Hydro Generator Setup

Good idea you can try this company

Voith Hydro Inc.
760 East Berlin Road
York PA 17408-8701
Telephone: (717) 792 7000
Telefax: (717) 792 7884

CR4 Admin - email address removed

From the CR4 Rules: Do not post phone numbers or email addresses. The CR4 Admin will delete all phone numbers and email addresses posted in threads or comments. You can share this information via the CR4 internal messaging system.

Thanks Cyclo,

Voith directed me Hydrovolts.

You need flow rate and Head Pressure to get energy, you have neither

Theoretical power (watts) = Flow rate ( cubic meters per second) x Head (Height in Meters) x Gravity (9.81m/sec2)

This is just an estimate given today's technology.

Thanks MSEELady, I appreciate the theoretical maths, but was thinking along the lines of the technology used in tidal movements in estuaries.

That sounds pretty ambitious...

This is something we recently discussed here at CR4. A floating river turbine.

A river flow of 3.5 km·h^-1 isn't very much... As well, will you be permitted to install such a device in a river that is an international boundary?

I think the link includes good information. There are a couple of things that I noticed about the OP's situation that may make these units unusable.

First, as you pointed out, the flow rate given is only one-half the lowest current rating for these units. with the load of the gear box and the generator, the wheel may not spin at all. Even if it gets started, the power output will be miniscule. Even though the units can be chained together, it will take a lot of them to generate sufficient power.

Second, these units do not include any guards around the wheel. I don't know if any of the wildlife that he mentioned would come around the unit. Hippos are very large, powerfull, armed, and very territorial. The local fauna may be an obstacle in this project. You could add guards to the wheels, but that will add weight and drag to the system.

The basic idea, I think, is certainly worth pursuing. The questions are:

How large do the blades have to be to harness the necessary energy? I don't know, others on this site are much better qualified to answer that.

How big is too big?

Who is going to object to the sight of the unit(s)?

Is the OP capable, and inclined to build his own custom unit?

How much money is available for the project?

Thanks for your objective comments. I was referred to an alternative supplier with "Hydro-volts" but they were not particularly helpful. I now realize that the river velocity is a bit slow, but think that if I increased the water contact area I could possibly harness enough torque to spin an efficient low wattage alternator. Considering the local fauna I was thinking of erecting a "jetty" platform in the river with supports sunk into the river bed, and then mounting the wheel in/under the jetty and so have it protected all round from accidental contact.

I will have to go larger in wheel size which will compromise the aesthetics as it is in a tourist area. I was hoping to purchase something tried and tested as constructing myself will waste time and money through trial and error.

Funds will come from my own pocket but I don't expect anything for free. If I can just find an efficient and low rpm alternator then I will have to do the rest myself. Thanks again for your assistance.

I now realize that the river velocity is a bit slow.

Thanks for your input!

Speed of the water is too slow. With 3.5km/h = ca 1m/s. Assuming 50% efficiency, which will be difficult to get at that speed, You would have to have about 4 m^2 surface (wheel or propeller) cross section surface perpendicular to water flow. This would make huge structure... may be stopping sand behind it!

Probably much easier would be to install solar panels on the roof or somewhere around. Or wind generator, or both (working in sunny days and (windy (cloudy)) days, often complementary. In US there is a producer making such a combo. If You are interested, I will look for it.

I now realize the flow is too slow. Increasing the water wheel thrust contact area however is an option and I may pursue this later! Incorporating wind and solar is now mandatory, I would just really like to harness the water as unlike wind and solar it flows 247.

I would be most grateful for any leads to legitimate suppliers who could supply some or all of this kit. I'm in Dubai on contract and trying to get things done in Africa is not easy... thanks for your constructive input (more helpful than you think).

As the others have commented (there seems to be consensus) it is not reasonable to plan on powering anything from the flow of the river. Consider other options.

Hippos and elephants are powerful... perhaps you could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.... a few pounds of cabbage (or whatever a hippo eats) or a few bags of peanuts if those guys will get on a treadmill to turn your generator a couple hours a day...?

