Kembs Project
Plant Size: 150 MW

In 2006, in their search for a cost-effective alternative to current meters, DTG, an engineering unit of Electricité de France, decided to use the ASFM for turbine flow measurements at their Kembs plant.

Kembs is a typical low head plant equipped with Kaplan turbines and short intakes. ASL AQFlow were contracted to perform measurements at Unit 1 on an equipment rental basis, together with field training. The measurements were successful, and led to DTG purchasing the ASFM with the intent of performing future measurements in short intakes with in-house personnel.

Publication: presented at Hydro 2007

In preparation for using the ASFM for contractual measurements, in 2007 EdF DTG performed an internal comparison on Units 4 and 5 at their Pinet plant, using three flow measurement techniques: acoustic time-of-travel, chemical tracer and acoustic scintillation. These measurements allowed DTG to assess the uncertainty levels associated with the ASFM measurements in plant configuration similar to Pinet. Further comparison measurements at plants with different intake configurations are planned.

Publication: presented at Hydro 2007

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PhD
Research project

In 2011, EDF and HydroQuebec, with ASL AQFlow's participation, set up a research project at Grenoble University for a PhD candidate to investigate the application of advanced signal processing methods for extending the application of acoustic scintillation flow measurement to intakes with low turbulence levels or irregular turbulence fields and with interference from vibration. Preliminary results were presented during the 4th flow measurement workshop held as part of Hydro 2013 in Innsbruck, Austria.

Publication presented at Hydro 2013