Pico-hydro Turbine Research Articles

Innovative microbial water quality management in water distribution systems using in-pipe hydropowered UV disinfection: envisioning futuristic water-energy systems

ABSTRACT Hydropower UV disinfection has not been explored as a possible alternative for off-grid disinfection. Hydropowered UV LED technology was developed using off-the-shelf UV-C LEDs and pico – and femto-scale hydro turbine generators and evaluated across point-of-use relevant flow rates. Commercially available UV LED flow through reactors were subjected to microorganism challenge testing with 3 power schemes: wall-plug, hydropower, and hydropower-charged battery. UV LEDs powered by hydropower-charged battery demonstrated similar disinfection as wall-plug powered UV LEDs, achieving 0.5-1.8 MS2 log10 reduction at flow rates 0.5-2.3 L min−1, corresponding to reduction equivalent doses (RED) up to 16 or 30 mJ/cm2 for 254 and 285 nm, respectively. With hydropowered UV LEDs alone, MS2 log10 reduction decreased to <0.3 log10 reduction due to an underperforming and grossly inefficient turbine, with RED of 8 or 18 mJ/cm2 for 254 and 285 nm, respectively. Assessment of existing markets of UV disinfection systems and pico-hydro turbines demonstrated that hydropowered UV systems are already theoretically feasible for scales at point-of-entry (POE) and above. Economic feasibility will improve if turbines and/or UV system efficiencies improve. Prototype hydropower UV LED systems ranged from $145 to 220 depending on the UV LED reactor, and the battery system added $81. This study demonstrates the practicality of sustainable, renewable energy POU UV disinfection technology that can benefit decentralised, off-grid, rural and remote communities. The system may also scale up to provide renewable energy disinfection at larger scales, such as buildings and water distribution systems, for protecting human health in highly populated areas.

Energy recovery in a commercial building using pico-hydropower turbines: An Australian case study

Optimising energy use in systems and buildings is crucial to reduce climate change. This paper aims to address the gap in knowledge for pico-hydropower (<5 kW) that has been identified as an area of untapped potential in the water industries. A literature review and multivariate analysis are used to find a suitable pico-hydro turbine to install into a coral reef aquarium system in a government owned facility. Key findings from the literature review are untapped potential, gaps in knowledge and global quantification of small hydropower for energy recovery, and lack of enabling data contributing to slow uptake of small hydropower. The study showed a propeller pico-hydropower turbine could be used to recover approximately 10% of the energy used for pumping water through a filtration system. At 2.3 m available head, and 90 L/s water flow, power output up to 1.124 kW was achieved. The project was economically viable with financial and non-financial benefits for the life cycle of the product. There remain sparse case studies for energy recovery using small hydropower in the scientific literature. A growing number of authors see the potential of this renewable energy technology to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals to provide affordable clean energy and address climate change. This study helps to shine a light on opportunities to find value from waste using a novel application of hydropower in a water industry.

Modifikasi Sudu-sudu Blower Sentrifugal yang Diaplikasikan pada Turbin Pico Hydro

The water turbine must be specially designed according to the calculation of its energy potential, proportional to the height of the falling water and the discharge. This research is conducted to study the solution fluid engine that functions as a pico hydro water turbine, namely a centrifugal blower with a simple construction, operating at low head, small discharge, easy installation and operation and low price. The blower used in this test is a blower that is already on the market with an impeller diameter of 15 cm, inlet size of 2 inches. The test was carried out at a constant head (falling water height) of 5 m. The working principle of the blower is reversed, that is, water from a certain height flows through the rapid pipe and enters the exhaust side of the blower until the water moves the blower and exits through the blower inlet to the draftube. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of modification of the blades on the increase in efficiency of the picohydro turbine. This study uses an analytical method with testing parameters based on calculating the value of water discharge, water power, torque, turbine mechanical power and turbine efficiency. To increase the power and efficiency of the blower as a turbine, modifications are made to the blower blades. With the modification of the blower blades, the turbine efficiency increases by 10 percents from before the modification.

