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Small Hydro |
Microhydro-Electric Systems
Simplfied,
Paul Cunningham and Ian Woofenden
www.homepower.com/files/beginner/MicrohydroBasics.pdf
If above in unavailable try,
How to
get articles from Home Power ... |
 A
good introduction to micro-hydro electricity generation systems.
Covers the basic types of micro-hydro systems and the components that
make them up.
A free download from the Home Power site. |
Microhydro - Clean Power from
Water,
Scott Davis, New Society PublishersSome extensive excerpts at Google
Books:
http://books.google.com ...
|
 This
is a very good, hands on book for designing and building microhydro systems. 176 pages.
Published 2004.
Covers site assessment, pipe design, turbine selection, nozzle design,
...
Easy to follow design procedures.
You can get it from New Society, Amazon, ... |
Water Wheel
Engineering,
Ron Shannon (Australia)
All the details:
http://permaculturewest.org.au/ipc6/ch08/shannon/index.html
|
 Water
Wheel Engineering by Ron Shannon provides the basics on water
wheels and water turbines.Ron is willing to answer email questions in this
area -- you can reach him at:
unistream AT hotkey DOT net DOT au
(replace AT with @ and DOT's with periods) |
| Intro to Hydro Power Dan New
How to
get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home Power magazine article, issues 103, 104,
and 105Very good articles on small hydro power. Covers each part of the
hydro system in some detail. Sizing information and some installation
information. Part 2 covers in detail the process of determining if you have
a sufficient hydro resource to be worthwhile-- a good starting place. |
| Micro Hydro Articles from Home Power
An article on Micro Hydro basics:
www.homepower.com/files/beginner/MicrohydroBasics.pdf
| Level |
 |
|
Description |
| Beginner |
"Micro Hydro Power in the
90s" from HP issue 44 |
| Secondary |
"Energy Systems & Design’s
Stream Engine" product test from HP issue 67 |
| Advanced |
"Kennedy Creek
Hydroelectric Systems" from HP issue 20 |
| More |
"240 VAC Direct-Drive
Hydro" from HP issue 65 |
How to
get articles from Home Power ...
|
Home Power Magazine is providing the articles to the left.
From the same link:
"Small scale hydro (micro-hydro) is the cheapest way to power an RE home.
The price per watt-hour is far cheaper than photovoltaics (PV) and even less
than wind.
Streams run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and often 52 weeks
per year. The resource is much more site-specific than solar. But if you are
lucky enough to have enough head (height between your source and your hydro
turbine) and enough flow, then go hydro.
Head and flow are two components in the hydro power formula. A high head
system with a very small flow can give the same amount of power as a low
head system with a very large flow."
|
Micro-Hydropower Systems -- A
Buyer's Guide,
Natural Resources CanadaDownload The
Guide (pdf)
|
 A
very good guide from Natural Resources Canada on planning, designing,
getting approvals, and installing a micro hydro system.Very well
written with quite a bit of practical design and installation material.
56 pages.
|
| Energy
Alternative -- Micro Hydro Calculator
http://www.energyalternatives.ca/...
|
 Easy
to use micro hydro calculator provides both power output and optimal pipe
size for a given vertical drop, flow rate, and pipe run length.They also
offer an class and other micro hydro resources.
|
| Rocky
Hydro -- Hydroelectric Calculator
Hydro System Calculator...
|
 Rocky
Hydro offers this Excel spreadsheet hydro system calculator that provides
power output and quite a bit of system design information.Lots of other
good DIY information on the
Rocky
Hydro website... |
| Calculators: Hydroelectric capacity, water turbine and waterwheel design, hydraulic rams sizing... |
Borst Engineering and Construction provides a number of calculators that are helpful for small hydro, solar heating, and renewable energy applications.
They are a small engineering consulting and analysis business -- "We are do-it-yourselfers (DIY) at heart and we support like-minded people"
|
|
Living off the Grid – A New Era in Home-Owner Hydro
James R. Udall
Finding Mother Earth News articles...
|
 Mother
Earth News Article, Issue 143 April/May 1994Good Mother Earth News
article on building small scale hydro systems. Several examples are
discussed. Not sufficiently detailed to do your design from, but good basic
material. |
|
Site Evaluation and
Design for Micro Hydro Systems (Large download 11.5 MB pdf)
From Nautilus Water Turbines...
|
This is a well organized collection of articles and papers on micro hydro
applications. It covers most of what you will need to do to evaluate
your site for hydro, select the right kind of generator, and design and
install a small hydro system.
|
| Judy of the
Woods adds micro-hydro http://www.judyofthewoods.net/off/hydro.html
Water Baby Turbine info... |
 This
is a nice and detailed account from Judy on the design, installation, and
optimization of a small water baby hydro generator.
