Development of Water Pipelines Energy Harvesting System

Abstract

Previously, the threats of negative effects caused from burning process of the fossil fuels is somewhat alarming which it may lead to acid rain, increasing greenhouse emissions and global warming. Based on the highlighted issue, this study aims to develop a system where the input power came from water pipes energy harvesting system. Water pipes harvesting system will be designed using polyvinyl chloride pipes and water turbines, to transform kinetic energy of a water flow into electrical energy and the energy performance will be monitored in a web-server using Arduino and ESP8266 Wi-Fi module as its processing centre. This research studies the feasibility of harvesting some energy from pipeline vibrations, and it is also observed that harvestable energy varies with harvesting location across a pipeline network as well as the pipe flow rate in the water-air and kinetic energy in the water pressure fluctuation. The water pipelines energy harvesting systems are modelled and then analyzed by using simulated data and real data using Arduino. Turbine generator are mounted on the pipeline surface at different locations to simultaneously collect vibrations-induced energy data from water pumping. The water flow rate energy harvester system and the water pressure fluctuation introduced in this research may be able to generate up to 6.8 mW’s power. The output produced from the energy harvesting system is expected to be enough to light up a 3.8 V direct current light emitting diode bulb.