Design of a Compact Miniature In-Pipe Turbine for Efficient Energy Recovery in Constrained Environment

This study presents an innovative miniature in-pipe turbine designed for installation within a cooling water pipeline to efficiently convert fluid kinetic energy into mechanical power for driving a generator, thereby enabling energy recovery.The research begins by selecting a high-efficiency airfoil from the NACA database, optimized for the given experimental conditions.A three-dimensional model is then developed using CAD software and analyzed through fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations in CAE software to assess the effects of design parameters on performance.Finally, a prototype is fabricated via 3D printing and experimentally validated, confirming the optimal parameter combination and demonstrating the practical feasibility of the proposed system in energy recovery applications.