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DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PICO-HYDRO

POWER PLANT BY USING AGRICULTURAL
WATER
1. V.GOKULAVASAN.,
BE MECHANICAL ENGG (PRE-FINAL YEAR),
PALLAVAN COLLEGE OF ENGG,
KANCHIPURAM,
E MAIL ID:gokulavasang58@gmail.com,
PHONE: +919791249385.
2. S.GUNASEELAN.,
BE MECHANICAL ENGG (PRE-FINAL YEAR),
PALLAVAN COLLEGE OF ENGG,
KANCHIPURAM,
E MAIL ID: chat2sabari@gmail.com,
PHONE: +918148825467.

ABSTRACT:
This paper describes the design and development of pico-hydro generation system using
agricultural water .Water flowing in the agricultural pipes has kinetic energy that has the
potential to generate electricity for energy storage purposes. The inherent water pressure and the
flow inside the pipe which is used for usual activities is also used to rotate the small scale hydro
turbine to drive a generator for electrical power generation. Hence, this project aims to develop a
small scale hydro generation system using water (agricultural). The main principle is that water
from the pipe is sent via nozzle to a turbine which is coupled to a generator which produces
power.

KEYWORDS:
Alternative source, pico hydro power plant, nozzle, turbine, generator, alternator,
penstock.

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3) High head power plants. (>50m)

INTRODUCTION:
A hydro-power plant plays a very
important role in the development of the

b.) Classification according to the

nature of load:

country as it provides power at the cheapest

1) Base load power plants.

rate being the perpetual source of energy.

2) Peak load power plants.

Nearly 24% of the total world power is

c.) Classification according to the

generated using hydro-plants. There are

quantity of water available:

some fortunate countries in the world where

1) Run-off river plant without pondage.

90% of the nation`s power requirement is

2) Run-off river plant with pondage.

met

3) Storage type plants.

by hydro-power.

There

are

few

countries like Russia and Nepal where vast

4) Pump storage plants.

hydro resources are yet to be harnessed. As

5) Mini and micro-hydel plants.

per

d.) Classification based on the power

the

estimation

of

World

Power

Organization (WPO), the world hydro-

development by the plant:

potential is roughly 5000GW whereas only

1) Large hydro plant. (>100MW)

200GW is presently developed (4% only).

2) Medium hydro plant. (15-100MW)

The role of water in the task of

3) Small hydro plant. (1-15MW)

nation-building needs no emphasis. The

4) Mini hydro plant. (>100KW)

power developed by the water source in the

5) Micro hydro plant. (5-100KW)

world plays a very important role in the

6) Pico hydro plant. (<5KW)

development of the world. The oceans of the

What is Pico Hydro?

world holds 317 million cubic miles of

water which contains 97.2% of the total
water exists on earth.

Pico hydro is hydro power plant with

a maximum electrical output of five
kilowatts. Hydro power systems of this size

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDRO-

benefit in terms of cost and simplicity from

ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS:

different approaches in design, planning and

a.) Classification according to the

availability of head:
1) Low head power plants.(<10m)
2) Medium head power plants.(10-50m)

installation than those which are applied to

larger hydro power. Recent innovations in
pico hydro technology have made it an
economic source of power even in some of

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the world poorest and most inaccessible

PICO-HYDRO SYSTEM

places. It is also a versatile power source.

PLANNING:

AC electricity can be produced enabling

There are many factors that determine

standard electrical appliances to be used and

the electricity can be distributed to a whole

the feasibility and achievability of the

village. Common examples of devices which

system. This includes:

can be powered by pico hydro are light

I.

The amount of power available from

bulbs, radios, televisions, refrigerators and

the water flow inside the pipelines.

food processors. Mechanical power can be

This depends on the water pressure,

utilized with some design changes. This is

amount of water available and the

useful for direct drive of machinery such as

workshop tools, grain mills and other agro-

friction losses in the pipelines.

II.

The turbine type and the availability

processing equipment.

of required generator type and its

capacity.
III.

The types and capacity of electrical

loads to be supplied by the picohydro system.

IV.

