electricity from water power in miniature scale

Hello rajgopal90

The cheapest method of micro-hydro-power is to use car or truck alternators, which may be obtained from car wreckers quite cheaply.

These mounted to run off a propeller inside a pipe,above a pipe, can easily deliver several hundred watts, and for extra power several units may be cascaded in series.

The main problem is that if a unit and wiring is installed in a very poor country, while the installers were asleep or away from the site, thieves often steal the alternator, cabling and other parts.

A secondary battery is required, which is also a tempting target for a thief.

There are interesting websites, including making instructions, Just Google: car alternator hydro generation (I bold cased the four words so you can easily see them, but when placing those into the Search box, please note that they don't need to be bold cased lettering)

Kind Regards....

Thia CR4 thread related to this and proposes this link.

Also this or this , even this are good examples of what is available.

This might not be the most efficient way but it can serve as an example of tapping from the flow in an irrigation channel.

I think it costs too much to extract, transport and use electricity on a small scale. You need big turbines, very large gear ratios and long wires. I made a pulser pump 20 years to extract energy from a stream with 300 liters per minute falling a half meter. A pulser pump is just pipes joined together and is a trompe and airlift pump combined. So the pulser pump can be used to pump water directly for irrigation, or for water for animals. Or it can be used directly to provide air for the activated sludge process. I have also used one to wash root vegetables and to power a sand cleaning process. The pump provided the power to sort the sand from the silt. I believe it could also be adapted to wash clothes and to dry them too! If you make electricity, you got to convert it again to do what you want. Often it is cheaper to use the energy directly to do what you need.

If I can not even feed myself, I am far more interested in finding food then a way to keep the lights on.

What can a car alternator do for a 120 VAC lamp/stove/oven/washer/appliance?

I think part of the issue is that the signal delivered needs an inverter, charge circuit, regulator, storage cells, etc.

This does not sound very feasible in the environments mentioned. It would take large investment in time and assets to bring this about, I think, and the results are not worth the investment for some (this is why we still burn coal, gas, and garbage in developed countries).

I don't think it is darkness that troubles these people you worry about, rather clean running water, access to food, shelter from harsh conditions, I would say.

It is a nice thought to ponder, but for light to be supplied, typically there is clean running water first (most plants need it). BTW, it is probably more realistic to consider they could harvest the oils from natural sources to burn in lamps than to create the bit you ask about (in most places anyways).

Thumbs-up for the kind heart.

Hello robert_cameron_jr

I'm sure that rajgopal90 was not intending such a micro-hydro-power plant to run electric stoves, washer or other major appliances, in poor Countries of the World.

The small units run either 12 Volt or 24 Volt alternators, and are enough to power a small village, for lighting, and a radio, TV, and the like.

The lamps are fitted to suit the Voltage, of course, same as everything else.

So, no inverters, charge circuit, regulator, are required, because with Bosch or Ingrams pattern car and truck alternators, all the regulating etc is done inside the alternator housing.

A storage battery is needed, as I said in my earlier Post.

As I mentioned, after installation, the main problem is one of theft.

Trust that clarifies for you.

Kind Regards....

I would think it possible in areas with mountain streams to run pipe in a steam bed to a high enough elevation to create the force necessary to turn a small generator.