Characteristics of 250 Watt Picohydro Turbine Based on Laboratory Testing Result

Research on the design of picohydro turbines has been carried out. Based on the turbine discharge design turbine (Q) design 25 l/s, the head design is 1.7 m and 70% design efficiency obtained an effective turbine power calculation of 250 W. Laboratory testing was conducted to determine the characteristics of this turbohydro turbine. From the test results then analyzed and compared by referring to existing references. This picohydro turbine is a propeller type, thus turbine characteristics refer to the propeller characteristic theory which is a type of reaction water turbine. Based on laboratory test results, the variation of discharge is 0.0152 m3/s - 0.0221 m3/s and the rotation variation of 1,182 rpm -1,800 rpm obtained maximum power at 1800 rpm rotation and flow rate of 0.0221 m3/s of 270 watt with efficiency between the hydraulic power and electric power is 72%. The test results show propeller characteristics such as increasing the discharge will increase the turbine rotation, because the rotation is proportional to the value of the power, then the turbine power will also increase. The results of this test indicate that the turbine prototype was made feasible to be installed in the field because it was in line with expectations.