The cost of developing the project

and operating the system.
A. Power Estimation:
In general, the feasibility of the

proposed pico-hydro system is based on the

following potential input and output.
power equation:
Pin = H x Q x g (1)
Pout= H x Q x g x (2)
Where,
Fig. 1.General layout

Pin = Input power (Hydro power)

Pout = Output power (Generator output)
H = Head (meter)
Q = Water flow rate (liter/second)

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g = gravity (9.81 m/s2)

= efficiency
Based on the equation (1) and (2),
both head and water flow rate are very
important

parameters

in

hydro

power

system.
Head is a measure of falling water at
turbine, i.e. vertical distance from the top of
the penstock to the turbine at the bottom.
Conversely, water flow rate is the amount of
water flows within one second. Normally,
water flow available is more than needed
since the flow for pico-hydro are small [3].
Thus, it is important to measure the head
carefully because the greater head, the
greater power and higher the speed of the
turbine rotation.
Basically, power produced by a
hydro power system is converted from one
form to another; while some is lost at each
stage as illustrated in Figure 2. It is noted in
the figure that the first stage of loss is the
power loss in penstock. For the proposed
pico-hydro system, this is referred as friction
loss in the pipelines. Before the losses in the
pipelines are taken into account, the drop is
referred as the gross head and after losses
have been subtracted it is called the net
head. In this research project, both equations
(1) and (2) have already considered the
friction loss, and thus the net head is used.

Fig. 2 Power loss during the conversion from hydro

power to electricity

For the proposed pico-hydro system, the

biggest loss usually occurs when the power
in the water pipeline is converted into
rotating, mechanical power by hitting the
turbine blades, i.e. 30% of the total hydro
power going out from the nozzle. A further
20% to 30% will be lost in the generator
when the mechanical power is converted to
electricity. Thus, by the rule of thumb for
efficiency to estimate the potential output
power is normally 50%.
B. Head Measurement:
When determining head (falling water),
gross or static head and net or dynamic
head must be considered. Gross head is the
total vertical distance between the top of the
penstock and the point where the water hits
the turbine. Net head is the gross head minus
the pressure or head losses due to friction
and turbulence in the penstock. These head
losses depend on the type, diameter, and
length of the penstock piping, and the
number of bends or elbows. Gross head can
be used to estimate power availability and

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determine general feasibility, but net head is

flow. The proposed pico-hydro system will

used to calculate the actual power available.

have the water source from consuming water

C. Water Flow Rate Measurement:

distributed to houses. Thus, the system must

The most simple flow measurement for

be designed with ability to produce high

small streams is the bucket method. This

water pressure to rotate the turbine at the

method has been used due to the capacity of

most possible speed. In order to do so, a

the proposed hydro power system is

suitable piping scheme with appropriate

significantly small. Moreover, this method is

nozzle between the source (consumers end)

considerably practical due to the proposed

and the turbine is required to maximize the

hydro power system being very uncommon

turbine rotation speed.

compared to other system in its category in

which the source of energy is from the
consuming water distributed to houses by
the Water Utility Company. Throughout this
method, the flow rate of the distributed

Fig. 3 Proposed pico-hydro piping system

water is diverted into a bucket or barrel and

In real fluid flows, friction losses

the time it takes for the container to fill is

occur due to the resistance of the pipe walls

recorded. The volume of the container is

and the fittings. This leads to an irreversible

known and the flow rate is simply obtained

transformation of the flowing fluid energy

by dividing this volume by the filling time.

into heat. Friction head loss is divided into

For example, the flow rate of water that

two

filled 20 liters bucket within one minute is

associated with energy loss per length of the

20 liters per minute or 0.333 l/s. This is

pipe, and "minor losses" associated with

repeated

bends, fittings, valves, etc. For the proposed

several

times

to

give

more

consistent and accurate measurement.

main

categories,

"major

losses"

system, the hydro power available at the

D. Pipeline System and Friction Loss:

Consumers water outlet (consumers end) is

Piping system is used to carry water to a

the net power after taking into account the

turbine. This is commonly termed as

friction losses along the pipelines from the

penstock which consists of pipe from the

utility tank

reservoir or fore bay tank to the turbine and

consideration on the pipe length and

valve or gate that controls the rate of water

diameter to handle the amount of water flow

to

the

consumers.

Thus,

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and piping accessories to convey the water

Generating system for a hydro power

to the turbine is very important to minimize

scheme is selected based on the following

the friction loss for the piping scheme

concerns:

between the source and the turbine of the

pico-hydro power system. This can be done
by appropriately selecting the diameters and
types of bends, fittings and valve and
minimizing the use of these accessories.
Moreover, it is necessary to minimize the

1. The estimated power of a hydro

power system.
2. Type of supply system and electrical
load: AC or DC
3. Available generating capacity in the
market

piping system length between the water

4. Generator with cost effective

source and the turbine although it is

Normally, pico-hydro systems use AC

extremely short when compared to the main

generator either induction or synchronous

pipeline from the utility tank to consumers

machine type. This is because the system is

end. By considering all these matters, the

used to supply AC electrical appliances and

proposed piping pico-hydro piping scheme

DC generator with size above 2kW is said to

is assumed to have minor friction losses or

be expensive and has brush gear that

can be neglected. This means the net hydro

requires

power at consumers end is more or less

addition, DC switches for the voltages and

similar to hydro power to turbine. As a

currents are more expensive than their AC

result, the following are the list of piping

counterparts. However, in this project, a

accessories that used in the system:

brush permanent magnet DC generator is

I. Valve ball valve

preferred as the main function of the

ii. Nozzle variable

proposed pico-hydro system is energy

iii. Elbow 90 degree

storage (battery charging). One significant

iv. Tee flanged

advantage of using DC type of permanent

v. Straight connector

magnet generator over AC generator is that

vi. Pressure Gauge 0 to 10 bar

DC generator is designed to provide high

vii. Main pipe diameter 1.5mm.

currents at minimum voltage required for the

E. Selection of Generator:

charging of battery and operation of direct

appreciable

maintenance.

