Optiflow T17 Turgo Turbine

After analysing the typical flow characteristics of upland sites Heidra recognised the need for a low cost, high performance hydro electic turbine which was able to work at high efficiency over a wide flow range. Heidra has teamed up with a range of highly experienced industrial partners to develop the flow control and generator components of the hydro electric turbine.

The final moulds for the polymer components of the hydro electric turbine are now in production. All components are tested on Heidra's own class 1 or better instrumented test rig to ensure a fault-free reliable turbine that does what we claim it does.

The high pressure spear jet, right, is moulded from a high performance polymer with mechanical properties exceeding those of aluminium and with exceptional wear resistance. The spear itself is manufactured from stainless steel using computer controlled machining methods.

Heidra has taken a modular approach to the development so that each turgo turbine can be tailor made to an individual site with a choice of rotor diameter, number of spear jets and operating RPM. A high efficiency asynchronous generator is used to ensure a maintenance free service history. The overall, water-to-wire efficiency, is predicted to be above 75% down to a quarter of the total flow capacity.

The development work has been performed partly as a contract awarded from RE4D who recognised Heidra's in depth experience in the fields of solid modelling, injection moulding, polymer materials, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). All of the main components, apart from the generator, are manufactured in Devon and a high proportion of those by companies based on Dartmoor. We are proud to minimise our carbon footprint.