Judy was able to combine the output from several modest size springs and run
the combined output 600 ft (100 ft vertical) down the hill to meet her
modest power needs.
Judy has a really interesting website --
Judy of
the woods. While most of us are trying to get our phantom loads
down to a hundred watts, Judy lives on this amount of power with no
problems. |
A Small Creek
Provides Plenty of Power for this Off-Grid Home,
Scott Gentleman, Backwoods Home Magazine, November 2007
The full article... |
 Good
article from
Backwoods Home Magazine on designing and installing a small hydro system
that provide s
all the needs of this off grid home.Some good design and construction
information. |
Homebrew Hydro Electric,
Hydro Electric Experiment with Direct Drive Alternator
From Otherpower.com
http://www.otherpower.com/scotthydro1.html
|
 This
is good series of pictures that show in detail the building of a completely
home made small Banki turbine.
This setup works with very modest flow and head, to produce a small, but
useful amount of electricity. |
| Undershot Water Wheel
Full Construction Details...
This is the paper that was used in designing this water wheel:
"Water
Wheel Engineering", Ron Shannon Update 2/15/07 -- some email
questions answered. |
 This
efficient undershot waterwheel looks like its been part of the scenery for a
hundred years.
Full details on how it was built. |
A small Undershot Water Wheel
Project
http://makingyourown.ludlowsurvivors.com/WWPG.html
|
 A
small undershot water wheel project.
Not so sure about the durability of the plywood wheel, but it gives some
ideas for construction and and design and an idea what can be done with a
small source. |
| Aspen Hollow Micro-Hydro System
Aspen Micro Hydro System Description:
http://h-hydro.com/Aspen_Hollow_Hydro.html
More,
http://h-hydro.com/hartvig1.html
More,
http://h-hydro.com/turgo_drive.html
Turgo spoons, runners, nozzles,.. for sale...
|
 Quite
a bit of detailed information on sizing, designing and building a Turgo
wheel micro hydro system, as well as what appear to be reasonably priced
parts to build such a system.
Note the unusual inlet that requires minimal stream disturbance.
The information is kind of spread around, so look around carefully. |
| ECO
Innovation -- Pelton Turbines...
More useful material... |
 This
site sells parts for Pelton turbine installation as well as completed
turbines.Quite a bit of design and installation material is provided --
most applicable to other Pelton wheels. |
A Batteryless, Utility Intertie
Microhydro System
Kurt Johnson with Paul Hoover
How to
get articles from Home Power ... |
Home Power Magazine article, issue 80 A very good article on the design and
installation of a micro hydro system on a creek. The system is intertied to
the utility grid. Good detail on planning and installation. |
Induction Motors for Small-Scale
Hydro
Bill Havilland
How to
get articles from Home Power .... |
Home Power Magazine article, issue 71 Very good article on the pros and cons of using
a three phase induction motor forsmall scale hydro installation rather than
a DC alternator. Quite a bit of detail on systems using induction motors for
generators. |
From Water to Wire
Peter Talbot How to
get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home Power Magazine Article, issue 76 Very good hands-on article about building a
high head, low flow small hydro system. Lots of design and construction
information. A really challenging installation. |
| 240VAC Direct Drive Hydro John
Hermans
How to
get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 65Description
of a 240VAC, low head hydro system in Australia. Good detail.
