A Twin Impulse Turbine for Wave Energy Conversion

- Effect of Fluidic Diode Geometry on the Turbine Performance -

Abstract

In the oscillating water column (OWC) based wave energy conversion system, a twin unidirectional impulse turbine topology has been suggested in place of the conventional unidirectional air turbine, in our previous studies. However, the average efficiency in the suggested twin turbine topology is considerably lower than that of the conventional unidirectional turbine because the reciprocating air flows can't be rectified adequately by the unidirectional turbine at the reverse flow. The present study aimed to discuss the usefulness of fluidic diode in order to improve the efficiency. The characteristics of fluidic diode under steady flow conditions were investigated numerically by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses. Moreover, the effect of fluidic diode geometries on the turbine performance was discussed.