Alternative Energy Systems: Electrical Integration and Utilisation

U.K.

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Energy from Low Head Water Sources

A.M. Peatfield, L.J. Duckers, F.P. Lockett, B.W. Loughridge, P.R.S. White and M.J. West,     Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic, Coventry, England

ABSTRACT

The high cost of electrical power from fossil fuels in the developed countries, the lack of indigenous fuels in the developing countries, the world wide abundance of hydro sites with potential capacities in the region of 10 kW and recent UK legislation ensuring reasonable ‘buy-back’ prices for surplus electricity from private generation, has led to a resurgence of interest in micro hydro sites. The Authors describe a modular low head hydro device capable of efficient electrical power generation from available resource heads of as little as 1 metre. The device consists of a chamber which, by use of suitable valve action on the water flow, acts as a water-to-air gearbox and results in air being alternately drawn into and expelled from the chamber. A Wells turbine located in the air ducting is directly coupled to an electrical generator, the type of which depends on user requirements. An analysis of a unit utilising a 10 kW resource with a head of 1 m is presented, as are indications of how production costs may be minimised by using locally available skills and materials.

KEYWORDS

Low head

micro hydro

electrical power generation

Wells turbine

hydroelectric system

INTRODUCTION

The energy from fast flowing or falling water has been used for centuries to provide power for particular applications and more recently for the generation of electricity. Over the years of this century the abundance of cheap power available from oil or coal has caused many of the small dam and run-of-the-river sites to be abandoned as uneconomic or rejected in favour of larger centralised systems. However in recent years the escalating costs of electricity generation has brought about a resurgence of interest in the redevelopment of abandoned sites and the development of new sites.

REVIEW

Many of the developing countries with little indigenous supply of hydrocarbon fuel are unable to afford expensive imports and are rapidly exploring and developing their hydro-power potential. 40% of the electricity used by developing countries is produced by hydro-power. (Flood, 1983). While major multi-megawatt schemes would appear initially to be the most economically attractive, in many cases the huge capital costs and long lead times of the construction work, together with the lack of a suitable distribution system make impossible demands on the overstretched budgets of developing countries. Often, therefore, small schemes serving limited areas and requiring construction effort within the capability of local communities are the ones which stand most chance of success. China, for example, makes extensive use of small hydro, deriving more than 7 GW from nearly 100,000 micro hydro sites.

Even in developed western countries recent legislative policies of ensuring reasonable ‘buy-back’ prices for surplus electricity from private generation, sometimes combined with encouraging tax advantages, has brought the start of a tremendous new growth in the exploitation of small hydro power.

Salford, (1980), has surveyed 565 hydro-power sites in Wales each with potential capacities greater than 25 kW. Of these, 78 have heads of less than 3 m. The number of possible sites of less than 25 kW in Wales is therefore expected to be very large. Indeed if we consider the sites of old mills (typically producing 5 hp of mechanical power, about 4 kW), it is estimated that there were as many as 20,000 in England alone during the 18th century. Rainfall in England and Wales is typically 500–2000 mm per year. In Table 1, we have estimated the percentage of land area of each continent receiving various levels of rainfall and it is interesting to note that a considerable portion of land surface area is subjected to rainfalls in the range 500 – 2000 mm per year.

TABLE 1

World Rainfall

From an extrapolation of the U.K. situation, the World-wide potential for low head hydro power is likely to be vast, provided that the installations can be cost effective.

Turbine technology is well developed and many advances are being made in reducing the cost of construction and in the use of electronics to aid efficient and near automatic control of generation. However, even though in many cases the required construction works would be of a relatively simple nature, the development of the vast number of sites with available heads of less than about 3 metres is usually considered uneconomic and impractical due to the large size and slow rotational speeds of conventional water turbines operating under such small heads.

This paper outlines the design of a modular water-air system capable of operating efficiently with heads as low as 1 m. The characteristics of a typical operational cycle are evaluated and some possible electrical generation equipment and integration strategies are considered for a number of end use situations.

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

In its simplest form the system consists of an enclosed chamber into which the available water flow can be controlled by the operation of inlet and outlet valves in such a way that the effective driving pressures for both the filling and the emptying cycles can be a large proportion of the head available at the site chosen.

At the top of the enclosed chamber, above the maximum height of the upstream water level, is an inlet-outlet air duct leading through an air turbine to atmosphere (see Figure 1.). In low head operations the Wells turbine would be well suited to provide a power take-off unit with a high rotational speed suitable for electrical generation, with its ability to operate in reversing flow without the use of rectifying valves being a major advantage.

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of chamber showing water in/air out phase

The operational cycle commences with the opening of the water inlet valve, allowing water into the empty chamber with the outlet valve closed, thus filling the chamber with water and driving the air out under pressure through the rotating Wells turbine. At a suitable point near the end of the filling cycle the inlet valve is closed and the outlet valve is then opened allowing exit of the water to the downstream side of the water retaining structure. This emptying process causes air to be sucked back into the chamber through the still rotating Wells turbine which is thus used to extract energy at the optimum rate during both parts of the cycle. Then at a suitable point near the bottom of the emptying cycle the outlet valve is closed and the whole cycle recommences with the re-opening of the inlet valve.

