WATER AS A RENEWABLE
SOURCE OF ENERGY
GROUP 8 REPORT
S/N Name Matriculation. Number Department Signature
1 Bryan OJJI ENG/COE/01901454 Computer Engr
2 Khalifa OMADE ENG/CHE/01901426 Chemical Engr
3 Orevaoghene ETHOFE ENG/CHE/01901499 Chemical Engr
4 Goodness EHIMHIEN ENG/CIE/01901433 Civil Engr
5 Paul Oshione OGHUMA ENG/COE/01901586 Computer Engr
6 CHUKWURAH Efemena Winston ENG/COE/01901447 Computer Engr
7 Benson Bankole AMINU Civil Engr
ENG/CIE/01901431
8 Shaibu SADIQ ENG/CIE/01901441 Civil Engr
Group 8 | Energy Efficiency and Waste Management | March 6, 2021
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ABSTRACT
The aim of this project is to design a wind turbine that will power a light bulb in a
room. Using well-established concept generation techniques, our team selected a
design for the small-scale turbine that will power our light bulb. Our selected design
uses a horizontal axis configuration with three blades and a yaw bearing. That bearing
will allow the blades to maximize wind currents, regardless of their direction. For
durability, our bearing will interface with a metal post and weatherproof enclosure.
Inside the enclosure, our motor assembly will incorporate a 3:1 gear ratio, optimizing
the input range for a DC generator. By varying the number of blades and using
different gear ratios within our calculations, we were able to see that having three
blades and a 3:1 ratio allowed for the best efficiency and highest power output, which
is why it was selected.
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INTRODUCTION
Renewable Energy Sources are those energy sources which are not destroyed when
their energy is harnessed. Human use of renewable energy requires technologies that
harness natural phenomena, such as sunlight, wind, waves, water flow, and biological
processes such as anaerobic digestion, biological hydrogen production and geothermal
heat. Amongst the above mentioned sources of energy there has been a lot of
development in the technology for harnessing energy from the water. Nearly 160
countries generate electricity from some form of hydropower, accounting for
approximately 16% of the world’s electricity generation.
The demand for energy is growing throughout the world. A combination of population
growth, desire for improved living standards, and public policy has increased interest
in green energy sources. Hydro-power is considered as one of the most desirable source
of electrical energy due to its environmental friendly nature and extensive potential
available throughout the world. Within the scope of hydro-electric power, small power
plants have gained much attention in recent years. Small Hydro Power Plants, being a
mature technology may be optimally employed for sustainable power generation to
most homes these days. The research concerns to generate electric power from Small
rivers and waterfalls could generate electricity to energize a 100W light bulb.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
As of late, most companies in Nigeria have given priority to the development of
Medium Scale Hydropower potentials in the range of 40-60 MW in view of the
urgency to fulfill the shortage of energy presently encountered, observed and
experienced in the country. Typically, schemes of this size are considered to be more
rapidly and easily brought to fruition as they require only modest investment and are
likely to be appropriate for setting in rural areas to serve a number of communities.
Any energy source that can ‘be viably implemented in rural setting would contribute
to the attractiveness of rural areas. Electric power would encourage the establishment
of government offices and associated services in the more remote areas, improve the
quality of educational, health and other services and enable individual rural
households to have access to amenities which were formerly restricted to urban areas.
The source of energy would also encourage the establishment of agro-processing and
cottage industries, which would contribute to employment opportunities in rural areas.
Nevertheless, since significant water resources are found in the rural areas, harnessing
the power of falling water by means of small scale hydropower plants (less than 40
MW) as one way of providing affordable energy for the development of rural areas
needs also to be looked into in detail along with the development of Medium Scale
Hydropower Schemes and included in the top priority lists. Even if the government
has given priority to the development of Medium Scale Hydropower potentials, but
there is gap for the proper design, analysis and the way to generate and implement the
system. this research work is conducted to design and analyze Small Scale
Hydropower. The research concerns to generate electric power from Small rivers and
waterfalls could generate electricity to energize a 100W bulb.
