Homebrewed Electricity > Hydro
A thought I keep kicking around
Flux:
As long as you have enough power for any expected load you can use a hydro controller that dumps excess power over that you are using. By maintaining near constant load the wheel speed will be near constant . This is the control used with pumps as turbines in 3rd world countries.It is a simple thyristor or triac dump load sensing speed or voltage may do if frequency is not critical.
This doesn't work unless you have water to spare.
Deveak:
Yeah honestly a resistor slowing it down sounds a lot easier than gearing it up to just the right ratio and seeing if it falls in the right rpm range to run. I did find some math equations that figure out how much rpm loss from a given load but they are a bit over my head. My grandpa was telling me about a 555 circuit. I think thats what he called it. Basically you use a magnet on the driveshaft to generate an AC signal. The circuit turns it into DC with varying voltage that can drive a linear dc motor back and forth and hold it depending on the speed of the drive shaft. I suppose it could be possible to use a variac or some other form of control to vary a large resistor. Replace the knob with a sprocket and use a flat gear that spins the knob as it extends. He said you can use a POT on it to adjust the sensitivity and rpm range you want. A bit over my head, I am not well verse on electronics. It would be cheap though, he says 100 bucks for the whole thing if that. I think he used them for instruments in airplanes, he builds small airplanes as a hobby/side business. The only other problem I have run into is gearing. The lowest rpm generator I have yet to find is 1800 rpm or a pto generator which is just hooked up to a gearbox. Waterwheels are SLOW, so its gonna take a hefty gearbox to get it high enough. Finding one that can handle 10-20 HP and a high ratio is expensive and hard to find. Pulleys are cheaper but you lose a lot more power in them.
skid:
--- Quote from: Deveak on July 21, 2016, 10:14:27 PM --- The lowest rpm generator I have yet to find is 1800 rpm or a pto generator which is just hooked up to a gearbox. Waterwheels are SLOW, so its gonna take a hefty gearbox to get it high enough. Finding one that can handle 10-20 HP and a high ratio is expensive and hard to find. Pulleys are cheaper but you lose a lot more power in them.
--- End quote ---
I have a 50 rpm 7.5kw generator for my water wheel. I'm using a 5:1 pulley system to bring my rpm up from 10 to 50....
Deveak:
Where id you get it? Is it one of those axial flux PMA's? If it is does it make a good sine wave?
joestue:
IIRC he said it weighs 850 pounds.
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