An Experimental Study of Electricity Generation Using a Horizontal Spiral Turbine

This study aimed to develop horizontal spiral turbines for generating electricity by designing spiral turbines using the Golden Ratio function. The study analyzed the impact of the diameter-length ratio and the number of the turbine's blades (2 - 6 blades) on the torque of turbine. Then the prototype of the spiral turbine with a 0.6 meter diameter and 0.9 meter blade was designed to generate electricity with a water velocity of 1, 1.5 and 2 m/s in order to compare to the propeller turbine which had an identical diameter size. The results indicated that a 3-bladed spiral turbine with a 2/3 of diameter-length ratio of turbine had maximum torque at 1 m/s of water velocity. The spiral turbine produced an optimal efficiency of 48% which was 15% higher than that of the propeller turbine.