Homebrewed Electricity > Hydro

High speed or Low--AC or DC

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Harold in CR:
Have someone in the community wanting to put in an off grid hydro system. Went to look at his site and HOLY MOLEY.

 He has a 14" ID steel pipe shooting a FULL stream of water about 6 feet out before it starts to turn down into the washout below. He says rain does not affect the flow rate, noticably. It is a branch off from the river where the inlet is submerged about 2 feet below the surface in a 6' deep cut in the river on an outside bend. This is right before a waterfall, so a pooling effect.

 It's approximately 30' of head to a concrete walled area where a "Pelton" once lived. Needless to say, I'm overwhelmed with how to advise him. He doesn't know what he has or needs, just "wants to run a house on the farm".  ::)

 For starters, I did measure his chaseway capacity. It runs water 19" wide X 16" deep. Knowing I need many more measurements, I will return to the site one day this week.

 Meanwhile, Is a high RPM turbine system beneficial or a low RPM turbine system more practical ? Looking to keep maintenance to a minimum and longevity to the maximum. Also, which might be a better system, a DC system with inverter or a direct AC system with a small battery for backup ? On a quick trip through Ebay, I found a NEW 1800 RPM 2.5 KW alternator that would be belt driven. I have no idea if this would be a usable item or not. Also, need advice on whether a Pelton or a Banki turbine is better and how to size it.

 Once I gather sufficient information, I will start a build thread, if I get to work with him on this. In the interim, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

mab:
For a start i'd put the figures into powerspouts calculator - 14" penstock, 30' head, approx length of pipe - just put a big number in for gallons/min and it'll tell you how much will fit down the pipe. It should tell you how much power is available.

That's fairly low head for a pelton or turgo, so both will run at low rpm (don't know about banki - not sure what it is), so you may end up gearing it up anyway.

I guess you might find it difficult to find an off the shelf single pelton / turgo that can take so much water. So I'd look for available turbines at that size/capacity and see what generators they come with (if any) or what speed they turn with your water source.

keithturtle:
30' is only meaningful if it stays in the pipe all the way to the turbine.  If it can be contained, I think a Leffels type reaction turbine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_turbine
would be most suited for that head and flow, from what I've read.  With that much resource he might could power more than just his own place with the right setup

The Banki would work too but wouldn't be as efficient; it is used to maximize for variable flows

Turtle

Harold in CR:
Thanks for the input so far, guys. That Leffels looks like a bear to build and shipping would be astronomical.

 Keith, look up the Ossberger design. They claim up to 86% efficiency. They also incorporate a vacuum pulling the water into the turbine.

I think a 5 KW unit will be more than enough because housing here is no where near comparible to US housing. My electric bill says we use 300 Kwh more or less per month. I do use welders, power tools and charge power tool batteries, but, I believe I have a section of the power line has leakage due to corrosion. I will replace that soon.

Refrigerator, clothes washer, NO dryer, possible electric stove, but, propane is normal here, but  expensive, and lighting, is about all they will have.

 Won't have measurements until next week. Can't do it alone and he is busy cleaning out our water system here this week. We have gravity fed community water and has several concrete "tanks" along the way, above ground, that need cleaning of sand, etc. and bleaching  right before our dry season, which starts within 5-6 weeks for 3 months or so. Even then, he says his water supply on the farm never varies noticably. Wish I had that much crossing my place. ::)

SparWeb:
Your friend might have about 50 kW of potential on his hands.
You could consider the business value of this resource.
50 kW * 24 hours = 1200 kWhr
@ 10 cents/kWhr this earns 120$ per day
These calculations may be completely inapplicable to your location, so I'm just showing the economic favour for this - if it were my dam.  YMMV

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