Hydroelectric project waterfall (fountain)

[Genelec]

What do you mean??
a decorative waterfall can very well be used for other than decorating, so take advantage of it to produce and not just consume ...

[GuyGadebois]

http://www.spiruline-entrecasteaux.com/ ... aubes.html

[Christophe]

Christophe, in addition to the possible savings envisaged, this project also has a visual and educational impact vis-à-vis passers-by, returning them an ecological aspect and invested with a sustainable development approach.
Now the pump is lit for decorative purposes, so take the opportunity to recover as much energy as possible!

There is no possible energy savings in this project since the "primary" energy of the system is artificial ...

If you want to recover a large part of it (50-60% of the pumping power at best) then the fountain will no longer exist: you will have transformed it into a penstock!

[Christophe]

The interest is precisely to consume less electricity for the lamps of the basin, thanks to the fall

What you can do is recover the lost "aesthetic" energy to make lighting, so provide an additional "free" aesthetic service (in fact not see *)

Put mini paddle wheels at the foot of each fall ... I fear that we will have to tailor them.

At the level of recoverable power on the first 3 stages (3,5 m in all) with a flow (estimated from the photo) of 20 L / s you have a "gross" energy of qgh = 20 * 9,81 * 3,5 = 680 watts

If you recover 10-15% of these 680W I think you will be happy, the performance will necessarily be mediocre due to the opening of the flow to the open air, no water column will "push" on the wheel .. .

You can therefore expect a little less than 100W ... cumulated on the 3 levels.

If you only put a mill on the last level, the most interesting, the recoverable power drops to 0,15 * 20 * 9,81 * 1,3 = 40W ... enough to power a few LEDs but nothing more.

To be corrected by the actual flow rate ... which seems very weak for a 4kW pump ... we would have to see how many watts it actually turns.

* The price of the study, custom manufacturing and installation (10 to 15000 € ??) will simply never pay for itself on the price of energy ... but a fountain is never profitable either! Then education is priceless!

Is this project for a municipality?

ps: if you are struggling to estimate the flow, a good and very simple method for an "open" flow is the good old method of graduated jumping (potting)! Don't be afraid to get wet! In your case, get a piece of gutter and do it at the level of the 3rd fall ... Easy!

[Genelec]

Hello everybody

Update 07/11 after measuring with the bucket and gutter technique, I get a low flow rate of around 3.5L / s.

This brings us to a potential power of P = 9.81 x 0.0035 x 3.5 x 0.6 = 70W

Christophe you were not far taking a flow rate of 20L / s and a yield of 10-15%! I took a return of 0.6 for my calculation above. According to the internet, a maximum efficiency of 0.8 should be taken for optimal operation.

[Christophe]

Ah, there you go! We have a concrete figure there ...

Unfortunately 0,6 and 0,8 of yield are hydraulic yields obtained in engineering structure (dam, penstock ...) not in open fall or the yield collapses (overflow, splashes ...)

Suddenly the energy potential of the project is lower than expected ...

So what about the project?

An interesting thing would be to make an educational ludo mill from 10 to 20W just to light up a led strip ... and to raise awareness of hydraulic energy ...

[Genelec]

Project purpose: new study to study the stopping of pumps at night and on weekends

Have a good day !

[izentrop]

At night OK, it goes in the direction of energy savings, seeing a more efficient pump, solar panels to power it, more spectacular water jets ...
but on weekends, think about the tourism economy which brings currency to the city.

[Christophe]

Project purpose: new study to study the stopping of pumps at night and on weekends

Have a good day !

Ah good idea, it reminds me of something!