Effect of Variation in the Number of Inclined Type Blades and Flow Discharge on the Performance of a Vortex Turbine Using a Cylindrical Type Basin

One of the challenges in the mandate of the National Energy General Plan in Indonesia is to increase the national energy mix to 23% in 2025 and 31% in 2050. This regulation is one of the driving forces for researchers to be able to provide solutions in the utilization of renewable energy. Indonesia has many renewable energy sources, from water, geothermal, bioenergy, wind, and solar. Of all these sources, one that can provide a significant contribution technologically is water energy. Even though it is very promising, the development of water energy still requires a very large investment, and its position is generally in mountainous areas. One of the potentials of water energy rarely used in Indonesia is water energy with a low head. Energy sources like this, with heads between 1 and 3 m, are very easy to find in almost all parts of Indonesia. One type of turbine used at low heads is the Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine (GWVT). This study aimed to obtain the performance of a vortex turbine that uses a cylindrical shape basin by varying the number of inclined blades and the flow rate. A test tool has been built that is equipped with a data acquisition system to carry out this experiment. The results show that the vortex turbine efficiently produces electrical energy from low-head water flow.