PERFORMANCE OF SAVONIUS ROTOR AS A WATER CURRENT TURBINE

Ocean current energy systems are at an early stage of development with only a small number of prototypes and demonstrations to date. Ocean currents are a potentially significant and currently untapped resource of energy. Energy can be extracted from the ocean currents using submerged turbines that are similar in function to wind turbines but capture energy through a hydrodynamic rather than aerodynamic mechanism. This paper discusses the performance of three different types of Savonius rotors used as water current turbines. This is the first time such rotors have been used as water current turbines. They were tested to determine a suitable water current turbine for a micro seafloor power generation system.