Theoretical and experimental analysis of a new compressible flow small power turbine prototype

An innovative compressible-flow small turbine prototype with rotating channel and with 3 optimized deflectors is presented. The prototype is able to recover energies usually lost deriving for example from exhaust gases or waste steams characterized by low pressures and small flow rates. The non-typical turbine configuration allows reaching good performances in different operating conditions. A 70-kW maximum brake power, pressured-air test rig has been set up for gathering global measurements such as pressure, temperature, flow rate, torque and rotational speed. First results show that the overall efficiency of the turbine prototype is comparable with the other small-power configurations, but its rotational speed is significantly reduced. In this paper, the authors provide experimental measurements of the prototype together with a numerical model able to predict its performances.