Studies on Wells Turbine for a Wave Power Generator : 6th Report, Characteristics of Biplane Rotor

Abstract

In order to clarify the running and starting characteristics of a biplane Wells turbine, an experimental investigation has been performed under steady operating conditions. The performance test was conducted for some kinds of rotors with various gap-chord and stagger-chord ratios. The results have been compared with those of a monoplane. It is found that, in general, a biplane rotor has a wider operating range with a smaller drop in efficiency and has better starting characteristics than a monoplane rotor. The rotor with a non-staggered arrangement shows the best performance both in efficiency and stall margin.