DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF COST EFFECTIVE SURFACE MOUNTED WATER TURBINES FOR RURAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION

Tauseef Ahmed – ta3e09@soton.ac.uk - School of Engineering SciencesUniversity of Southampton

Supervisors – Dr Stephen Turnock , Dr Richard Wills, Dr Syed Waheed (NUST)

Fluid Structure

Interactions

Research Group

Motivation & Aim

There is a strong requirement globally for electricity generation derived fromrelatively low-power renewable resources such as mountain streams and low gradient rivers.

Governmental and global targets for reduction in carbon emissions,environmental impacts and the capability of serving the ever increasing demand of power requirements in the shortest time are driving forces for small/low head

hydro power generation.

This project intends to design and develop surface mounted water turbines forapplication in rural areas where local consumers can access power at point of 

production or install clusters of devices to feed power into the electricity grid. Theprinciple challenge will be to optimize the device design to make it efficient under arange of flow conditions.

 Alone in UK there are more than 10,000 feasible small/low head hydro sites

Feasibility of harnessing Power from water and waster water networks by low head hydro plants

BACKGROUND

Countries such as Pakistan and India have extensive river resources suitable forlow-head hydro electricity generation.

Harnessing these resources would reduce the gap between energy demand andsupply availability.

Data published by International Journal of Hydropower and Dams shows the

scope of hydropower generation; estimating technically feasible output of hydrogenation equal to the current global requirement for power.

The Asian region has impressive technical and economical potential forhydroelectric power compared to other regions of the world, however a relatively 

small percentage of available resources have been exploited (figure 1).

Research Framework 

The project has multidisciplinary in approach, and includes the following

elements:

Development of waterwheels and turbines for low water-flow applications.

Scoping study to associate types of water current (flow characteristics) with

available potential for exploitation.

Review of existing designs.

Tabulation of flow types.

Parametric study of waterwheel configurations.

Mathematical modelling for optimal design depending on location and

current/tide characteristics.

Design of electronics and power control systems for integration of 

 waterwheel into grid or micro grid for distribution.

 Assess energy storage options for load levelling, voltage/frequency smoothing

and grid integration.

Prototype design, build and characterisation of the optimised turbine

Fig.2 global technical/feasible hydro potential [1]

TARGETSHaving a basic idea for cost effect iveness and achieved output for low head

hydro plant the prime concern is cost per kilowatt. A list of criteria for thefuture development of low-head hydro systems follows:

Standardization : Flexible design for a range of operating

conditions at system and component level  Variable speed operation of turbine: for synchronized

shaft and generator speed relations Improved metallurgy : consideration of improved materials

for less maintenance and cost effective manufacturing

Operational range and performancecomparison of different turbine figurations

Criteria for select ion of hydro turbines are flow rate and net head

available including other operational parameters like desired runningspeed of generator and operation under reduced flow rates. Figure 3 showsthe types of turbine and the operational characteristics

Pelton, Propeller turbine or Kaplan turbine and cross flow turbines aremost efficient turbines with respect to proportion of design flow rates

On grid /off grid applications subject to speed control mechanisms eithermechanical or electrical controls

Current estimated cost for low head hydro schemes at larger scale ranges

 between $ 2500-3000 /Kw 

Fig 3: optimized operationalrange of turbines [2]

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Fig 4: Efficiency comparison as percentageof design flow 

Fig 1(a): Feasible site Fig1 (b): Pelton wheel

Regions like Europe and America have already explored a high percentage of available large-scale hydro power opportunities (figure 2). Small-scale hydro

power is the key source for further hydro development. Optimization of existingrecourses for power harnessing has made application of low head hydro power achoice for water treatment plants, water and waste water networks

 AcknowledgementThis research is jointly sponsored by NationalUniversity of Sciences and Technology (NUST)

and British Council International StrategicPartnership In Research & Education(INSPIRE) Initiative

References[1] International Journal of Hydropower and Dams: World Atlas. Sutton:

Aquamedia Publications, 2000.

[2] Paish Oliver. Micro-Hydro Power: Status And Prospects, Journal of 

Power and Energy, Professional Engineering Publishing. 2002

National University of Sciencesand Technology (NUST)