The Archimedes pump is one of the oldest feats of engineering still being used today. In recent times, it has seen a major revival in modern engineering, by reversing it for use as a turbine. This is now an established turbine, being used in Europe since 1994. It has been found this new turbine device has a plethora of advantages over current existing devices, with the simplicity and robustness that has kept the pump in use for centuries acting in its favour. Most existing design theory is for use as pump; however there are many key differences between operation as a pump or turbine, such as the direction the water flows through the device. With further research for turbine operation alone required. The Archimedes Screw turbine currently has a variety of operational modes: inclined, horizontal or submerged. These new devices have the possibility to unlock a wide range of applications. The submerged tidal stream device can operate in low flow velocities (1 m/s) that current devices are unable to. The inclined and horizontal turbines offer greatly reduced environmental effects and can be used in areas previously passed over because of delicate habitats. However, there are still more potential uses, for example in tidal range or tidal fence situations, although research for use in these methods are currently only in the initial stages with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and scale modelling required to prove the validity. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
