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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
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SUMMARY:Hydropower research outlook
DTSTART:20130624T131500
DTEND:20130624T141500
DTSTAMP:20260407T064340Z
UID:5c7b1a4d7aadac6079048324a3ae70772462800f326bbb2e9d9a3a3b
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Ing. Jiri Koutnik\nBio: Dr.-Ing. Jiri Koutnik is the Head 
 of Advanced R&D and Numerical Development at Voith Corporate headquarters 
 since 2004. He graduated as mechanical engineer in 1993 at the University 
 of Brno\, (Czech Republic)\, and he gained his Brno university’ doctoral
  degree in 1998. From1993 to 2003 he worked for CKD Blansko\, Czech Republ
 ic on the dynamics of hydraulic systems and turbines\, with special focus 
 on reversible pump-turbines. From 1998 to 2003 he was lecturer at Kaplan I
 nstitute for hydraulic machines at the Brno University. In 2003 he joined 
 Voith Hydro in Germany to develop the corporate engineering tool for simul
 ation of complete power plants’ dynamics. In 2012\, his co- authored pap
 er entitled “A Comparison of Advanced Pumped Storage Equipment Drivers i
 n the US and Europe” was awarded the best Hydrovision technical paper fo
 r 2012.\nAbstract: Hydropower is playing an important role in the energy t
 ransition process in Europe as well as significantly contributing to cover
  the increasing demand on electrical energy above all in Asia and Latin Am
 erica.\nThe continuously growing requirements on the flexibility and fast 
 response on one side and its ability to cope with environmental and sustai
 nability aspects pushes the industry to engineer advanced technical soluti
 ons. Such steps cannot be done without extensive fundamental research\, ha
 ving in mind all the environmental\, social and economic aspects as well.\
 nCurrently\, there is app. 1´000 GW already installed hydropower worldwid
 e\, with another 1’000 GW being foreseen to be installed by 2050. Out of
  this there are 2 main challenges coming in the near future:\na) Rehabilit
 ation of existing units\, where the installed power will be increased in m
 any cases by upgrading some components (like runner) while keeping the ori
 ginal embedded components (like draft tune or spiral cases). This requires
  a complete understanding of dynamic phenomena to avoid major problems and
  even structural failures of components like turbine runner or wicket gate
 s.\nb) Engineering\, manufacturing and installation of new units with capa
 cities as high as 1’000 MW for a Francis turbines or Kaplan and Bulb tur
 bines with runner diameters above 10 m\, in combination with high head val
 ues\, large head variation and wide regulating range.\nHigher utilization 
 of the existing units after their uprating as well as coming to push the t
 echnological limits for the new units leads to higher dynamic loading of t
 he turbine components (increased specific power)\, which makes them more p
 rone to structural integrity alteration.\nThe seminar will present cases o
 f scientific approaches to follow for solving technical challenges raised 
 during either existing unit modernization or turbine development for new h
 ydropower project. An example of such case study is shown below. The dynam
 ic loading experienced by a 250 MW\,\nD = 4\,5 m Francis turbine during tr
 ansient operating conditions is presented as the root cause for unexpected
  runner blade mechanical failure in less than 1 year of operation only.
LOCATION:CM 1 4 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CM%201%204
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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