Water turbine/ water wheel

[Jeff Birkle]

Hi all,
Here is a picture of my turbine that was in use last year.
Around 20" of head and 100 gpm made 18 watts.
Jeff

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Jeff,

Nice machine! You're doing very well efficiency-wise to get 18 watts from 100GPM at 20" head!

I assume you've pulled the machine or at least the moving parts of it out of the creek for the winter?

My first attempt at creek power harvest is shown in the photos below. I harvest up to 30 watts from this machine if placed strategically in the creek. No real head, just kinetic energy harvest from the flowing water. It is not freeze resistant and is pulled every fall and replaced in the spring. I am counting on the propeller turbine to be freeze resistant and run all through the winter.

Regards,
Mark

[Jeff Birkle]

Hi Mark,
I seen your post previously on that turbine. Looks good.
I still haven't seen mine work in more water flow conditions, so i can't wait to start it up during spring run off in the next 2 weeks. As for water control I have 2 x 4's stacked in the little dam so i can raise and lower the water level to bypass the turbine ( see picture below).
Cheers
Jeff

[Rob Beckers]

Neat hydro turbine Jeff!
What I wanted to mention: People reading this may think "18 Watt, what can you do with that". The thing with hydro power is that it keeps going day and night, day after day, and then even a small amount of power starts to add up in kilo-Watt-hours.

-RoB-

[Dan Lenox]

Jeff,

Nice project!

Wouldn't your paddle wheel be more efficient by using more paddles? There seems to be a lot of 'air' between each subsiquent blade.

Not to mention I would think that the style that Mark Parsons used (cup style rather than flat) should be even more efficient. With the larger blades that you are using I would think that any residial water on the blades would decrease performance.

Dan Lenox

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Jeff,

If your place got as much snow as mine we may be up for a supersized spring runoff if a quick melt with rain happens! How do you keep a big flood from washing out your structure?

I'm concerned my bridge may not make it through a supersized runoff. It has survived for 10 years but can't remember a late winter with as much snow on the ground. I've been working on the option of spanning from higher ground with a log truck trailer bed. May happen sooner than later if my twin red pine logs decide to head downstream in a torrent to join the dozen others washed into the piles of bridges and trees past.

Regards,
Mark

[Ralph Day]

Mark,
That sounds like the start of a dam...more water for your turbine! More water in your cabin? How high is the cabin above the hight water mark of the creek...or will you see that this spring?

Ralph

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Ralph,

About 300 yards downstream is the pile of bridges past. Well before I bought my place it was used for years as the snowmobile trail creek crossing. I suspect every few years they would replace the wooden bridge due to wash outs from beaver actions and spring run-off. These old bridges make a spectacular pile, although each year the pile shrinks. Water easily finds routes through them so doesn't impede flow too much.

My cottage is a good 6 vertical feet above what I've seen as spring high water. Hopefully, that is enough. Not sure where the 100 year flood high water mark is. I don't really wish to find out for another 99 years.

Regards,
Mark

[Jeff Birkle]

Hi Mark.
Yep, I have lots of snow too!
I was up last week doing some Maple Syrup, and ran my turbine during the day when the temp permited. Still don't have the heavy run off yet so my turbine wasn't running at max. I was making 26 watts with 120 gal/min!
With this rain, I will be back there on wed to run it again.
I have a double width dirt road 4 feet over a 18" culvert. It washed out on me in the first year, it was my fault that i tried to raise the water level to high. One minute i drove over it, the next second a trench 6 feet wide was there. This time i packed it with BIG boulders 400 to 500 pounds each. But even at max water flow I've only seen about 200 gpm.

As for my turbine, the reason for the blade design is based patially on a banki - crossflow, the lower half is the shape of a half moon therefore there is always water pressure-weight on the blades, I am still trying different blade designs and angles,( as i have noticed even small changes change output )
Jeff

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Jeff,

I expect you are seeing more creek flow now.

At least spring is slowly springing at my cottage. Hopefully, my bridge will live.

A few years ago I had a similar washout problem with the causeway leading to my bridge. Beavers had worked hard and I needed a bridge to get to my bridge...:mad: I have quite a few large boulders in place now with more planned.

I can't see enough paddle detail in your photos to show your statement; "the lower half is the shape of a half moon". A Banki turbine uses the water flow to hit the paddles twice to improve efficiency. Once upon entry into the center of rotation and the second time upon exit. Are you considering changing your paddle wheel design to a hollow center?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banki_turbine

Regards,
Mark

[Jeff Birkle]

Mark.
Sorry to here about your river, I've been waiting to see what the performance is like.
As for my water turbine, i will be testing a lot of different things this summer.
I've been away at the cabin this spring, running some tests on my turbine. With all the thaw i managed to raise the water level to 30 inchs and the flow was about 300 gpm. I could only use about 240 gpm because it was overflowing my intake and bypassing it. The generator put out 64.65 watts.
At that rpm the turbine was making 22.2 volts. I think it would increase output slightly, if i where to increase volts by adding a few more winding in each coil. I'll make another stator and test it out in a few weeks.

Jeff