Concept

Gorlov helical turbine

Summary
The Gorlov helical turbine (GHT) is a water turbine evolved from the Darrieus turbine design by altering it to have helical blades/foils. Water turbines take kinetic energy and translates it into electricity. It was patented in a series of patents from September 19, 1995 to July 3, 2001 and won 2001 ASME Thomas A. Edison. GHT was invented by Alexander M. Gorlov, professor of Northeastern University. The physical principles of the GHT work are the same as for its main prototype, the Darrieus turbine, and for the family of similar vertical axis wind turbines which includes also Turby wind turbine, aerotecture turbine, Quietrevolution wind turbine, etc. GHT, Turby and Quietrevolution solved pulsatory torque issues by using the helical twist of the blades. The helical turbine (Germany patent DE2948060A1, 1979) was originally invented by Ulrich Stampa (Bremen, Germany), engineer, author and inventor. The term "foil" is used to describe the shape of the blade cross-section at a given point, with no distinction for the type of fluid, (thus referring to either an "airfoil" or "hydrofoil"). In the helical design, the blades curve around the axis, which has the effect of evenly distributing the foil sections throughout the rotation cycle, so there is always a foil section at every possible angle of attack. In this way, the sum of the lift and drag forces on each blade do not change abruptly with rotation angle. The turbine generates a smoother torque curve, so there is much less vibration and noise than in the Darrieus design. It also minimizes peak stresses in the structure and materials, and facilitates self-starting of the turbine. In testing environments the GHT has been observed to have up to 35% efficiency in energy capture reported by several groups. "Among the other vertical-axis turbine systems, the Davis Hydro turbine, the EnCurrent turbine, and the Gorlov Helical turbine have all undergone scale testing at laboratory or sea. Overall, these technologies represent the current norm of tidal current development.
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