In

current loads. This is related with the load

type to be supplied. Moreover, permanent

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magnet generator is selected as it is much

cheaper and has smaller overall size rather
than of wound field. Other than that, this

7
TABLE I
GROUPS OF IMPULSE AND REACTION
TURBINE

TURBINE
RUNNER

type of generator is more efficient because

no power is wasted to generate the magnetic

Impulse

field.

HEAD PRESSURE
High

Medium

Pelton
Turgo
Multi-jet
Pelton

Cross flow
Turgo
Multi-jet
Pelton

Cross
flow

Francis
Pump-asturbine

Propeller
Kaplan

F. Selection of Turbine Type

Selection of turbine to be used is very

Reaction

Low

important in the design and development of

a hydro power system. Table 1 shows the
groups of impulse and reaction turbines that
are available. In general, reaction turbine is
fully immersed in water and is enclosed in a
pressure casing. The runner or rotating
element and casing are carefully engineered
so that the clearance between them is
minimized. In contrast, impulse turbine can
operate in air and works with high-speed jet
of water. Usually, impulse turbines are
cheaper than reaction turbines because no
specialist pressure casing and no carefully
Engineered clearance is needed.

Based on its operating principle,

impulse turbine is fit with the proposed
pico-hydro system as the hydro power is in
the jet of water. It has been highlighted that
Pelton turbine is commonly used in a small
scale hydro power system particularly in
pico-hydro system due to its suitability. One
of the most convenient methods for selecting
a turbine for particular hydro system is
given in Figure 4. The turbine type is
selected based on the speed range and power
capacity of alternator to be used. It can be
noticed in the figure that Pelton turbine is a
quite universal turbine. It is not always
restricted to high head, but if the power
transmitted is low, then the Pelton will also
run on low heads, although at slow
rotational speed. In the proposed pico-hydro
power system, a small scale of Pelton
turbine is used.

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power to small loads which are lead-acid

and nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cad). Battery size
depends on the generating capacity of the
proposed

pico-hydro

system

and

its

application. For this type of pico-hydro

system, Ni-Cad battery is preferred and
more practical as it is easier to handle and
reliable. Moreover, Ni-Cad is the opposite to
lead acid in that it performs better and last
longer if fully discharged before recharging. On the other hand, lead acid
Fig. 4. Nomo gram for selection of a turbine for a

batteries should not be fully discharged as

this damages them.

hydro site

G. Types of Electrical Loads:

DEVELOPMENT OF PICO

Electrical

HYDRO SYSTEM:

loads

that

are

normally

connected to a pico-hydro system at rural

area are lighting, battery chargers, radios,
televisions,

ventilation

fans

and

refrigerators. For the proposed pico-hydro

system, however, the generating capacity is
much lower compared to the existing picohydro system at rural areas. Thus, the main
function of the proposed system is to charge
batteries. A battery allows the future use of
small electrical loads and can be recharged

Fig.5. Proposed pico-hydro system

when required. Examples of future use of

In general, the major concern in the

small loads particularly during electricity

development of the proposed pico-hydro

blackouts are LED lighting, mobile phone

system are civil works for small scale piping

battery charging and toys battery charging.

system or penstock from the consuming

There

of

water outlet to the turbine and fabrication of

rechargeable batteries used for providing

the turbine (blades and drive shaft). Both

are

two

common

types

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parts are essential since they determine the

gauge is also necessary to monitor the water

functionality

pressure level so that the user is able to

and

performance

of

the

proposed system.

know the most optimum pressure level for

A. Penstock:

power generation. One must bare in mind,

Figure 6 shows the layout of the

proposed system. As noted in the layout, the

that the pressure and flow rate vary between

residential areas.