|
|
4+ KW Synchronous AC Hydro System
http://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/turbine.html
|
 This
is a detailed description with many pictures of a relatively large micro
hydro system using a pelton wheel and brushless synchronous single phase
generators.Initial power output is 4KW with potential for about twice
that. |
|
The 10 Kinzel/Kingsley Rules for Surviving Micro
Hydroelectric Power (and what the ads and manuals don’t tell you)
Terry Kinzel and Sue Ellen Kingsley
How to
get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 47Very entertaining and helpful article on
installing and living with a micro hydro power system. Ten rules are
presented based on the authors experience. Rule 2 is "Never underestimate
the ability of the technical elite to dazzle and befuddle us technological
dummies". |
Powerful Dreams
Undermine
How to
get articles from Home Power ... |
Home Power magazine article, issue 96
Description of 30kw grid intertied hydro installation. |
|
Happy On One Kilowatt
Bill Isely
Mother Earth News
Finding Mother Earth News articles... |
 Mother
Earth News Article, Issue 180Good article on how one couple built a small
hydro system that generates about 24KWH per day – just enough to meet their
needs. Quite a bit of construction information. |
|
Hydro Power Done Dirt Cheap
Stephen M. Gima, Eileen Puttre
How to
get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 52Good article on a very cheap ($328) micro
hydro system for a cabin. |
| Overshot Water Wheel Design and
Construction Manual Published by VITA
http://sleekfreak.ath.cx
Another Vita manual on waterwheel design:
http://sleekfreak.ath.cx |
 Very
detailed design and construction information on overshoot water wheels.
The published data indicates that these wheels can be quite efficient. |
| Fitz Water Wheel... |
 Fitz has been making overshot water wheels since 1840.
Their website has a lot of information on water wheels including some sizing hints and testing.
|
|
Water Wheel Factory...
|
 The Water Wheel Factory make a variety of water wheels and will also custom make water wheels to your requirements.
Quite a few pictures of projects, some design information, links, and inexpensive plans for a 10.5 ft waterwheel.
|
| Banki Water Turbine Design and
Construction Manual Published by VITA
http://sleekfreak.ath.cx
or,
BankiPlans.pdf
List of VITA plans...
|
 Detailed
plans for VITA for the design and construction of a Banki Water Turbine for
generating electricity.
Some material is provided on sizing the turbine to the stream, and detailed
instructions are provided for the construction of the turbine. Little
is provided on the sizing and gearing for the generator. |
|
Micro Hydro Forums
The OtherPower Hydro Froum...
The Navitron Hydro Forum...
Yahoo Micro Hydropower...
|
Some online forums that might provide answers to questions on micro hydro. |
Flow of River Hydro
Hydro installations that make use only of the stream velocity to
generate power. |
|
Flow of river hydro projects:
design information and example projects... |
 Flow
of river hydro installations use only the flow velocity of the stream to
generate power. That is, these installations do not make use of an
elevation drop of the water for power, but only use the velocity of the
water flowing down the stream.
I regularly get questions from people who live on a stream or river and
would like to make use of it as a power source, but the stream has no
useable elevation drop over the property, and a dam to make an elevation
drop would not be allowed. So, I spent a little time compiling a page
that provides a way to determine how much power you might have available
just from the water velocity, and also lists all of the residential size
projects I could find that appear to have a chance of working.
Flow of river hydro projects:
design information and example projects... |
|
A Few Small Hydro Suppliers -- Listed
roughly in order of power output offered. |
| APMHydro
http://www.apmhydro.com/
Grants Pass, Oregon |
Pelton wheels mated with your choice of many generators.
Up to 3000 watts.
Generators offering AC or DC output from 12 to 480 volts.
Medium to high head. |
Energy Systems and Designs Limited
http://www.microhydropower.com
|
Small Pelton and stream propeller turbines.
Around 1000 watts.
Medium down to as low as 5 ft.
|
| Rocky Hydro
Rocky
Hydro...
|
 Rocky
Hydro sells packaged systems as well as turgo wheels, generators, and
electrical components needed to make a full system.They seem very DIY
oriented and there is quite a bit of helpful design/build information on the
site. |
|
Brownell Micro Hydro...
|
 Lots of micro hydro gear and some helpful reference material.
In addition there is a blog with a number of useful articles and videos on small hydro projects.
|
| ECOInnovation
http://www.ecoinnovation.co.nz
New Zeeland |
 Pelton
wheel turbines.
Up to about 1800 watts.
DC generators, various voltages.
Medium to high head.
Parts for DIY systems.
|
|
PowerSpout
http://www.powerspout.com
|
 PowerSpout sells three models of micro hydro models to accomodate a wide range of available heads.
The website is helpful with calculators, manuals, and pictures of projects.
|
Home Power Magazine article, issue 71