ISSN: 2265-6294

Design Optimization of Composite Resin Pelton Turbine Bucket Using Solidworks

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Fadth Rizky Damanik, Muhamad Fitri

Abstract

Micro hydro power plants that usually use Pelton turbines, need to be developed to remote villages to meet electricity demand in the countryside of Indonesia. Pelton turbine buckets that are usually made of metal materials not only should be manufactured specifically, but also need special maintenance caused by easy to rust. The purpose of this study is to design pelton turbine buckets from composite materials which corrosion resistance, light weight, and easier to be manufactured than metal materials. The research began with testing the tensile strength of epoxy resin composite materials reinforced by Sugar palm fibers (SPF) with variations in fiber content of 0%, 3%, 5%, 7% and 9%. Then, the best tensile strength value was used in a simulation of 3 different sizes variant using solidwork, to obtain the best turbine bucket model. The results of this study showed that epoxy resin composite reinforced with SPF a volume fraction of 9% has the best tensile strength, i.e. 32.6054 N / mm2. Then the results of this tensile strength was used in simulations of Pelton turbine bucket geometry with laboratory scale sizes that have been varied to 3 different sizes variant. All simulated bucket variant have a safety factor above 6, meaning that they are resistant not only to static and fluctuating loads, but also to shock loads. This result confirmed that SPFRERC are suitable to be used for manufacturing the Pelton turbine bucket. The best design is V-3 compared to V-1 and V-2 with a minimum deformation of 0.07922 mm, a Stress of 2.6670575 N/mm2, strain of 0.000557, and a safety factor of 6.945.

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