Kaplan Micro Hydro Turbine

Project title: Innovative design of compact Kaplan micro-turbine
Budget: 9,7 mil CZK
Project period: 2019-2021
Subsidy title: TAČR – Epsilon 4
Principal Investigator: MSc Martin Kantor, PhD, martin.kantor@ujep.cz
Project partners: Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU in Prague; ELZACO spol. s r.o.

The design and development of Kaplan turbine compact micro-unit for low head sites; from the design of the shape, including runner blades and guide vanes that can be used for the given manufacturing procedures, reaching the required energy parameters, up to designing the turbine unit as a whole including the generator and the electric part. The technical solution consists of a Kaplan turbine with fixed guide vanes and runner blades, with a direct shaft connection of the turbine shaft with a submerged generator and turbine flow control by varying the generator’s (PMG) speed using a frequency converter. The focus of the research is increasing reliability, durability and reducing the operational costs of the developed solution.