to obtain the design parameters for parallel micro-channels. The parallel micro-channels consist of 10 square channels with a hydraulic diameter of 300 and inlet/outlet manifolds. The channel length is 5mm, 10mm and 40mm respectively. Mass flux was set between 200~600kg/m2s as inlet boundary condition and atmospheric pressure was set as outlet boundary condition. The pressure drop in channels and manifolds were estimated by using the Shah and London correlation and the flow uniformity was represented by the velocity distributions with dimensionless velocity. The results show that the flow uniformity in channels depends on shapes of manifolds, length and mass flux.

Tubular-Type Hydroturbine Performance for Variable Guide Vane Opening by CFD

Micro hydraulic power generation which has output of less or equal to 100kW is attracting considerable attention. This is because of its small, simple, renewable, and large amount of energy resources. By using a small hydro power generator of which main concept is based on using differential water pressures in pipe lines, energy which was initially wasted by use of a reducing valve at an end of the pipeline, is collected by a turbine in the hydro power generator. A propeller shaped hydroturbine has been used in order to make use of this renewable pressure energy. In this study, in order to acquire basic design data of tubular type hydroturbine, output power, head, and efficiency characteristics due to the guide vane opening angle are examined in detail. Moreover, influences of pressure, tangential and axial velocity distributions on turbine performance are investigated by using a commercial CFD code.

Performance analysis of a counter-rotating tubular type micro-turbine by experiment and CFD

Micro hydraulic turbines have a growing interest because of its small and simple structure, as well as a high possibility of using in micro and small hydropower applications. The differential pressure existing in city water pipelines can be used efficiently to generate electricity in a way similar to that of energy being generated through gravitational potential energy in dams. The pressure energy in the city pipelines is often wasted by using pressure reducing valves at the inlet of water cleaning centers. Instead of using the pressure reducing valves, a micro counter-rotating hydraulic turbine can be used to make use of the pressure energy. In the present paper, a counter-rotating tubular type micro-turbine is studied, with the front runner connected to the generator stator and the rear runner connected to the generator rotor. The performance of the turbine is investigated experimentally and numerically. A commercial ANSYS CFD code was used for numerical analysis.

Effect of Nozzle Shape on the Performance and Internal Flow of a Cross-Flow Hydro Turbine

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of nozzle shape on the performance and internal flow of a cross-flow hydro turbine. CFD analysis for three kinds of nozzle shape is conducted to simulate the effect of nozzle shape. The results reveal that relatively narrow nozzle width is effective to increase the turbine efficiency and output power. Almost output power is achieved at Stage 1. Therefore, optimum design of the nozzle shape is necessary to improve the turbine performance. Recirculation flow in the runner passage decreases the turbine efficiency and output power because the flow make hydraulic loss and collision loss in the region. Air should be put into the runner passage and the recirculating flow should be suppressed by the air layer in the runner.

Performance Characteristics of Small Tubular-type Hydroturbine according to the Guide Vane Opening Angle by Experiment and CFD

As the alternative energy, renewable energy should have been developing by many techniques, in order to substitute the fossil fuel which will be disappeared in the near future. One of the small hydropower generator, main concept of tubular turbine is based on using the different water pressure levels in pipe lines, energy which was initially wasted by using a reducing valve at the end of the pipeline, is collected by turbine in the hydro power generator. A propeller shaped hydro turbine has been used in order to use this renewable pressure energy in order to acquire basic design data of tubular type hydraulic turbine, output power, head, efficiency characteristics due to the guide vane opening angle are examined in detail. First, it ensures the reliance of CFD by that of compared with experiment data. After all, the results of performance characteristics of the CFD and experiment show to confirm the data that power, head and efficiency of less than 4%, 2% and 5% respectively. Moreover influences of pressure, tangential and axial velocity distributions on turbine performance are investigated.

Effect of Water Depth on the Performance of a Direct Drive Turbine for Wave Energy Converter

Development of high efficiency turbine with good performance is one of the main topics in the field of developing wave energy converter. For the development and improvement of the turbine performance, the effect of wave condition on the turbine performance should be considered in detail. Also, water depth is an important factor because incident wave power to the turbine is considerably influenced by the wave particle amplitude of motion and the amplitude is closely related with the water depth. Therefore, in this study, the effect of water depth on the performance of a direct drive turbine(DDT) for wave energy converter is investigated using the DDT which is installed in two types of wave channel. The experimental results show that the DDT captures more wave energy under the condition of relatively shallow water depth. When the water depth is shallow, the horizontal water particle amplitude of motion becomes wider and thus, the water power toward the turbine becomes larger.