An Experimental Study of a Pico Hydro Turbine

Today, the storage and transporting of electricity from one place to another is still an unsolved problem. Besides, it is not economical to install power lines everywhere for low-voltage electronic circuits such as valves which are used to reduce leakage in water lines. When water demand is lower, it is a practical solution to use the pico hydro turbines to supply the required electrical energy for the electronic circuits of the valves used to reduce the losses in the water discharge lines. For this purpose, it is experimentally investigated electricity production in a pico hydro turbine and validated with experimental data that a pico hydro turbine (PHT) generates 1 W electricity under a water flow velocity of 0.53 m/s. It is concluded that the higher resistances were used in the test rig, the less turbine power produced. As the voltage increased, the current obtained decreased, and the turbine power reached its maximum at a resistance of 130 Ω.

Design of a smart microgrid with small-scale hydro generation: a practical case study

Microgrids are local electric grids integrating distributed generation and consumption, energy storage and management and power control. They can be an alternative for the energy supply of a house, a building, a small village or a wider region. Small-scale hydropower, in the range of 5 kW, consists of distributed generation systems gaining increasing interest. These so-called pico-hydro systems are becoming popular since they can take advantage of the integration of low-power wind generators and photovoltaic (PV) inverters, which are widely available at competitive prices. Thus, pico-hydro systems are not only relevant for energy generation in off-grid systems in remote areas but also for new contexts where the utility grid is available. This paper presents the design of a smart microgrid with small-scale hydro generation. It is a practical case study with the integration of two grid-connected pico-hydro turbines: a low-head propeller turbine and a water wheel. The microgrid was designed and implemented in a small museum: Casa da Seda (House of Silk). The energy generation is based on the complementarity between hydro and PV. The microgrid can operate in both grid-connected and islanded modes and feeds the House of Silk loads. The connection of both pico-hydro turbines into the microgrid is based on the integration of wind generators and PV inverters.

The Potential of Hydro Renewable Energy Technology to Electricity Remote Villages in Papua and Maluku Islands, Indonesia

The islands of Papua and Maluku are eastern Indonesia which consists of remote islands and villages. The Papua Islands consist of 3,749 islands divided into two provinces, namely Papua and West Papua, while the Maluku Islands are 1,735 islands into two provinces of Maluku and North Maluku, the number of inhabited islands in Papua and Maluku around 230 islands and around 100 newly electrified islands. The electrification ratio for Papua is 47.69%, West Papua is 89.94%, Maluku is 87.02% and North Maluku is 88.68%. The electrification ratio is still below the national average. Maluku Islands and Papua Indonesia has abundant renewable energy natural resources, namely hydro potential. The total hydro energy potential of Papua and Maluku is 808 MW. To overcome this shortage of electricity, it is necessary to develop a renewable energy generation system according to the potential of the area, namely hydro power. Energy generation technology that is environmentally friendly, efficient, effective, and reliable can be a solution for electrification in Papua and Maluku. Hydro power plants using vortex turbines, picohydro turbines and axial turbines for permanent magnet generators can be a solution to electrify areas or villages remote in Papua and Maluku.

The Effect of Blades Gap on Propeller Openflume Picohydro Turbine Performance

To meet the target of using renewable energy and electrification in remote areas, Indonesia needs to develop pico hydropower plants. One of the picohydro turbines that can be used is the propeller openflume turbine. To obtain the optimum performance, a numerical study of the effect of the gap between blades was carried out. This study analyzes 3 different blades by using the computational fluid dynamics method. The difference between the three blades is the gap between the blades. The first blade is designed with gaps, the second blade is without gaps, and the third blade is designed with overlap gaps. Based on the numerical results, it is shown that the gap on blades of propeller openflume turbine affects the performance of turbine with the overlap turbine has a better performance than the gap and no-gap blade. The overlap blades generate 9.48 Watts power and 8.8% efficiency at 202 rpm.

