A Study of Hydroelectric Power Generation from the End of a Water Supply Pipe before Flowing into an Underground Water Tank

Abstract

This research examines hydro-energy generation from residual pressure at the end of the water supply pipe before it flows down to be stored in an underground water tank. It can be converted into electrical energy. From measuring the pressure at the end of a diameter 2-inch water pipe, the average pressure value is 1.0 bar. The researcher designed and built a simple hydroelectric power generation set in this study. The power generation set consists of 2 main parts: the first part is a Pelton turbine that converts water energy into mechanical energy. The Pelton turbine was designed a radius of impeller equal to 150 mm and the number of brackets in a hemispherical shape with a diameter of 65 mm, 12 pieces. The second part uses a 340W permanent magnet synchronous electric motor (PMSM) to transforms the function into a direct generator. Due to the water pressure while flowing unstable, the test will start from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a 30 minute interval between data collection.  From the water energy measurement, the average water pressure at the end of the tube was 13.5 mH₂O, the average water flow through the nozzle was 7.57x10-4 m3/s, and the average water power was 99.2 W. In terms of electrical energy, the average voltage was 14.20 Vdc, the average current was 0.82 Adc, the average power was 11.6 W, and the cumulative power generation capacity over 9 hours was 64.20 Wh. When taken to find the efficiency of the power generation system, It was equal to 11.55 percent.