Water Driven Micro Generator

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Water Driven Micro Generator

• Team 13
• Yetkin Yigit
• David Wetherholt
• Jiehua Zhen

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Introduction

• Power is an integral part of our lives.
• Loss of power is inconvenient.
• Solution
• Build a generator that can be easily hooked up
  to the kitchen faucet and generate electricity
  with the turning of the turbine by the running
  water.

3
Features

• Converts waters movement energy into electrical
  energy
• Output 120V-AC, 60Hz.
• Portable
• Easy to use

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System
Power Conversion DC to AC(60Hz), 12V to 120V
DC Power Generation 12 V-DC
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Power Generation The Turbine

• Impulse turbine -gt Pelton Wheel Turbine
• Suitable for high head, low flow
• Net Head(ft) x Flow(GPM) Output Power(Watts)
• Estimated Power Available 134 x 8.8 118 W

Image Courtesy of cartage.org.lb
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Power Generation The Turbine Contd

• Similar to ones used in hydro power plants
• To increase efficiency, used two water jets
  instead of one

Image courtesy of rpc.com
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Power Generation Generator

• Used a Litton Clifton Precision motor available
  in Power Lab with the following specifications

RPM 1750
Volts-DC 12
Power (HP) 1/7 HP
Power (W) 106 W
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Power Generation Final Setup
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Power Transformation

• Objective
• Regulate the output voltage from the generator to
  10VDC
• Transform10V-DC to 120VRMS-AC, with a frequency
  of 60Hz.

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Power Transformation Voltage Regulation

• Output from the generator is not constant
• Need to regulate output voltage to 10VDC
• Used LM338
• Vin 11.5-13V
• C1 0.1µF
• C2 10µF
• R1 120 O
• R2 900 O
• Vout 10V

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Power Transformation Initial Design
Keep the design simple and maximize the efficiency
Square wave
Sinusoidal wave
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Power Transformation PWM Square Wave Generator
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Power Transformation PWM Square Wave Generator

• Need to step up 12Vdc to 170Vdc
• Transformers work better at high frequencies
  used PWMs to transform 10Vdc to 180kHz square
  wave.

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Power Transformation Transformer

• Transform 10V-180kHz square wave to 170V-180kHz
  square wave
• Used a center tapped toroidal transformer with
  20340 turn ratio

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Power Transformation Full Bridge

• Rectifier that converts the 170Vac-180kHz signal
  to 170Vdc.
• Placed capacitor parallel to Vout

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Power Transformation DC to AC Inverter
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Power Transformation DC to AC Inverter

• DC Voltage coming out of the transformer goes
  into a PWM chip
• The PWM chip creates square waves with a
  frequency of 65Hz
• The square wave goes into two IR2110 chips which
  turn the MOSFETs on and off

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Power Transformation Final Setup
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Testing Procedures and Results
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Testing Procedures and Results Water Input
Output of the hose connected to the faucet
Test Flow (gal/min)
1 8.87
2 8.83
3 8.84
4 8.81
5 8.83
Average 8.836
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Testing Procedures and Results Generator
Load Resistance (O) Current (A) Power (W)
10 1.18 13.924
15 0.786666667 9.282667
20 0.59 6.962
33 0.357575758 4.219394
47 0.25106383 2.962553
50 0.236 2.7848
310 0.038064516 0.449161
500 0.0236 0.27848
1300 0.009076923 0.107108
3000 0.003933333 0.046413
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Testing Procedures and Results Generator
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Testing Procedures and Results Generator
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Testing Procedures and Results Voltage
Regulator

• Connected the input of the voltage regulator to
  the power supply and measured the output

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Testing Procedures and Results Voltage
Regulator
Input I .57 amps Efficiency 86.3 Output
I .57 amps
Input 11.7Vdc Output 10.095Vdc
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Testing Procedures and Results PWM Square
Wave Generator

• Connected input of the PWM Square Wave Generator
  to 10Vdc power supply, observed output on the
  oscilloscope

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Testing Procedures and Results
Transformer

• Connect 180kHz, 10V to primary winding, observe
  input and output on oscilloscope.
• Calculate efficiency.

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Testing Procedures and Results
Transformer

• Close S1, measure VRL
• Open S1, close S2 which is a
  potentiometer, adjust it until half of VRL
• Measure resistance, R1
• R1 (plus voltage source
• impedance, 50O) is the
• input transformer
• impedance.

Zin 38.550 88.5O
S1
Voltmeter
S2
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Testing Procedures and Results
Transformer
Efficiency Pout VRL² / RL 58²/5k 0.673
W Pin VG² / Zin 10²/88.5 1.13 W
Efficiency Pout/Pin100
60
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Power Transformation DC to AC Inverter
Vin 12 VDC Iin .105 amps Efficiency
80.9 Vout 12 VAC Iout .085 amps
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Obstacles We Faced

• Time
• Components were usually out of stock and have a
  few weeks of lead time
• Many components have low power limitations
• Scarcity of power equipment for proper testing
  of circuitry and not being able to have easy
  access to the power lab
• Absence of a faucet/sink in the lab

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Recommendations

• Use a higher voltage generator to keep the
  current to a minimum value.
• Always keep in mind that many components have low
  voltage/current limitations (current being a more
  vital factor).

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Considerations

• Water needed to produce electricity comes out to
  be a lot more expensive than the electricity we
  already have in our homes!

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Considerations

• According to American Water, we pay about 2.42
  per 748 gallons. That is about 0.003248/gallon.
• System takes in 8.83gallons/min. Running the
  system for 5 hours would cost 8.57.
• According to AmerenIP, consuming 100kWh (100W for
  1000 hours!) of power costs around 4.185.

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Ethical Issues

• By product a lot of clean water being wasted.
• Safety water and electricity dont get along
  well.

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Future Uses and Implementations

• Build a turbine that can be integrated into the
  water line going into the house.
• Turbine can charge a battery during normal water
  usage.

Main Water Line
Turbine
Household faucets
Charge battery for backup power
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Questions?