Hi all, I am thinking about buying an off-grid land and build a house there. It will be on the side of a river so I can install a home mad river water wheel for electricity.
I live in Northern Alberta where there is often 2-3 feet of ice in winter, even on rivers. So I will need to make the turbine part completely submerged. Unlike traditional water wheels, this one will be turning on a vertical axis. So that the whole wheel will be submerged under the ice, thus never freezing in winter. The wheel will rotate around a vertical pole driven into the river bed. The pole will also stick out of the water/ice level and a shaft following the pole will take the turbine's rotation to the alternator above water.
One of my concerns is the strength of the pole. It will have to be strong enough to resist the ice flows of every Spring as the ice melts and flows down the river. But that is a minor problem. I am mostly concerned with the amount of electricity I can generate with this water mill. How much of water flow will I need to put my mill in and how big should the 8 blades be to make 5 kW/hour?
I composed a poor man's drawing of what I am talking about. Here it is:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/9634/b473_1_.png
This is a look at the wheel from above, as if your were looking down from a boat.
The blue arrow denotes the direction of the current. I only drew 4 blades but there will be 8 of them. The wheel will be about 5 to 8 foot in diameter and the blades will be 4 to 6 foot tall, water depth allowing. The red half crescent represents the casing which would shield the upstream side of the wheel from getting too slowed down by the current.
Do you know of anyone who has made a submersed river turbine like this? I know it would not be as efficient as a wheel partly in the water but that would not work for my -35 Celsius Winters up here. But I think I can make some sort of a cover on the upstream side of the wheel so that the flowing water will only act on the downstream side of the wheel.
Any ideas? Suggestions? I hope I would not need too much of a current in the river as I would like to use a boat in front of the house if possible. The house will be a beautiful log home with fireplace and cathedral ceilings and all, completely off grid with possibly no access by car, only with snowmobiles, ATVs and boat access will be possible. The main obstacle t this dream is the ability to generate some electricity. Any feedback will be appreciated.
Most importantly I would like to know how much of a water current I wold need to produce 5 kW/hr. Do you think it would be possible with a 2 MPH water flow? 4 MPH maybe?
Thanx,
PepeLapiu
Pepe: Why post this twice? Comments disabled in this one, please discuss in the original. I posted the drawing you linked to on that thread. TW