What is the weather like? How much sun typically? What are the temperature ranges? latitude? What temperature is the river below the surface?

Will the cottage usually have someone attending to it? if not, how long will it typically go without someone around?

You mentioned using LPG. What are the logistics like? Can you have it trucked in occasionally to fill a tank, or were you thinking of camping supply type tanks? What about other fuels. There are some decent refrigerators and freezers that run on LPG, natural gas or kerosene. A good model that opens from the top, or a good front opening model that is never opened uses very little fuel.

If the area gets a lot of sun, your property has good exposure and installation is feasible, solar power might be worth considering.

Using a windmill to pump water to a storage tank can be an cost effective and green way to provide running water and depending on the temperature of the river and the local humidity, it might also provide cool air.

It seems the river is not a consideration for power at the moment. I may in time look at constructing an oversize water wheel as an experiment to see what if, it just seems such a waste to not harness that massive river somehow.

For now I will have to use a combination of wind and solar, The hippos come out at night and crop the lawn as good as any lawnmower so at least have a saving there.

weather is sunny most of the year with many thunderstorms in the summer rainy season. temperatures are mild, coldest in winter will be 15Cel(60F) up to 45C (110F) in summer and situated midway between tropic of Capricorn and the equator. wind blows more in winter with small gusts in summer(thunderstorms excluded). River water temp (as per my fishfinder) varies from 20C (68F) to about 32C (90F).

I will have someone onsite full time, but undoubtedly there will be times for a day or two when there is no-one on the property. All food and supplies must be brought in monthly by pickup via a road and in the rainy season some of the way by boat as some sections of road get too muddy. Thought of LPG instead of other fuels as the bottles are more portable and safer to store and the larger cylinders last at least a month or two. Theres plenty of trees, but don't really want to chop down anything. If I can find a supplier I will utilise a river powered water pump up to a tank with sandfilter.

Decided against using any low voltage freezers as they very expensive in Africa and difficult to get repaired reliably, hence the idea of using an inverter to run a regular freezer. Definitely I will look at solar and wind, must just find a reputable supplier.

Thanks for your valuable input, most helpful in guiding me.

Re freezer...

#1. If days are sunny (no clouds), then nights should be cold. May be You could radiate out to the sky heat from Your freezer box during night. What is the temperature during night?

I thought of a box thermally isolated from all sides, with top covered by "double glass window", covered additionally by removable (by clock based on spring?) thermal insulator (styropore?). This automat could remove top thermal insulator at the night time, when "sky temperature" is lower than temperature inside freezer. All covered with extra strong glass against animals. And cold accumulator ( water tank?)inside box? to keep it cold during day... Just ideas...not verified...

Open Sky temperature (no clouds) = equivalent to radiating surface temperature ) is usually 7 degrees lower than ambient temperature. May be this could help. If at the dessert 0'C happens, then may be at Your area 4..7'C would be available.

#2. There are freezing systems based on heat energy ( without convertion to electrical energy). You could use direct sun energy to cool Your freezer.

The river moves too slow for power generation unless your land would allow you to dig a ditch to divert the water and then return it down stream back into the river.

Or you could pump it up into a lake and then bleed off enough to run a small hydro generator part of the day to charge batteries. You would need about 6' of fall and a 2" pipe to create a jet with.

Unfortunately I don't have enough river frontage on my property to dig a long enough divert to give any meaningful drop downstream. The thought occurred to pump enough water inland and uphill away from the river and then feed it back through a hydro generator, but then I would have to pump an enormous volume of water and would have the same problem harnessing the amount of torque required. Seems I will have to resort to wind and solar which is not as consistent. Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Such a ditch would have higher resistance (smaller diameter pipe = higher resistance) against water flow than river itself, resulting in smaller water speed...

check out this guys site, he's done a lot of figuring and is sharing it for situations exactly like yours...

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Hydro/FlowOfRiver/FlowOfRiver.htm

looks like I'll need roughly 100sq/ft of water flow contact area to generate 1kw. Not impossible but a bit larger than expected, will research further

Thanks for a most informative link

You're very welcome!