pico-hydro system penstock begins from the

water inlet to the turbine. The water inlet
must be directly connected to the existing
end user water outlet for water intake. The
water intake point for the system to be
mounted must be strategic and practical in
implementation to provide dual function of
the pico-hydro system, i.e. for electricity
generation and routine activities. Strategic
water intake depends on the water pressure
level, whilst the practical application is
defined as routine activities that are going to
be done. In order to offer the dual function,
the pico-hydro system must be provided
with water outlet from the turbine. Water
from this outlet is used for turbine rotation
which can be re-used for household routine
activities. The penstock is equipped with
Power Valve and adjustable nozzle to
control the rate of water flow (amount of
water) and water pressure respectively to
optimize the turbine speed. It is also
equipped with pressure gauges to measure
the water pressure that represents the net
head of the pico-hydro system. The pressure

Fig. 6. Layout of the proposed pico-hydro system

In addition to the penstock, the

piping system of the pico hydro system is
provided with a bypass pipeline via a
Bypass Valve to reduce the wear and tear
of the generator. When consumer don`t use
this system, they can bypass the water flow
by closing the Power Valve to the turbine
and opening the Bypass Valve to the
bypass pipeline. Therefore, the generator
will not operate all the time until it is
required.
B. Pelton Turbine:
Pelton turbines are suitable to high head,
low flow applications. It can be outfitted
with one, two, or more nozzles for higher
output. Typically, when using this type of
turbine, water is piped down a hillside so
that at the lower end of the pipe, it emerges

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10

from a narrow nozzle as a jet with very high

for energy storage purpose. Simple charging

velocity to the turbine blades. The similar

circuit as shown in Figure 8 is used. The

concept of water jet is also utilized in the

battery charger is suitable for 9V to 12V

proposed pico-hydro system; instead the

batteries.

water being tapped from the domestic

maximum load current is limited to 1.5A.

consuming water outlet.

This is based on the maximum load current

For

charging

purpose,

the

of the LM317 voltage regulator and the

maximum current at continuous duty of the
generator. In addition, due to the generating
capacity of the pico-hydro system, Ni-Cad
battery is preferred. Figure 6 also illustrates
that there is a point of direct output from
generator. This is to offer other application
Fig.7. Turbine for the proposed pico-hydro system

that might be relevant.

After a series of performance test on

various constructions of Pelton turbine
blades, the turbine with 6 cups fabricated
from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as shown in
Figure 7 is used for the proposed system.
Fig. 8 Simple battery charger using LM317 voltage

The advantage of using PVC is that they are

less

expensive

and

does

not

require

specialists to fabricate the turbine blades.

Meanwhile, the base that is associated with

regulator

ADVANTAGES:
Relatively the cheapest source of
electricity per kWh.

the drive shaft (rotor) for the turbine blades

mounting is fabricated from aluminum with

Requires lesser investment cost

80mm diameters. Small size of turbine is

compared to micro hydro

important to ensure the generator shaft to

installations.

rotate at an optimum speed.

C. Battery Charger:
As illustrated in Figure 6, the generator
output is connected to the charging circuits

Faster to construct and install.

Easier to maintain and repair.

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11

Can be locally manufactured.

might be different between residential, the

It does not contribute to air and

use of adjustable nozzle is another solution

water pollution causing green house

to

vary

pressure

accordingly

in

effect.

compensating the friction loss by achieving

The number of operations required is

optimum pressure value. In addition, the

considerably small compared with

selection of turbine and generator in terms

thermal power plants.

of their type and size or capacity is also

No health hazards due to

air

pollution.
The efficiency of hydro power plant

important in designing and developing the

proposed pico-hydro power system. Wrong
type

and

improper

sizing

of

these

does not change with age but there is

components would cause the system to

considerable reduction in efficiency

operate at undesirable performance.

of thermal as well as nuclear power

REFERENCES:

plant with age.

[1] IEEE, 1984, IEEE Standard Reliability

The fuel needed for the thermal

Data for Pump and Drives, Valve Actuators,

power plants has to be purchased

and Valves, ANSI/IEEE Std 500-1984 P&V.

whereas in hydro power plant the

1431.

fuel cost is totally absent.

[2] A COURSE IN POWER PLANT

CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, there are two input

ENGINEERING

by DHANPAT RAI &

CO. (P) Ltd., 1710, Nai Sarak, Delhi.

parameters which are very important in

[3] Harvey, A., Village planning of isolated

ensuring the developed pico-hydro system to

energy schemes, IMechE, 1995.

function as an alternative electrical power

[4]

generator for residential use. The parameters

www.worldenergy.org.

are the pressure of the main pipeline water

[5]

supply that representing the head (falling

Cooperative Association [US]) International

water) and the water supply flow rate. These

Ltd., www.nreca.coop.

parameters vary between residential areas.

[6] International Energy Agency, Energy

Hence, it is essential to determined both

Statistics 2003, available at: www.iea.org.

parameters at early stage for potential output

power estimation. Since the friction loss

World

NRECA

Energy

(National

Rural

Council,

Electric