Suction-augmentation is a game-changer for low-head hydropower.  Just as water flowing over a weir creates suction, the SAHT's ducted configuration captures side-flow and drives it at super-critical speed across a rotary underwater weir.  It's the equivalent of driving a sonic boom in air.

Water has celerity. This describes the point at which the velocity of flowing water overcomes its wave energy, and begins to flow at super-critical velocity. The dimensionless number used to describe this phenomenon is the Froude number.

The SAHT turbine incorporates a revolutionary control system that uses its adjustable ducting to provide an essential grid service - capacitance. For the grid to absorb wind and solar energy while maintaining voltage and frequency, a network of natural gas generators must be idling and ready to feather the grid's current and voltage to maintain stable delivery to customers. Because the SAHT can be deployed in arrays that are networked, they can act in concert across entire waterway systems to instantly adjust their outputs to match grid conditions, and thereby compensate for other technologies down-grid. This is an extremely valuable grid service which networked SAHT arrays can provide, obviating the need for stand-by generators.

Research & Development

Pressure Zones

The color bands of this image show the high pressure red/orange zone in the forward funnel, while the dark blue band shows the very low pressure suction zone inside the rearward nozzle. The dark blue band is the contact ring, or suction seal, that is created on the internal wing as water laminates onto its surface. 

The SAHT is currently undergoing CFD and FEA studies to optimize its functions to obtain maximum power output.

The SAHT is being engineered to prepare it for prototyping. A sub-scale fully-functional model will be 3D printed and tested on open water with a full array of sensors and instrumentation.