Author Topic: New Form of Hydro!  (Read 3298 times)

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Dennis

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New Form of Hydro!
« on: June 13, 2005, 04:27:19 PM »
Gentlemen,

   After five years of hard work, I have finally come up with a really good, new, form of hydroelectric power. I am only four years and six months behind scheduleJ.

   The problem with Hydropower as we know it is:

    -To use small affordable turbines you need fairly high head

-There really is no cheap way to get power out of a river with hi flow but no head, without resorting to a dam.

    I think I have solved both of these problems. Now I know most of you are turbine guys, and a few of you are waterwheel guys. Well now we can all be part of the same happy family!

After creating two new forms of hydro, and having them both have "issues" (one was to complex, the other to big) I was cruising the internet looking for something that would make it all work. I found it at http://aquamor.tripod.com/Wheel.htm

         I had seen spiral wheels before, but they were all very small. I had never thought about what they actually do. They change slow mechanical movement into water pressure.  

    Now the basic principles of good technology have to meet these criteria:

        -Economy- the cost has to fit the application/market

        -Simplicity- the less wearable/movable parts the better the design

        -Labor- the less skill intensive; specialty machine intensive the product is                 the better it is.

    I feel my design meets all of these standards very well. The Overshot/Breast/Undershot wheel that this system is attached to can be made entirely of PVC pipe (except the axle). To build it you will need:

    1. A saw (yes, even a hand one)

    2. A drill

    3. A local welder for the axle

    The wheel harnesses the power of the high volume river. The plastic tubing spiral pump, changes this movement into pressure. The pressure is dependant on:

    -The inside diameter of the spiral pump tubing

    -The number of spirals/height of the spirals

    -The restriction

       The pressure that is generated by the spiral pump is then run into a turbine, which changes the pressure into electricity. A Water Motor could also be used to change the pressure into mechanical work.  

    The water is then put back into the spiral pump by way of an independent scoop. This makes the whole system enclosed, allowing for salt water to be used for all of us that live in the cold areas.

    If you have read this and still do not know what I am rambling on about, please visit my web site and see a small, proof of concept model I have built. A picture is worth a thousand words. Probably two thousand of mine:).

            http://WildWaterPower@msn.com

    So where am I at in this project? Well I have made the small proof of concept model, but with it I still have yet to make electricity, just pressure.

    The next step is to build a large version, on a river. I am retrofitting my overshot wheel to have this system, but few people have the head and volume of water for an overshot. The undershot in the river is the future of this technology.

     The problem I do not have enough money to build it. I am looking for someone who has a river, who would like to partner up with me to build it. I live in Connecticut, so it must be somewhere I could drive to on Friday and then work Saturday and Sunday. The whole project would cost about six thousand dollars, I have three.

   That includes: Floating wheel, Turbine (Harris or Turgo), and inverter.

    Even if you have a river with a turbine, we can still make power off that river below the dam.

    So who wants to help me start the revolution?

You can contact me at WildWaterPower@msn.com

« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 04:27:19 PM by (unknown) »

whatsnext

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Re: New Form of Hydro!
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2005, 11:06:23 AM »
It would be handy if you checked your picture links before posting like this. I couldn't see any of them and Tripod doesn't seem to know where they are either.

John..........
« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 11:06:23 AM by whatsnext »

kitno455

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Re: New Form of Hydro!
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2005, 11:23:33 AM »
not sure if that was his website. but i can say for sure that the website dennis gave, was his email address. that wont work.


allan

« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 11:23:33 AM by kitno455 »

pyrocasto

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Re: New Form of Hydro!
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2005, 12:00:56 PM »
I'm sorry to say sir, but you have not invented something new. Spiral pumps have been around for awhile, and I have one built here at my property. This is also no revolutionary way to generate power, because you coulde do almost the smae thing with a ram pump.

For people who want to see what one looks like you can find a good page here. http://www.ata.org.au/articles/65watwel.htm


And here's mine(missing a few pieces but it works): http://pyronet.50megs.com/RePower/pump.htm


I'm sorry but a simple undershot wheel connected to a generator would blow this thing away for power. Though, you cant beat it(I believe) for pumping water when you have nothing.(no head, little flow, or even little water)

« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 12:00:56 PM by pyrocasto »

kitno455

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Re: New Form of Hydro!
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2005, 12:30:31 PM »
after reading pyro's site, i can say, good luck. you have a fundamental problem called conservation of energy. the power to run this thing comes from the undershot wheel. you can get no more power out of the resulting pumped stream than the undershot puts in. in that case, you would be better off belting or chaining a generator to the wheel, as there are less losses in the belt/chain than there are in the pelton or whatever you intend to use for the second turbine.


sorry dude, back to the drawing board :)


allan

« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 12:30:31 PM by kitno455 »

troy

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Re: New Form of Hydro!
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2005, 01:21:19 PM »
My what a skeptical lot you guys are.


Oh yes, and usually correct.


You can convert that energy 29 times and you still won't have any more energy than you started with.  Less actually.  It's that pesky law of thermodynamics again.


Good luck and have fun!


troy

« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 01:21:19 PM by troy »

Ungrounded Lightning Rod

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Re: New Form of Hydro!
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2005, 01:30:08 PM »
I don't see any reason a ram pump wouldn't work off current with minimal head.  Just a a long (and wide) pipe in the water to get a mass of water moving inside the pipe, and put a ram cutoff valve and one-way valve to convert the momentum to high-pressure, low flow, at the outlet end.  (You could use a wheel as part of the valve mechanism, lifting a cutoff gate toward the seat via a crank or a cam, to avoid the need for high flow to push the valve.)


Your pipe would need to be wide to let the flow get moving inside it despite the pipe's friction.  (Essentially you're taking advantage of the tiny head along the river's flow).  And with a low flow you'd need a very long on/very short off time to get significant head at the output.  But IMHO it should "just work".


On the other hand, if you can find a good rotating seal that has low enough friction that it doesn't eat most of your energy and low enough leakage that it doesn't eat all your head, this puppy looks better.  It's quiet (thus both being non-disruptive and saving energy that would otherwise be radiated as sound or heating the valve seats), and a paddle wheel disturbs the water and its lifeforms less than a pipe of the same cross-section.


If you've got a long hunk of river to work with the ram might do better, by tapping the head along a significant length of the river, where the wheel can only tap the momentum of the water at the wheel - corresponding to the head from a much shorter length of the river.  (Perhaps some water guides could substitute for the pipe and let you tap head from a longer run.)

« Last Edit: June 13, 2005, 01:30:08 PM by Ungrounded Lightning Rod »