Components of Hydro System
A complete hydropower system consists of the following major components
i. Water storage and Water filtering mechanism
ii. Penstock with valves
iii. Turbine
iv. Power-converting device (Generator or direct-drive)
i. Generating Power in nature: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but its
form can change. In generating electricity, no new energy is created. Actually
one form of energy is converted to another form of diesel power to generate
electricity, water must be in motion. This is kinetic (moving) energy, when
flowing water turns blades in a turbine, the form is changed to mechanical
(machine) energy. The turbine turns the generator rotor which then converts
this mechanical energy into energy form electricity. Since water is the initial
source of energy, we call this hydroelectric power or hydropower.
ii. Water Filtering: A major aspect of system design that often is not considered is
the removal of solid bodies from the water before it enters the turbine. If no
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such system is installed the turbine could suffer damage from sticks and stones,
as well as reduced performance from leaves that get stuck on the blades. As
this can never be totally removed the turbine will probably require cleaning at
some stage for this design. There are several technologies available in order to
stop these solid bodies from damaging the turbine or reducing its performance.
A slanted box may be used in order to remove any surface material and then
the outlet pipe may be situated higher than the bottom of the box so that any
rocks are also removed.
iii. Penstock: Following on the intake a length of pipeline is needed to direct the
water to the turbine. Depending on the pressure in the pipeline it may be made
of PVC or one of many other alternatives. The material should be appropriate
to the application, which may in some cases be seawater. The pipe should also
be strong enough to withstand the water pressure caused by the change in head.
iv. Hydraulic Turbines: Hydraulic turbines extract energy from water which has a
high head. There are basically two types, reaction and impulse, the difference
being in the manner of head conversion. In reaction turbines the water fills the
blade passages and the head change or pressure drop occurs within the
impeller. They can be of radial, axial or mixed flow types. In impulse turbines
the high head is first converted through a nozzle into a high velocity jet which
strikes the blades at one position as they pass by. Reaction turbines are smaller
because water fills all the blades at one time in short. Fig.1 shows an example
of a turbine.
Fig.1
Hydro-turbines convert water pressure into mechanical shaft power, which can be used
to drive an electricity generator, or other machinery to produce electrical power. The
conversion process involves two main steps: I. The fluid dynamic power available in
the water is first converted in to mechanical power ii. The available mechanical power
is then converted into electrical power. The power available is proportional to the
product of pressure head and volume flow rate. The general formula for any hydro
system’s power output is: P= η* ρ*g*H*Q where P is the mechanical power produced
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at the turbine shaft (Watts), η is the hydraulic efficiency of the turbine, ρ is the density
of water (kg/m3), g is the acceleration due to gravity (m/s2), Q is the volume flow rate
passing through the turbine (m3 /s), and H is the effective pressure head of water across
the turbine (m). Water is taken from the river by diverting it through an intake at a
container. The container is a main barrier which maintains a continuous flow through
the intake. A turbine converts the energy from falling water into rotating shaft power.
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HOW WE ARE GENERATING OUR HYDROELECTRIC POWER S YSTEM
There are only a few turbines which are used to produce a hydro-electric power which
include an impulse turbine and a reaction turbine. Over the course of the research, our
group decided that we were going to make use of the impulse turbine as this was more
conventional and it saves cost as we don’t need a cover or endless supply of running
water. To be able to create the full system, we took a lot of things into consideration
which included:
i. Water Diversion (Intake): The intake is typically the highest point of a hydro
system, where water is diverted from the stream into the pipeline that feeds
the turbine. A water diversion system serves two purposes: provide a pool of
water to create an air- free inlet to the pipeline, and remove dirt and debris.
