The Turbine

The Sundermann Turbine is a submerged water turbine which drives a generator. It is specifically designed to maximise operational efficiency in slow to medium speed water flows of 6-12 knots.

Sundermann Water Power Prototype 2 during testing

The Sundermann Turbine is suitable for installations where water flow is either in a single direction, such as rivers or ocean currents, or in tidal areas where the water flow reverses direction approximately every six hours.

Each turbine delivers up to 100 kW of power and multiple turbines can be combined to form a larger working unit, or “bank” delivering up to 1 MW per bank.

The break-through technology has been championed by the engineering community worldwide. Its advantage over other turbines is that the power blades tilt during a rotating cycle.

How it works

The turbine has a unique design in that its efficiency is achieved by the tilting of the power blades during the rotating cycle. The blades rotate half a revolution for each full rotation of the central shaft. This configuration allows each blade to contribute a unidirectional force to the central shaft, for virtually the entire rotational cycle. In this way the blades can efficiently utilise the kinetic energy of the moving water. The central shaft drives the generator via a gearbox to produce emission free renewable energy.

Electrical power is generated at a voltage of 690V. As with any power generation facility of this type, the system requires a small electrical substation for voltage regulation, either for direct use or for transmission to the end user or the power grid.

The intellectual property behind the Sundermann Turbine has been developed by Fred Sundermann over the past 10 years and is protected by patents.