DESIGN OF LOW COST 1VIICRO HYDRO TURBINE

Abstract

At present electrical energy becomes the necessary part of life. In many developing countries less than 10% of the rural population has access to electricity. Rural electrification through conventional means such as grid connection or diesel generator is very costly. Micro hydro having plant capacity upto 100 kW can be used for rural electrification in the isolated mode with short transmission lines as it is the most environmentally benign forms of energy generation. The problem associated with micro hydro is technical and economical, as no two micro hydro sites are alike and turbines are not available in the standard sizes. Each proposed site requires its own engineering considerations for designing the suitable turbine tailored to the site. It will not be economically viable to manufacture a site-specific turbine in the conventional way. It is therefor required to simplify the conventional design of turbines, so that they can be manufactured locally and are of low cost. Under the present work the various technologies used for the development of micro hydro and the characteristics of micro hydro turbines have been discussed. The stepwise design of micro hydro turbines (< 100 kW) is evolved. The design includes the design of runner, nozzle, shaft and casing. Selection of the other components related to turbines such as bearings is also discussed. An attempt is made to discuss various approaches to give the simpler design of turbine, which may reduce the cost of micro hydro turbines. A user friendly software is developed for computing the design parameters of micro hydro turbines so that using the computed parameters turbines could be fabricated at village level where fabrication facilities exist or can be created without much sophistications.