Diversion System refers to the means used to divert water from the source
and transport it to your turbine. There are various methods for diverting and
transporting the water, but diversion systems can be grouped into two basic
types: Open and Closed systems. In a closed system, the system is sealed and
the water is isolated from direct gravitational forces while in the system. An
example of this could be in a pipe. Whereas, in an open system the water
along the diversion system is exposed to gravity. An example of this is seen
in a canal. Also, the group decided we were going to make use of the closed
diversion system.
ii. Pipeline: The pipeline, or penstock, not only moves the water to the turbine,
but is also the enclosure that creates head pressure as the vertical drop
increases. The pipeline focuses all the water power at the bottom of the pipe,
where the turbine is. In contrast, an open stream dissipates the energy as the
water travels downhill. One or more bypass valves may be necessary. These
should be installed at low points in the pipe to help get the flow going and to
flush out air bubbles.
iii. The head of hydro power: Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential
energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator. In this case
the energy extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the
difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height
difference is called the head. The amount of potential energy in water is
proportional to the head. To obtain very high head, water for the hydraulic
turbine needed to be run through a large pipeline
iv. Turbine Runner: The runner is the heart of the turbine. This is where water
power is transformed into the rotational force that drives the generator.
Regardless of the runner type, its buckets or blades are responsible for
capturing the most possible energy from the water. The curvature of each
surface, front and rear, determines how the water will push its way around
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until it falls away. Also keep in mind that any given runner will perform most
efficiently at a specific Head and Flow We decided we were going to use all-
metal runners with smooth, polished surfaces to eliminate water and air
turbulence. And we also concluded that we were going to use a one-piece
component instead of using assembled ones as the one-piece was more
reliable and convenient. After thorough research, Bronze manganese runners
was chosen to be used
v. Calculation of blade spacing: This is the calculation of the distance between
the respective blades and it is calculated by adding 0.174 to the outer diameter
of the blades.
vi. We also calculated the radius blade curvature, the turbine speed, the number
of runners needed.
ESTIMATED COST
One reason why our group chose hydroelectric power was due to the fact
that some of the materials needed are free in nature so we wouldn’t have to
spend much just to generate light for one light bulb. After all was said and
done, we broke everything down into their respective components and their
various costs.
• A water conveyance channel which is the pipeline will cost ₦1500
• The bronze manganese runners used for the turbine (waterwheel)
will cost ₦4000. This converts the flowing water into rotational
energy.
• A 100W, 12V motor which acts as the alternator or generator costs
₦8000. This converts the rotational energy into electricity.
• Regulator: Although this wasn’t specifically needed, we still put in a
DC voltage regulator which costs ₦2000
• Wiring: This is how the electricity is delivered to the light bulb. This
will cost ₦1000.
Roughly, adding all these up, the full cost will be about ₦16,500
which sounds about very good.
Many systems use an inverter to convert the low-voltage direct current electricity
produced by the system into 120 or 240 volts of alternating current electricity.
Batteries can also be used to store the electricity generated by the system. However,
because hydropower resources tend to be more seasonal in nature unlike the solar and
wind, the use of batteries may not really be practical.
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CONCLUSION
Hydropower, large and small, remains by far the most important of the “renewables”
for electrical power production worldwide. Small-scale hydro is in most cases “run-of-
river”, with no dam, and is one of the most cost-effective and environmentally benign
energy technologies to be considered both for rural electrification in less developed
countries and developed countries for further hydro developments. The cross-flow
turbine is suitable for installing small hydro-electric power plants in case of low head
and flow rate. A complete design of such turbines has been presented in this report.
Looking at our model and going through our calculations and cost, we believe this is
the most efficient and cost-saving process we could have gone through to be able to
visualize and create our generator to power the 100W bulb.
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REFERNCES
1. O.Dzune Mipoung, Generator Requirements for Rural Electrification from
Renewable Energy, 2002,
2. Mockmore, C. A. and Merryfield, F.,1949."The Banki water turbine",
Engineering Experiment Station Bulletin Series
3. Oliver Paish February 2002,IT Power Ltd, The Manor House, Chineham Court,
Lutyens Close, Chineham, Hampshire
4. . Adejumobi, I.A. and Adebisi, O.I. (2011). Exploring Small Hydropower
Potentials for Domestic and Information Communication Technology
Infrastructural Application in Rural Communities in Nigeria. Proceeding of the
12th Biennial International Conference of Botswana Institution of Engineers,
Gaborone, Botswana, pp.19-26.
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