DESIGN, ANALYSIS, FABRICATION AND TESTING

OF A VERTICAL AXIS TIDAL TURBINE

(PROTOTYPE)
PROJECT REFERENCE NO. : 37S0992
COLLEGE

: EAST POINT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,

BANGALORE

BRANCH

: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

GUIDE

: PRAVEEN KUMAR M P AND MR. SHYAM AGASTHYA

STUDENTS : G. KARTHIK REDDY

MOHAMED SHEERAZ
MIRZA JAON ALI BAIG

Introduction:
Tidal power is the only form of energy which derives directly from the relative motions
of the EarthMoon system, and to a lesser extent from the EarthSun system. Tidal forces
produced by the Moon and Sun, in combination with Earth's rotation, are responsible for the
generation of the tides. Other sources of energy originate directly or indirectly from the Sun,
including fossil fuels, conventional hydroelectric, wind, bio fuels, wave power and solar.
Nuclear energy makes use of Earth's mineral deposits of fissile elements, while geothermal
power uses the Earth's internal heat which comes from a combination of residual heat from
planetary accretion (about 20%) and heat produced through radioactive decay (80%). Tidal
energy is extracted from the relative motion of large bodies of water. Periodic changes of
water levels, and associated tidal currents, are due to the gravitational attraction of the Sun
and Moon. Magnitude of the tide at a location is the result of the changing positions of the
Moon and Sun relative to the Earth, the effects of Earth rotation, and the local geography of
the sea floor and coastlines. Because the Earth's tides are ultimately due to gravitational
interaction with the Moon and Sun and the Earth's rotation, tidal power is practically
inexhaustible and classified as a renewable energy resource. A tidal generator uses this
phenomenon to generate electricity. Greater tidal variation or tidal current velocities can
dramatically increase the potential for tidal electricity generation.The movement of the tides
causes a continual loss of mechanical energy in the EarthMoon system due to pumping of
water through the natural restrictions around coastlines, and consequent viscous dissipation at
1

the seabed and in turbulence. This loss of energy has caused the rotation of the Earth to slow
in the 4.5 billion years since formation. During the last 620 million years the period of
rotation has increased from 21.9 hours to the 24 hours we see now; in this period the Earth
has lost 17% of its rotational energy. While tidal power may take additional energy from the
system, increasing the rate of slowdown the effect would be noticeable over millions of years
only, thus being negligible.
As we charge our mobile phone in any socket, there are people that has to illuminate their
homes with kerosene lamps, students that cannot study when the daylight extinct, medicines
that cannot be stored in a freezerThere are other people that are connected to the grid but
still have energy cuts. Furthermore, there are places which will not have electricity access,
these places coincide with the poorest and isolated rural areas of developing countries, and
these people cannot afford the cost of a tidal turbine, nor small nor bigger. Maybe a free
turbine design, that anyone with common workshop materials could build, would make a
difference in the living conditions of this people. The purpose of this project is to provide an
alternative to these people.

Objectives of the project:

As we charge our mobile phone in any socket, there are people that has to illuminate
their homes with kerosene lamps, students that cannot study when the daylight extinct,
medicines that cannot be stored in a freezerThere are other people that are connected to the
grid but still have energy cuts. Furthermore, there are places which will not have electricity
access, these places coincide with the poorest and isolated rural areas of developing
countries, and these people cannot afford the cost of a tidal turbine, nor small nor bigger.
Maybe a free turbine design, that anyone with common workshop materials could build,
would make a difference in the living conditions of this people. The purpose of this project is
to provide an alternative to these people.
Growing concern over the threat of global climate change has led to an increased
interest in research and development of renewable energy technologies. The ocean provides a
vast source of potential energy resources, and as renewable energy technology develops,
investment in ocean energy is likely to grow. Research in wave energy and tidal energy has
led to promising technologies and in some cases, commercial deployment. These sources
have the potential to help alleviate the global climate change threat, but the ocean
environment should be protected while these technologies are developed. Renewable energy
2

sources from the ocean may be exploited without harming the marine environment if projects
are sited and scaled appropriately and environmental guidelines are followed.
As mentioned earlier Tidal power is classified as a renewable energy source, because
tides are caused by the orbital mechanics of the solar system and are considered inexhaustible
within a human timeframe. The root source of the energy comes from the slow deceleration
of the Earth's rotation. The Moon gains energy from this interaction and is slowly receding
from the Earth. Tidal power has great potential for future power and electricity generation
because of the total amount of energy contained in this rotation.
India is facing a huge energy crisis and the current electricity production is not
sufficient to meet the demands of increased population, increased industrial production
and agriculture use. It has over 7500km of gifted natural coastline where tidal energy can be
harnessed and can be either connected to the national grid or to provide electricity on a
localized basis.

