Sofia Khan
(Blackburn) | Year 3 | Degree: Mechanical Engineering BEng (Hons)
In-pipe Micro-hydro Electricity Generation System with Removable Turbines
Supply pipes carry water from company pipework into properties. These run from the boundary of the property up until the first water fitting or stop-tap inside the properties. While these stop-taps along the length of the supply pipe, and any water fittings, are the property owner’s responsibility to maintain, they are not used to harness the energy of the water that flows almost constantly, especially, in communal living areas such as: hospitals, community centres, schools, prisons, etc.
In this project, a micro-hydro turbine that would be installed in the mains water supply-pipes located outside of communal buildings, is designed and manufactured. The micro-hydro turbine is a self-contained, plug and play type, renewable energy unit that can tap in to the supply pipe and generate electrical energy. Making use of a minimum of 9 litre per minute flow of water, it would generate enough power to charge household electrical appliances for immediate use and recharge universal battery banks from 1500 mAh to 20000 mAh for a later use.
Sofia Khan
(Blackburn) | Year 3 | Degree: Mechanical Engineering BEng (Hons)
In-pipe Micro-hydro Electricity Generation System with Removable Turbines
Fig.9 - 3D-printed hydro-turbine (Khan, 2020)
Background
Hydropower has been used for hundreds of years, and it is considered as one of the most desirable sources of electrical energy due to its environmentally-friendly nature and extensive availability worldwide.
This source of energy was previously used (from rivers) for agricultural purposes. In recent years, it has managed to gain the attention of the inhabitants of rural locations, where communal buildings are more common.
Research into the comparison between the three types of turbine-blades in a pipe-system has not been performed before, thus it was decided to do the research first-hand.
How does it operate?
Below is a full project drawing.
.
References
- Fig.1 - Leary, J. and Mbabazi, S., 2010. Block diagram of a typical micro-hydro system. [image] Available at: <https://www.re-innovation.co.uk/uploads/microhydro_S_Mbabazi_J_earyDesignofELC_website.pdf> [Accessed 11 February 2021].
- Fig.2 - Khan, S., 2021. Sketch of the location of the hydroturbine installation. [image].
- Fig.3 - Khan, S., 2021. Hand-sketch of complete project. [image].
- Fig.4 - Khan, S., 2021. straight turbine-blade. [image].
- Fig.5 - Khan, S., 2021. curved turbine-blade. [image].
- Fig.6 - Khan, S., 2021. pelton wheel-blade. [image].
- Fig.7 - Khan, S., 2021. Water-rig set-up at University Centre at Blackburn College for final testings. [image].
- Fig.8 - Khan, S., 2021. Flow-rate vs time graph of the flow-sensor, constructed by the Arduino IDE software for an input flow of 9 litres/min. [image].
- Fig.9 - Khan, S., 2021. 3D-printed hydro-turbine. [image].
Future work
On a larger sale, this project idea can be adopted by water suppliers within the UK and around the world - this would prevent complications as all turbines would be identical, installation would be in-accordance with pipe locations and regulations, and the maintenance would be easy.
In order to be suitable on a larger scale, a high level of voltage output (12V-24V) is required. This can be accomodated for with the folllowing:
- Using a step-up transformer accompanied by a high-voltage generator
- Re-designing of this device so it can withstand higher flow-rate
Acknowledgement
I am sincerely grateful to the University Centre at Blackburn College (UCBC) for granting me the opportunity to be a candidate of this competition.
This project was performed under the supervision of Dr Firew Biruu, whom assisted me throughout the course of the project
Limitations
Due to the sudden, national lockdown put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the project is still ongoing.
Findings
All turbine blade-types are in accordance with the minimum legal installation requirement (output of 0.7 bar of water pressure).
It can be concluded theoretically that Fig.5 is the optimal design of a hydroturbine blade. It creates a directional motion in the fluid, allowing it to smoothly rotate, with minimal stress on a focal point on the vane. Hence, its shaft is subjected to minimal bending force. Fig.6 in operation is highly time-consuming as it involves delays during the cup fill-up process, prior to turbine rotation. Fig.4 is not ideal either as the opposing pressure enters the device, perpendicular to the vane face, which increases the resistance and increased pressure, can create a bending effect on the shaft - distorting the device.
On a whole, as the fluid volumetric flow rate increases, so does the voltage of electricity generated.
Project aim
The aim of this project is to be able to design and manufacture a micro-hydro turbine that could be installed in the mains water supply-pipes, located outside of communal buildings.
Design Considerations
Research was carried-out into the most common types of hydroturbine blades. Three different blade designs were considered; straight blade, curved blade and Pelton wheel (shown by Fig.4, Fig.5 and Fig.6 respectively).
Project benefits
- Highly reliable source of energy - extensive supply of water
- Completely 'green' and renewable (no CO2 emmision)
- Reduction in electricity bills
- Utilising energy that would otherwise be wasted
- Creates jobs in community
Fig.5 - curved turbine-blade (Khan, 2020)
Fig.4 - straight turbine-blade (Khan, 2020)
Fig.6 - pelton-wheel blade (Khan, 2020)
Fig.7 - Water-rig set-up at University Centre at Blackburn College for final testings (Khan, 2020)
Fig.1 - Block diagram of a typical microhydro system(Leary and Mbabazi, 2010)
Fig.9 shows the first manufacture of the turbine case and lid, by 3D-printing.
Specific Objectives
The project has the following measurable objectives:
- Utilise the highly pressurised water-flow (9 litres/min minimum)
- Meet a minimum legal pressure requirement of 0.7 bar output
- Generate sufficient electricity to charge battery packs of 1500 mAh - 20,000 mAh capacity
- Power electrical appliances for building-users.
What is a Micro-hydroturbine?
A small, rotary machine that converts the incoming energy from flowing water into mechanical work. An electric generator then converts this into electricity that can either be stored, to be used later, or used instantly.
Problems statement
Water flows through supply-pipes in communal buildings (such as, hospitals, community centres, schools, prisons etc), day-in day-out with a sole purpose of only transferring water from point to point.
Such buildings do also require an increased amount of electrical energy for various small devices, for which the building is reliant on the grid system.
In this project a micro-hydroturbine is designed to utilise the highly-pressurised water in the pipes by converting it to electricity in the form of clean, renewable energy to power low-voltage devices, which would otherwise be wasted.
Experimental set-up
The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation for the selected turbine is being carried-out.
Fig.7 shows the water-rig set-up for testing the hydro-turbine. It was used as a practise-run for testing the electrical components involved in testing this device, by computing the output volumetric flow-rate for an existing flow-sensor, which was operated using an arduino board and a set of codes, generated on a programming software. It registered a flow-rate vs time graph for varying flow-rate values.
This set-up involved thh assembly of the following components:
- Arduino board
- Dual USB type-A cable
- Laptop with Arduino IDE software installed
- Water-rig
- Flow sensor (test-piece)
- Water (fluid)
- Connecting cables (soldered)
Contact details
For further information regarding this project, please contact:
Sofia Khan 20267410@live.blackburn.ac.uk
Supervisor: Dr Firew Biruu firew.biruu@blackburn.ac.uk
Fig. 8 - Flow-rate vs time graph of the flow-sensor, constructed by the Arduino IDE software for an input flow of 9 litres/min (Khan, 2020)
Fig.2 - Sketch of the location of the hydroturbine installation (Khan, 2020)
Fig. 3 - Hand-sketch of complete project (Khan, 2020)
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