The Effects of Turbine Baffle Plates on the Efficiency of Water Free Vortex Turbines

This article is based on a study that focuses on increasing the efficiency of the water free vortex turbine by installing baffle plates on the propellers. In order to find the most suitable size and proportion for the baffle plates, the study used the CFD program to design baffle plates which have a diameter of 45 cm. and a height of 32 cm. The results showed that 5 baffle plates, with a propeller baffle area of 50%, gave the highest degree of torque. Propellers, with no baffle plates, were also created and were tested along with a turbine with 50% baffle plates at the flow rate of 0.04 - 0.06 m3/s. The results showed that the propellers with a 50% baffle plate proportion helped to increase the torque at an average of 10.25% and with an average of overall efficiency of 4.12%.