It's
a concept I am currently working on, so far I gave made a CAD model (renderings
attached) of it in SolidWorks and analyzed it using its built in CFD module.
There
are many advantages of canal turbines over wind turbines, prominent one's
being:
Unidirectional flow
Water flows in
one direction in a canal so we don't need pitch and yaw control surfaces. That
simplifies the design process and reduces weight.
Constant flow rate
We (humans)
control water flow rate through canals and it's almost same all year, so we
don't have to worry about blade aero foil design to suit variable/abruptly
variable flow rate, that makes design process further straight forward.
Large Electricity potential
Canals are 100s
of km long, imagine the electricity potential in the canals. You can put these
turbines in irrigation canals and it'll power nearby villages and all the
irrigation equipment etc.
Higher
Power/Discharge Ratio
Water is ~816 times
dense (powerful) than air, so for the same discharge (flow) rate we get
potentially 816 times more power. Which means more we can make designs that are
lighter, smaller and easier to manage and maintain.
Easy maintenance
Fitted less than ~1 m deep inside the canal and can be
retracted for maintenance at ground level, making maintenance very easy or
better yet, we can maintain them while canals are being cleaned.
