[A-HW25] Near Surface Investigation and Modeling for Groundwater Resources Assessment and Conservation

[AHW25-P11] Application of fluid mechanics to micro-hydropower generation

*Tzu-Heng Lin¹, Jet-Chau Wen¹ (1.National Yunlin University of Science and Technology)

Keywords:micro-hydropower, siphon

With the development of science and technology and the increasing population, energy demand also increases, and renewable energy gradually attracts the attention of the public, among which hydropower occupies a dominant position, accounting for about 19% of the total power generation in the world (Elbatran et al., 2015). Many countries continue to develop hydropower generation in the upper reaches of rivers, but river flows are highly affected by seasonal changes, resulting in unstable water supply system flows, which indirectly affects power generation (Gaudard et al. 2018). With the development of new technology, siphon turbine came into being. A siphon turbine is a low-head axial-flow hydraulic generator that is very good at transporting water from the top reservoir to the bottom reservoir, requiring less space for power generation facilities (Guerra et al. 2024). Hydropower systems configured with siphon piping systems can be installed across existing water storage structures, avoiding the need for structural damage to water storage facilities (Stark et al. 2011).
In this study, we set up a siphon micro-hydropower generation device through the siphon phenomenon. By utilizing the potential energy difference of liquids at both ends, the liquid at a higher position flows to the liquid at a lower position, the siphon turbine is driven by gravity for micro-hydropower generation, and the potential power generation of its micro-hydropower generation is analyzed. It is expected that this method can improve the uncertain loss of micro-hydropower generation, and is not limited to the simple use of turbine power generation, and can make practical contributions to the society with increasing energy demand in the future.