Analysing Hydraulic Efficiency of Water Vortex Pico-Hydro Turbine using Numerical Method

To overcome the lack of rural electricity in Indonesia vortex pico-hydro turbines are used as an option solution. This is due to the ability of the vortex turbine to work in low head conditions effectively. This study is conducted with comparison of curved and straight blade to obtain a more optimum turbine performance. Two methods are carried out in this study, analytical and computational method. Analytical methods are used to determine blade geometry and its performance while computational methods are used to analyse internal flow of turbine. As a result, the study concludes that hydraulic efficiency of vortex turbine in this study doesn’t affect much between straight and curved blades. The hydraulic efficiency for those blades is around 0.63. In addition, the study continued by analysing the optimum location of the blade in the basin. The results of the study show that the optimum ratio of depth and diameter of the blade is 0.33 with turbine efficiency is 0.84. Thus, the location of the blades is more important than the type of blades.

Overvoltage protection for grid-connected picohydro generation using photovoltaic inverters

Very small-scale hydropower plants are environmentally friendly and renewable resource-based innovative solutions. The interest in pico-hydro systems (up to 5 kW) has increased significantly from the first stand-alone applications, at remote sites, to the distributed generation, with the injection of generated energy into the grid. Recently, there have been advances in the grid connection of these systems using off-the-shelf components, namely photovoltaic inverters. Therefore, pico-hydro systems have gained an enormous potential in distributed generation, particularly in the context of microgrids. However, in situations of over-power, or whenever the generator is under no load, e.g. when the grid fails, there is a need for effective over-voltage protection, as in small wind turbines. This paper proposes two over-voltage protection circuits, designed to ensure the integration of pico-hydro turbines connected to the grid using conventional photovoltaic microinverters and string inverters, for power ranges of 300 W and some kW, respectively. Extensive tests were performed on an emulation platform and a workbench using these two different over-voltage protection circuits. One is designed to connect the generators of water wheels to the grid and the other to connect 1,500 W generators of water turbines. The experimental results demonstrated the performance of theproposed over-voltage protection circuits in four different situations. Both avoid irreversible damages of generators, photovoltaic microinverters and string inverters in the context of the above-described grid connection approach.

An Innovative Continuous Power Generation System Comprising of Wind Energy Along With Pumped-Hydro Storage and Open Well

This paper presents an off-grid sustainable power generation system suitable for rural areas of developing countries such as India where open wells are available for the purpose of irrigation and meeting the daily requirements of local families. The proposed scheme comprises of a small wind energy system with pumped-hydro energy storage (PHES), which uses an open well as a source of water. The proposed system is different from all available wind-PHES systems in many ways. It uses two upper reservoirs instead of one; the hydraulic pump gets rotational energy directly from the wind turbine, while the pico-hydro turbine coupled with electric generator gets power from the potential energy of water stored in the upper reservoir. The mathematical model of the system has been developed and the actual wind speed data are used to carry out simulation for evaluation of the model performance. The attractive features of the scheme are its reliability, simplicity, and capability to supply continuous power at constant voltage exactly equal to the rated one in spite of wind speed variations. Another interesting use of the proposed system is to supply water to the locals along with electric power supply.

Design and performance evaluation of a 10W pico-hydro portable turbine using computational analysis

Design and performance evaluation of a 10W pico-hydro portable turbine using computational analysis

A novel pumped hydro-energy storage scheme with wind energy for power generation at constant voltage in rural areas

Abstract In this paper, a novel concept of small isolated electric power generation from pumped-hydro energy storage (PHES) using wind as primary energy is proposed for rural and remote areas where the wells are available. A suitable well is utilized as the lower reservoir of the PHES system, while the upper reservoir needed for the water storage is made on the ground. In this scheme, the wind turbine, unlike other PHES schemes is not used for rotating the electric generator at all, but to rotate the hydraulic pump, which is used to suck the water from the well and to store it in the upper reservoir. The water head created in this way is utilized to run a pico-hydro turbine coupled with a generator for generating electric power. The mathematical modelling of the system has also been developed in the paper. For the validation of the model, the simulation is carried out using the actual wind speed data. The attractive features of the scheme are its low cost, simplicity, reliability and continuity in power supply at constant voltage irrespective of wind speed variations.

