Engineneering-homemade

Hi, I would like to post here my micro hydro power plant project:

**LINK**

I would like to see yours similar videos and hear your opinions about my project, if something should be better done or so..

Great demonstration of hydroelectricity Faruk. Is it charging a battery inside the black cylinder?

Neil

Thank you !

In black cylinder is just AC/DC converter and simple breaker. I didn't charge any batteries because i wasn't sure if it is possible with only 4w power and pretty low voltage (about 5V). But it is en excellent idea and will try to improve my project.

If you have an advice which batteries to use I would be grateful.

That is a nice little power plant Faruk, have you tried using different size nozzles on the tap? I made a small hydroelectric power plant for demonstration purposes and experimented with different nozzles to get the most power out of the impulse turbine.

Thor

Well done Faruk, if you want to charge batteries with about 5V you could use one of the phone charger 'power packs' and feed the ~ 5V into the USB IN socket the electronics inside should take care of matching it to the cells inside and prevent overcharging.

Neil

Bit different to the turbine that I have a bit to do with, this one dates from the 1870s, its the central exhibit of our museum. The inlet penstock is to the right, the vertical shaft is 4" diameter, it's a Francis turbine, with a crown wheel about 30" diameter, it runs at about 120rpm on a 16ft head. Ian S C

I am no electronics whizz, far from it!, but presumably the raw output is A C, and the voltage will vary, with the frequency, according to the speed at which the generator is running.

So having rectified the output, why not then wire in a regulator? A 7805 will give you a 5 volt output from your DC, which you can then use to power USB type devices.

If you want to charge a Lead Acid battery, a 7812 will control the out put to 12 volts. A 7815 would probably be a little high for a 12 volt battery, as a fully charged Lead Acid delivers 13.2 volts. (Although car alternators are 14 volt)

A 7812 would deliver the right voltage to charge ten NiCds, or NiMH, (which are 1.2V/cell) connected in series.

You might get away with using a 7805 to charge four NiCds or NiMh in series (4.8Volts), particularly if you regulate the water flow to ensure that the out put IS 4.8V.

Just a few thoughts

Howard

I didn't try with different size of nozzles. I thought that it couldn't have any impact at may output power. What shown you your experiment and do you think that it would be better to reduce nozzles size in my case??

And thanks for useful advices and nice words for my project. Howard snd Neil

Hi Faruk,

Have you considered reconfiguring your water wheel to be backshot? - These are the most efficient of the simple non-turbine configured wheels... **LINK**

Only know this because of a trip to Cragside House in Northumberland - the home of Lord Armstrong.

HTH

Jon

Has anyone done the maths to see what's cheaper - paying the electric bill or the water bill?

Well our charges are close to £3 per m^3 (1000 kg) if you add the water and sewerage charges together.

The potential energy in 1 m^3 of water with a minimum 7m head of water from the mains would be approx 70 kJ which equates to 0.019 kWhr even with 100% conversion efficiency.

The charge for 1 kWhr of electricity is usually less than about 13p so there's quite a big difference.

£156 or 13p per kWhr !

=> buy your electricity from the grid.

Jon

Edited By Jon Gibbs on 12/05/2015 11:30:38

> buy your electricity from the grid.

Where's the fun in that?

Neil

There is one flowing creek near house and that water is used in my plant. So,I don't have to pay for it.

This type of turbine was the ony I could make myself. I am not sure what turbine with 'backshot' is.

Greetings

.

I think it's the one also known as BreastShot ... see here.

MichaelG.

Hi Faruk,

If you have a creek flowing by your house you should be able to make your own power plant. For a low head and some water flowing you might build your own crossflow turbine, here are a few links:

***Link***

***Link***

***Link***

***Link***

***Link***

This site has many useful links. If you have a high head and a small amount of water an impulse turbine like a turgo or pelton might be a better choice, it is possible to buy pelton spoons and build the rest yourself. It is also possible to buy turgo spoons. I have sent you a PM.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 14/05/2015 06:47:27

This is "Backshot"...

It's described in the Wikipedia page I linked to here **LINK**

Jon

I didn't say it was fun - just cheaper. I couldn't resist Jason's challenge I'm afraid.

I think I could have fun spending the other £155.87 per kWhr on something else though

A turbine, whether a Pelton wheel, or a Francis is far more efficient than any water wheel, Breast, overshot, undershot, or any othe kind. A modern Francis turbine to give the same power as the one in my photo above would only need a Crown Wheel around 300 mm, and it would have an out put of a couple of Kw, and use a fraction of the water, that thing in the photo go through an enormous amount of water, the penstock is about 3ft diameter. Here's a copy of a pamphlet I picked up at the Agricultural Field Days that are held just down the road from here. This turbine is designed and built in Nelson NZ, I think the Crown Wheel is about 200 mm dia.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 14/05/2015 12:34:54

Hi Ian,

You may be right that it's more efficient. Interestingly it's 56% efficient if my maths is right.

60 l/sec will mean 216000 l/hr which is obviously 216000 kg of water which would have potential energy of roughly 6.48 MJ if at 3m.

That will generate about 1kWhr if their claims are accurate but the water has potential energy of 6.48 MJ = 1.80kWhr.

This means that 1kWhr of electricity would cost £278 - Even less fun 

Jon

Edited By Jon Gibbs on 14/05/2015 14:00:31

Edited By Jon Gibbs on 14/05/2015 14:01:11

Edited By Jon Gibbs on 14/05/2015 14:04:42

More relevant to the real world the setup is a good demonstration of how even a very small hydropower plant can be used to provide light, run a radio or charge a mobile phone or other small device in areas that are off-grid and where the climate doesn't suit solar energy.

Neil