Hydropower progress: the chute
June 4th, 2010. Post by WendyThe next stage in the water wheel construction is nearing completion. Because the ‘engine’ of the system is a permanent magnet generator from a wind turbine, and a water wheel turns much more slowly than a wind turbine, the wheel needs to be linked to the PMG via a gearing system that steps up the number of revolutions. To work out the optimum gear ratio for this installation, we needed to measure the actual rpm the wheel produces at present water volumes. For that to be done, we needed to construct the chute to deliver the water to the wheel.
Present water volumes in the levada. Not huge. About 2 litres per second.
After debating the relative merits of plastic piping versus wood, we settled on wood. Wayne measured up, I ordered from the woodyard. The wood should have been delivered to us a fortnight ago, but hey, this is Portugal. Two visits to the yard and a lot of hassling later, we collected the wood ourselves on Wednesday. And this being Portugal, getting out my purse prompted the woodyard owner to suggest he should wait as long for my payment as I had to for the wood … (I love this country!)
Today Wayne put the chute together on a temporary framework and we measured the rpm. 65-66. Better than expected, and developed with a very small volume of water. My original research on Pelton-wheeled impulse type turbines indicated I’d be pushing it to generate 150-200W with a flow of 2 litres per second, even using all 15m of potential head available on this site, but this wheel will likely generate at least 3 times as much with an effective head of somewhere between 2-3m. Add to this the lack of any problem with debris coming down the levada (it’s simply thrown straight off the top of the wheel), and a system like this becomes a complete no-brainer. I love it!
The chute.
Water wheel!
The gear wheel and chain can now be ordered. Should be roughly 2 weeks.
Tags: hydro turbine, micro hydro, permanent magnet generator, pico hydro, renewable energy generation, water wheel
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June 4th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
loving it!Looks very good…
June 5th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
wow wendy and wayne!!!! congrats to you both, maybe he’ll do one for us one day!!!
June 5th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Fantastic, it looks brilliant Wendy, how much will it generate?
June 8th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
“My original research on Pelton-wheeled impulse type turbines indicated I’d be pushing it to generate 150-200W with a flow of 2 litres per second, even using all 15m of potential head available on this site, but this wheel will likely generate at least 3 times as much with an effective head of somewhere between 2-3m.” That’s the present guesstimate Fraser! Watch this space for more accurate measurements once it’s up and running.
June 15th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Hi Wendy, this is amazing news. So impressed you have moved forward so quickly with this vertical wheel system. Really want to learn more about it> where it comes from, cost, supplier, etc. When can we talk? If you want i can send you my calcs i put together for my thesis on watermill energy generation. all theory of course, because we’re still rebuilding our home, before we can take on the mill.
But we also have much more flow < 120 l/s maybe, but less head.
anyway, lets keep in touch.
ciao!
Magnus
June 16th, 2010 at 12:05 am
Hi Magnus! Would love to see your calcs. The wheel was designed and fabricated by engineer Wayne Sutton from here in Benfeita and runs equally well in a high flow/low head situation (which is what Wayne has at his valley-floor site). There’ll be a website shortly just as soon as the text is finalised. And more accurate data on generation capabilities for various rates of flow and metres of head as we can get them measured. In the meantime, come and see us if you’re down this way!