Design of pico-hydro turbine generator systems for self-powered electrochemical water disinfection devices

Abstract Previous research has demonstrated the potential of pico-hydro turbines to provide reliable electricity in applications such as rural electrification. However, the literature has primarily focused on the development of turbine systems for design environments where spatial and flow rate constraints tend to be non-restrictive. The work detailed in this paper presents the development of a novel, compact, high efficiency turbine capable of powering a compact electrochemical cell for off-grid water disinfection. The turbine with the generator is capable of generating nearly 100 W of power with a footprint of only 8″ in length and 4″ in diameter. A basic mathematical model of a DC generator is coupled to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) turbine model to evaluate different system configurations. Following a Taguchi Method study to computationally explore the turbine design space, experimental testing of improved turbine configurations is shown to provide electrical power output improvements of 20%. Selection of a more compatible DC generator also provides electrical power output and efficiency improvements of a factor of 2 and 2.5 respectively.

Experimental İnvestigation on a Prototype Solar-Wind Hybrid System with a Pico Hydro Turbine

AbstractRural electrification is often considered to be the backbone of the rural economy. In spite of launching of ambitious schemes to achieve 100% rural electrification, millions of people, particularly in rural areas are away from grid electricity and its benefits. Renewable energy sources (RES) coupled with pumped storage provides a technically viable solution for continuous power supply in remote areas. Therefore, this paper presents a solar-wind hybrid system with pumped storage generation unit to meet the basic load demands of domestic consumers, using Pico hydro turbine (PHT). A prototype of this system is developed in the laboratory and investigates its operational aspects. This scheme utilizes a PHT (300 W), usually employed in run-off river schemes, in domestic level application. The developed model is evaluated on sunny and cloudy day. It operates on a daily basis, storing the surplus energy from renewable sources by pumping water to an upper reservoir, and retrieve this energy through its PHT. Therefore, this system satisfies the basic load demands of domestic consumers who are away from access to the grid. The control and energy management of the proposed system is carried out using labVIEW.

Residential electricity cost minimization model through open well-pico turbine pumped storage system

A residential electricity cost minimization model is proposed which can be implemented in a suburban setup where open wells are present for domestic needs. Here, a solar photo voltaic (SPV) system with pico hydro turbines (PHTs) and pump are used for minimizing the monthly electricity bill in a dynamic electricity pricing environment. Also, the available water in the open well is optimally used in order to minimize the residential electricity cost. In situations when either the price of the energy from the grid is low or when the available energy from the SPV system is in excess of the demand, the proposed model stores the energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water in a reservoir. The stored energy is then retrieved using PHTs which feeds the load at the time when the energy price is high. The depth of the well is used as the working head for the operation of turbines and are optimally scheduled in order to minimize the water flow rate (WFR). The two fold objectives, i.e., minimizing the electricity cost and minimizing the WFR, is converted into a single objective function and is solved using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The payback period for the proposed system, if implemented, is also investigated as a case study in India.

Pico‐hydel hybrid power generation system with an open well energy storage

This study proposes an approach for off-grid micro-hybrid system model to represent the locally available sustainable and renewable energy sources (RESs). This model is comprised of wind and solar energy as primary sources along with a pumped storage unit (PSU) as backup. The proposed PSU is modelled with pico-hydro turbines (PHTs) and an open well. The ground water in the open well is effectively utilised along with agriculture and domestic needs in rural areas. The depth of the open well is exploited as the working head for the PHT. The power dispatch of two PHTs at a constant operating head, using the standard lambda iteration method, is obtained ensuring optimal utilisation of the stored water. The performance of the proposed model is tested using solar irradiance and wind speed data during winter and rainy seasons. The ratio of expected input energy and load demand on the succeeding day is used to control the water discharge on the current day. This model taps the unused potential of the open well as an energy storage system. Thereby, it limits the usage of batteries in satisfying the basic load demand of domestic consumers who do not have access to grid electricity.

