Czech scientist nominated for European Inventor of the Year for groundbreaking water turbine

Associate Professor Miroslav Sedláček of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) has become one of three finalists nominated for the European Inventor Award 2016 in the Research category. He earned the nomination for his invention of the so-called rolling water turbine, which enables electricity generation even on very slow-flowing rivers and streams. 

Associate Professor Miroslav Sedláček of the Department of Economics and Management in Construction at CTU’s Faculty of Civil Engineering was nominated for his invention of the rolling turbine, which he developed together with his departmental colleagues Jiří Novák and Václav Beran, for the European Inventor Award 2016 in the Research category.

Sedláček’s rolling turbine is an alternative to conventional water turbines, which have been used to generate electricity for many decades. The advantage of the developed turbine is that it can be used on slow-flowing rivers and streams.

“I enjoyed going to the river and observing the vortices that form on the water. Then I noticed that leaves at the edge always rotate around their own axis in the opposite direction to the rotation of the entire vortex,” Associate Professor Sedláček describes the beginning of his research.

How the rolling water turbine works

The bladeless rolling turbine uses a physical phenomenon whereby a ball, cone or other curved body placed in a stator at a narrowed point in the flow is drawn towards its walls. The faster the water flows between the body and the walls, the stronger this attraction becomes.

Thanks to the inclined suspension of the curved body, water flows faster at the narrowed point, the body is pressed against the wall and begins to roll along it due to suction. The rotation of the flexibly mounted shaft can then be used to drive an electric generator.

Turbine already available on the market

Although the turbine is nominated in the Research category, two Czech companies are already preparing to manufacture it and one is even producing it. Associate Professor Sedláček filed the first patent application as early as 1994.

“Custom manufacturing cost around 45 thousand crowns excluding VAT. The unit had an output ranging from 50 watts to 200 watts. The generator 240,” Associate Professor Sedláček said.

According to Aktuálně.cz, a new low-head version of the turbine is now being prepared, with a price expected to range between 20 and 40 thousand crowns.

In the future, mass production could also begin in the US. “A company in Florida is testing the production of a farm of smaller turbines integrated into a single output. It would be a kind of mini power plant,” Sedláček adds.

In the Czech Republic, according to the inventor, the turbine could find use particularly on foothill streams.

“Water can be diverted from a stream through a pipe, creating a difference in water levels of, say, 60 centimetres, and this can produce 40 – 60 watts of instantaneous electrical output. In the Šumava Mountains, one cottage owner is already using the turbine for lighting and to keep the dwelling heated in winter.”

Lead photo source: Youtube EPOfilms