The „DIVE-Turbine“ - a New Concept for Small Hydropower Plants
Summary
The “DIVE-Turbine” is an innovative turbine- and drive concept for small hydropower plants. The concept fulfills all technical requirements of a modern hydropower plant with low head and an installed capacity of up to 1000 kW per unit.
Integrated Turbine Solution
For more than 10 years FELLA Maschinenbau GmbH and OSWALD Elektromotoren GmbH are developing and operating speed variable hydro turbines. From the beginning there was the idea of designing a turbine with a fixed runner and an efficiency maximisation through speed variation.
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A new turbine runner was designed together with the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machinery (IHS), Universität Stuttgart, especially for this application. The speed variable turbine operation from 10 up to 120 % of the nominal speed is provided by the high efficient and reliable inverters.
Simplified block diagram of the DIVE-Power Electronics:
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The “TF-Motor” (Torque motor) from OSWALD Elektromotoren GmbH is a very compact Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMG). This generator can handle very high torques at low speeds. Due to this it is possible to realise a direct connection of the turbine runner and the generator runner (no gearbox). Above all it has a very good efficiency between 95% and 98%.
Different and innovative possibilities for the turbine design are made possible by the compact design of the “TF-Motor”. Together the mechanical- and electric engineers of FELLA and OSWALD developed a compact turbine-/generator-unit with an integrated bearing and a free from wear sealing system. This compact unit operates completely submerged. The only part reaching out of the water is the flexible connection to the Control Centre (Plant Control and Power Electronics).