A Review of the Pico-Hydro Turbine: Studies on the Propeller Hydro Type

The pico-hydro turbine is one hydropower scheme that has been widely used in off-grid settlements around the globe. The implementation of this stand-alone system is chosen due to its cost-effectiveness and robustness in producing electricity, under low head conditions. This type of turbine is capable of producing power outputs of up to 5 kW. It is green energy technology that does not require water storage, and the initial set-up is very easy and straight forward. The propeller turbine is one of the most popular types of pico-hydro scheme that have been implemented extensively in remote areas, especially in Asia. However, little research has been conducted regarding the enhancement or development of pico-hydro turbines. This study will review previous research on the propeller hydro turbine, which mostly deals with low head and high flow rate conditions. The main components of the propeller turbine and the basic working principles of the run-of-river type will be highlighted. The conclusions will consider the main components in propeller hydro turbine systems which have been investigated by previous researchers to enhance the efficiency and performance. Suggestions for future studies on the application of the propeller hydro turbine will also be discussed.

J0530203 インライン式小型ハイドロタービンの安定運転に向けた研究開発

Small hydropower generation is one of important alternative energy, and potential of small hydropower is great. Efficiency of small hydro turbines is lower than that of large one, and these small hydro turbine's common problems are out of operation by foreign materials. Then, there are demands for small hydro turbines to keep high performance and wide flow passage. Therefore, we adopted contra-rotating rotors which can be expected to achieve high performance and low-solidity rotors with wide flow passage in order to accomplish high performance and stable operation. Experimental apparatus of the contra-rotating small hydro turbine with 60mm casing diameter was manufactured and performance of it was investigated by an experiment. Efficiency of the contra-rotating small hydro turbine was high in pico-hydro turbine and high efficiency could be kept in wide flow rate range. In the present paper, performance of contra-rotating small hydroturbine with foreign vegetables materials, was investigated by an experiment. And, internal flow condition with foreign vegetable materials, and grasses, were investigated using a high speed camera and the causes of troubles related to the foreign materials were considered.

CFD Analysis on the Flat Runner Blades of Propeller’s Turbine under Low Head and Low Flow Condition

Hydropower is one of the most widely source to produce electricity for domestic houses as well as for industries around the world. However, for those off-grid settlements the pico-hydro scheme is more suitable due to its cost-effectiveness (less maintenance), clean, user-friendly and do not involved with huge construction works. Even the installation of this type of hydropower scheme is very simple as do it yourself (DIY) concept. One of the most popular pico-hydro turbines which have been implemented widely in rural areas until nowadays is propeller type or also known as axial turbine. Propeller turbine is selected because it is suitable to operate under low head with high flow rate condition. However, in this particular case, low head with low flow rate of water are the two main parameters which need to be considered. This is because during dry or drought season the water level of the rivers will become low and fluctuated, and this scenario affected the performance of the propeller turbine itself. In order to overcome this problem, the runner blades of the propeller turbine need to be redesigned to suit with this nature behavior. Therefore, in this study the runner blades with flat profile with few different angles and number of blades will be applied under 2 meters head. On the other hand, since the low flow is another parameter which needs to be focused therefore the value of the water flow rate has been set to 13 l/s. Analysis tools such as Computer Fluid Dynamic (CFD) is applied in this study in order to determine the most optimum results based from few selected parameters which has been mentioned. From the CFD’s final result, 3 blades with angle 300 was the best combination among the parameters involved.

J055011 二重反転形小型ハイドロタービンの性能および内部流れに関する研究(〔J055-01〕流体機械の研究開発におけるEFD/CFD(1))

Small hydropower generation is one of important alternative energy, and potential of small hydropower is great. Efficiency of small hydro turbines is lower than that of large one, and these small hydro turbine's common problems are out of operation by foreign materials. Then, there are demands for small hydro turbines to keep high performance and wide flow passage. Therefore, we adopted contra-rotating rotors which can be expected to achieve high performance and low-solidity rotors with wide flow passage in order to accomplish high performance and stable operation. Final goal of this study is development of an electric appliance type small hydro turbine which has high portability and makes an effective use of unused small hydro power energy source. In this research, experimental apparatus of the contra-rotating small hydro turbine with 60mm casing diameter was manufactured and performance of it was investigated by an experiment. Efficiency of the contra-rotating small hydro turbine was high in pico-hydro turbine and high efficiency could be kept in wide flow rate range. Internal flow condition, which was difficult to measure experimentally, was shown by the numerical flow analysis. Further, influence of spokes to support the rotor was clarified. Then, a relation between the performance and internal flow condition was considered by the experimental and numerical analysis results.