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Design and Analysis of In-Pipe Hydro-Turbine for an Optimized Nearly Zero Energy Building
Muhammad Shahbaz Aziz1, Muhammad Adil Khan1,2, Harun Jamil3
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Air University Islamabad, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|December 10, 2021
Summary
Pakistan
Area of Science:
- Renewable Energy Systems
- Sustainable Building Design
- Computational Fluid Dynamics
Background:
- Pakistan has abundant solar resources (DNI > 2000 kWh/m²/annum) suitable for photovoltaic (PV) energy generation.
- Integrating renewable energy is crucial for Pakistan to meet energy demands and reduce its carbon footprint.
- Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) offer a model for efficient energy consumption in facilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and analyze a hybrid renewable energy solution for a university facility.
- To investigate the feasibility of integrating hydroelectric power generated from building water pipelines with solar PV.
- To optimize the hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) for cost-effectiveness.
Main Methods:
- Design of a horizontal-axis spherical helical turbine using SolidWorks.
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the turbine in ANSYS Fluent using the K-epsilon turbulent model.
- Modeling and analysis of the hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) in HOMER Pro software.
Main Results:
- A 24-foot vertical channel with specific water flow and velocity can power the designed hydroelectric turbine, producing 168 W of mechanical power.
- The hybrid system combining hydroelectric and photovoltaic energy achieved the lowest Cost of Energy (COE).
- The optimal HRES architecture demonstrated a COE of $0.09418.
Conclusions:
- A novel hydroelectric turbine integrated into building water pipelines can contribute to renewable energy generation.
- Hybrid renewable energy systems combining solar PV and in-building hydroelectric power are viable for nZEB models.
- The proposed HRES offers a cost-effective approach to sustainable energy solutions in Pakistan.
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