Most of the major types of renewable energy cycles require a piece of turbomachinery. The novel woven wheel turbo impeller concept has been in research for past few years. Most of the previous research work focused on the early manufacturing concepts and aerodynamic studies. The research aims to investigate: (a) feasibility of using the novel woven wheel impeller for various applications in the energy industry and (b) understanding the mechanical structural and vibrational behavior of the wound impeller. The application areas include renewable and sustainable energy solutions like refrigeration using water as refrigerant, flash evaporation geothermal power plants and tidal and marine power. Preliminary experiments establish the proof of concept for employing the novel wheel impeller technology to these areas. A prototype single stage compressor test loop for compressing water vapor was designed and built. Scaled up results from the prototype testing show that it is possible to achieve the necessary pressure ratio across multiple stages to compress water vapor using this concept. Application of the woven wheel technology to tidal turbine applications is explored and proof of concept established with an experiment in simulated conditions in a tow tank. The woven wheel turbine prototype was able to generate a maximum of 2.5 KW power at 7 knots water velocity. A methodology is developed to model these impellers using finite element methods to structurally understand the mechanical behavior of the wound impellers. The vibrational characteristics of the bare impeller have been studied and the Campbell plots mapped which present an overall (or bird's-eye) view of the regional vibration excitation that can occur on an operating system. Effect of varying parameters like fiber type, shrouding, blade thickness, blade twist angle, magnet positioning and magnet filler material on the structural behavior of the impeller is studied and analyzed leading to an more enhanced design of the integrated rotor. It was found that adding an additional shroud layer of composite material significantly strengthens the integrated impeller.
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