Methodology:
Tidal energy is derived from the gravitational forces of attraction that operate between
the earth and moon, and between the earth and sun. It is known that the gravitational force
that mutually attracts any two bodies is directly proportional to the product of their masses
and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance that separates the masses. The
attractive force exerted by the moon on a molecule of water is given by:
f = K M m/d^2
where;
M = the mass of the moon;
m = the mass of the molecule of water;
d = the distance of the water molecule from the moon;
K= the universal constant of gravitation.

Energy calculations
Various turbine designs have varying efficiencies and therefore varying power output.
If the efficiency of the turbine "E" is known the equation below can be used to determine the
power output of a turbine. The energy available from these kinetic systems can be expressed
as:
3

Where:
E = the turbine efficiency
P = the power generated (in watts)
= the density of the water (seawater is 1025 kg/m)
A = the sweep area of the turbine (in m)
V = the velocity of the flow

Resource assessment
While initial assessments of the available energy in a channel have focus on
calculations using the kinetic energy flux model, the limitations of tidal power generation are
significantly more complicated. For example, the maximum physical possible energy
extraction from a strait connecting two large basins is given to within 10% by:

Where;
= the density of the water (seawater is 1025 kg/m),
g = gravitational acceleration (9.81 m/s2),
Hmax = maximum differential water surface elevation across the channel,
Qmax= maximum volumetric flow rate though the channel.

Results and Conclusions:

The design of a turbine using solid works and its analysis using Solid Works flow
simulation gives out satisfied results which confirms to the theoretical calculations. Hence it
can be implemented in practice.
Our project has presented an in-depth review of harnessing ocean energy by tidal
current technology. Due to depleting fossil fuel resources, their rising cost and adverse
environmental effects; the world is obligated to find alternate energy resources. These
alternate energy resources should ideally be renewable with minimal Environmental effects.
The necessity and potential of tidal current technology was presented. Our project has given
4

answer to mankinds worst fears of energy resources depletion and devastating destruction of
Environment. We have also discussed tidal current turbine components, its design
parameters, design of turbine using Solid Works and analysis using ANSYS Work Bench
software.
The blade was design by using Solid Works software. CFD analysis was performed in
order to obtain the pressure different between the concave and convex surface of the rotor
blade. The force induced to the blade was calculated from aerodynamic analysis. The
structural feasibility was analyzed by Finite Element Analysis method to obtain the maximum
deformation and stress experienced by the rotor blade. From the CFD analysis, it is found
that the concave blade region experience high pressure while the convex blade region
experience low pressure for Savonius rotor.

Scope for Future Work:

We have used Aluminum 1100 for the synthesis of turbine. Since its a normal metal,
a research should be made to get a new material which is of low weight, high strength, good
corrosion resistance properties, to resist all type of mechanical loads and should be cost
effective. Micro-controllers and sensors can be implemented, in collaborating with
mechatronics, in order to improve the working of turbine, wherein the blade assembly senses
optimal pressure areas to generate an adequate quantity of power. A hydrofoil structure of
blades can also be instilled and modified in such a way that just a small frequency of wave
(threshold frequency) is quite enough to turn the blades. Hence generating a torque required
to output a power.
An effective mode of transmission lines should be designed by Electrical Engineers so
that the power generated can be transmitted to the grid without loss of power. By doing so,
we can reduce one of the major power crisis. As and when the speed of shaft increases,
whirling of shaft becomes a common phenomenon, since the shaft is lengthy. This causes an
unwanted radical vibration in the structure. A focus should be made by design engineers in
order to avoid these kinds of abnormalities. A floating generator wont work properly as there
will be relative velocity between the ocean water and turbine blades. Hence a wide
concentration of work should be focused on this point in order to generate electricity
consistently. More detailed analysis should be done using Computational Fluid Dynamics.