CYCLE CONTROL

There are many possible methods of controlling the cycle of operation of the device. The essential requirement is to operate the ‘in’ and ‘out’ water control valves in appropriate sequence and phase. This may be met by either an externally powered system (probably electrically based) or by an internal system deriving its energy from the changing water levels within the chamber.

These systems could be designed to respond to a variety of sensors, for example water height, flow, pressure, air flow, turbine speed etc. For the externally powered system an option might be time control or a combination of sensed signals. Initially, however, we propose a simple, passive, internal system, moving the valves by the forces on floats within the enclosed water. The phasing of the valve operation is determined by triggering floats fitted at preset water levels. The features sought are those of low cost, simplicity, and minimal, easy maintenance.

ANALYSIS OF AN OPERATING CYCLE

Δp say and hence

where × is the difference between the instantaneous chamber level and the midpoint level.

Let qo be the air flowrate at the midpoint level of each half cycle, then

Integrating the flow equation then gives

and α is the ratio of chamber stroke to water head h. k(α) is approximately equal to 1 for small α and decreases, tending to 0 as α tends to 1. Also

mean air (or water) power = qwpgh = midpoint airpower.k (α)

and full cycle period T = 2A.stroke/qo.k(α) = A.stroke/qw

For fixed qo, T increases as α increases, tending to infinity as α tends to 1. The mean turbine efficiency depends on the design airpower chosen for the turbine, that is, the airpower at which the turbine achieves maximum efficiency at running speed. If we set σ = mean airpower/design airpower then integrating the turbine output power over a half cycle using the known efficiency curve of the Wells turbine gives the following best values for choice of σ and corresponding mean turbine efficiencies (normalized by the peak value in steady flow to remove scale variations due to Reynolds’ number effects).

. Operation near this limit implies high hydraulic losses and the chamber cross-sectional area A must be great enough to avoid this if desired flowrates are to be achieved. Calculations yield the condition

An Example

Given h = 1 m

qw = 1 m³/s

then mean water power = 9.8 kw

Pick α = 0.6 so k(α) = 0.866

and midpoint flowrate = 2.31 m³/s

turbine coefficient = 0.00047 m³/s/pa

midpoint airpower = 11.3 kw

Best design airpower = 18.2 kw

so mean turbine effic. = 0.91. peak efficiency

full cycle period = 0.6. chamber area A

and we want A 0.93 m²

TURBINE OPERATION AND SELECTION

The required duty for the turbine is very similar to that in a wave energy converter in which there is a reversing air flow with a relatively low pressure drop but high flow rate. Air turbines which are suitable for wave energy converters will therefore be applicable to this low head hydro device. The most suitable turbine which meets these requirements is the Wells turbine; however, a Francis turbine with rectifying valves to provide unidirectional air flow would also be appropriate. As the authors have experience with the Wells turbine (White, 1981) it has been chosen for the initial studies.

The Wells turbine is a machine with a high specific speed and consists of a number of uncambered, symmetric aerofoils arranged on a rotor so that their chords are in a plane which is normal to the axis of rotation and the air flow direction. With this blade arrangement there is a net tangential torque in the direction of rotation which ensures that the rotor continues to rotate in the same direction irrespective of the flow direction. Suitable choice of hub-to-tip ratio and blade solidity can ensure that the turbine will accelerate to its operating speed without the need of a starter motor. This facility is not so important if an induction generator is being used to provide the electrical output. However, it will be desirable if other electrical schemes are being considered.

To illustrate the application of the Wells turbine to a low head situation consider a resource which gives a water flow of 1 m³/s with an available head of 1 m. Using the analysis outlined previously this corresponds to turbine design parameters of 2.9 m³/s air flow with a corresponding induced pressure drop of 6.2 × 10³ N/m², and these requirements can be met by either of the two turbines specified below:

In general a slower speed of rotation will necessitate a larger tip diameter to maintain a similar air flow regime over the blades, and may require two stages to achieve the required pressure drop. Conversely if the speed is increased the tip diameter, for a given rate of flow, will be smaller, and a higher pressure drop is attainable. For example a .52 m diameter turbine rotating at 4 500 rev/min will be capable of dealing with a resource which gives a flow of 1 m³/s with an available head of 2 m.

The peak efficiency of about .7 is similar for both turbines specified and is a function of the Reynolds’ number. As the size of the turbine is increased and the Reynolds’ number increases the peak efficiency also increases to a maximum of .9 (eg. a 1.4 m diameter turbine rotating at 2 000 rev/min).

As the resource to be harnessed changes from the above example the choice of turbine or turbines will also change. For example an increase in flow can be utilised by increasing the number of turbines or increasing the tip diameter of a single machine, whereas an increase in resource head requires multiple stages or an increase in rotational speed. In order to provide the required speed for the generator it may be necessary to use a form of gearing, which for ease of maintenance would probably be a belt and pulley