Research colloquium: High-performance steel water wheels - development of a key technology for hydropower utilization at low heads and high flow rates

As part of the research colloquium for final theses, doctoral and postdoctoral students, we cordially invite you to join us on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at 4:30 pm in room 3516 (Mönchebergstr. 7). We are pleased to present you an inspiring lecture by Mr. Dipl.-Ing. Christian Seidel with the title

High performance steel water wheels - Development of a key technology for hydropower utilization in the low head and high flow range

to announce.

Christian Seidel is Project Leader of the research project Steel High-Performance Waterwheel Technology at the Institute of Statics and Dynamics at the Technical University of Braunschweig.

Summary: A new type of hydropower machine based on high-performance waterwheel technology has been developed at the Technical University of Braunschweig to exploit the hydropower potential in the low head range of 0.4 to 8.5 m and the medium to high flow rates of 5 to 1,000 m³/s. The new technology is characterized by high efficiency and environmental friendliness, a large absorption and working capacity. The technology is far beyond the current state of the art in terms of performance, with wheel outputs of 0.2 to 3 MW possible in principle. Due to the high absorption capacity of up to 100 m³/s per machine and low wheel speeds of 1 to 4.4 rpm, the technology is expected to be highly environmentally friendly.

For the technical testing of the new technology on a large scale, a research hydropower plant is to be implemented at the Allerwehr Bannetze in Lower Saxony with the world's largest and most powerful water wheel with 11 m wheel diameter, 12 m wheel width, 600 kW output and an absorption capacity of 60 m³/s.

The lecture will present the current state of research and development of high-performance steel waterwheel technology.

We look forward to seeing you there!