PERFORMANCE OF VERTICAL AXIS TURBINES FOR EXTRACTING TIDAL CURRENT ENERGY

Abstract

  In order to develop an efficient water turbine for extracting tidal current energy at Kurushima Strait in Imabari, Japan, three different types of turbine, including a Darrieus Turbine and a Savonius Turbine, have been examined experimentally. In this study, considering the multi directional streaming of tidal current at Kurushima Strait, the vertical axis turbine was adopted as a possible energy extraction device. An additional current controlling device was newly proposed to power up the extraction efficiency of the vertical axis turbine. It was found out that the additional current controlling device is very useful to increase the efficiency of the vertical turbine, typically by about three times. For the practical design of vertical axis turbine at Kurushima Strait, tidal current forces and wave forces on the vertical axis turbine were experimentally examined.