Homebrewed Electricity > Hydro
need some advice on penstock sizing
junglehydro:
Hya all, So I am trying to figure out how to build my penstock, and thought I would ask some help on advice what you would do in my situation.
Here's the plan; power a 5kw turbine from a jungle creek that runs year round.
So the situation is as follows: I have a creek nearby that has plenty of flow, I haven't measured but if I'd have to guess it would be upward of 50 liters a second easily. It flows through a dense jungle, with an average gradient of around 15-20%, some parts are pretty steep with a good waterfall, other parts are slow flowing and wider.
I tried posting a youtube link, but I get the "Sorry, you are not allowed to post external links." message...
So after some napkin calculations aided with the powerspout calculator I've come to two posibilities:
* I make a 600 meter penstock with 100m head of 75mm pipe and get about 3600 watts out of my turbine
* I make a 150/200 meter penstock with 50 meter head of 100mm pipe on one of the steeper parts and get about the full power out of my turbine
The first would require longer pipes through difficult terrain, the second might require more difficult construction of my basin and turbine in the middle of the jungle. Any thoughts are welcome!
And so do I understand it correctly that head X flow = power? So with less head but a bigger pipe with more water I can achieve the same results at the turbine? and no different turbine design is required (other than bigger nozzles with bigger pipes obviously)?
bigrockcandymountain:
You are correct that head x flow = power. Your estimates seem pretty reasonable for power output.
I think i would do the 50m head and 100mm pipe, but 100mm is very easy to get here and quite cheap. Even 150mm might be a good idea to price out.
Are you doing a pelton wheel? It might take some nozzle tuning to get your generator tuned for specific hz at specific power.
This is a very ambitious idea and a great hydro resource you have there. Hopefully you can make it work.
SparWeb:
Lots of hydro potential there.
I think you are "supposed to" use a Pelton wheel for head over 30 meters.
Various pieces of information you'll be looking for:
- Pelton wheel sizing charts and suppliers
- Nozzle design figures (I have some here, but you can get specific recommendations from the supplier of the pelton, of course.)
- Debris separators
Not a recommendation, really, just happens to be handy: https://www.powerspout.com/
They say things on their website about shipping internationally - which may also help you.
junglehydro:
--- Quote from: SparWeb on March 02, 2021, 12:02:01 AM ---I think you are "supposed to" use a Pelton wheel for head over 30 meters.
--- End quote ---
Yeah I'm going with a pelton for sure.
--- Quote from: SparWeb on March 02, 2021, 12:02:01 AM ---Pelton wheel sizing charts and suppliers
--- End quote ---
So I am going for a wheel with a pcd of around 200-250mm, based off of the charts in "Micro‑hydro Pelton Turbine Manual" by Jeremy Thake, and I haven't been able to find any suppliers with decent quality wheels, so I'm going to have it made in a local metal workshop instead.. (I live in a rural area in Colombia)
--- Quote from: SparWeb on March 02, 2021, 12:02:01 AM ---Nozzle design figures (I have some here, but you can get specific recommendations from the supplier of the pelton, of course.)
--- End quote ---
Could you share those with me? Since I don't have a supplier I was planning on starting with a small nozzle and just shaving it bigger and testing until I reach the desired result.
And for the debris separator I am planning to build a self cleaning intake system somehwat like this design:
And I have read through pretty much all info on the powerspout site, that site got me started on thinking about hydro actually :-) But I prefer to build one turbine with locally sourced parts instead of importing 3 powerspouts. both for costsavings but even more for ease of maintenance and replacing parts.
SparWeb:
Oh, that's too bad that being in Columbia prevents you from importing powerspouts... or other stuff made in North America in general?
Making it yourself is OK. The spoons are a curious thing to be making yourself or trying to source locally. How's that going?
The nozzle is an open question - I'm looking at that other question you asked earlier, about regulating voltage. Wouldn't that mean you are going to need a variable nozzle? That would be hard to set up. Perhaps you plan to regulate voltage using a diversion load. That could be easier but still demands a lot of finesse.
Here's one thing I can give you:
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