Verbesserung der Strömungseigenschaften sowie Planungs- und Betriebsoptimierung von Wasserkraftschnecken

For about a decade the Archimedean screw is used to generate electricity but the machine is not yet scientifically analysed. Satisfying design parameters or operation guidelines for this promising low-head technology are not yet available. The first step of this project is to analytically optimize design parameters. Comparatively good efficiency and a high demand prevented major developments in the hydrodynamic design. This results in losses of renewable energy. The second step will be the measuring of existing plants in order to calculate efficiency coefficients and reveal construction faults. The final step is a number of laboratory tests on differently designed hydrodynamic screws with variation of the inlet- and outtake-geometry, the upper and lower water level as well as the geometry of the Hydrodynamic screw itself, in order to improve the efficiency and the operating characteristics. These results can be applied to existing plants and future designs.