Energy solutions
Let’s discuss energy in here
Organizers:
- Organized by
-
-
kinetic hydroelectric
-
kinetic hydroelectric
I’m thinking about using a kenetic water system as part of our layered power source. I have rolling terrain with a good sized hill. With this kind of system, you have a tank up on a hill, a tank at the bottom of the hill, a hydroelectric turbine in the line beween the two tanks, and a windmill that pumps the water back uphill. Has anyone seen something like this?
I’m trying to figure how much power we might get. This is the equation I’ve found, where:
P=ρQgh
- PP is the power in watts (W)
- ρρ is the density of fluid in kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3) — water is 1000 kg/m3
- QQ is the flow rate of the fluid in cubic meters per second (m3/s) — 0.0347 m3/s
- g is the acceleration due to gravity in meters per second squared (m/s2) — 9.8
- hh is height difference between two points of the fluid flow in meters (m) — 6
If I’m doing the math right, and I’m not sure that I am (especially not sure of the acceleration due to gravity figure) – this would give me a 2000 watt power source. The Francis pump is said to by 90% efficient, so that brings us down to 1800 watts. It would take 2 hrs for a 1000 gal tank to empty, and in that time, two 105 ah lithium batteries could be fully charged. One battery would provide 5.25 amp for 20 hrs, or you could wire them in parallel or series. This could power an laptop for 40 hrs, or a small refridgerator for 20 hrs. I think! I’d need a real engineer to look at my numbers.
Another consideration is that it would take about 2 hrs to drain a 1000 gallon tank to drain, but much longer for it to be filled by a windmill pumping the water from the lower tank to the higher tank.
-
1 Reply
-
Hey !!
this idea of pumped hydroelectric is so exciting to me!!The windmill idea is a great addition, hadnt added that to the mix in our designs yet….
In alot of examples we have seen, the solar panels power the pump that fills the water reservoir during the day while excess energy is collected – effectively turning the setup into a storage system to replace batteries.
We have been looking at locations where it would be possible to do this at scale.
For a smaller set up it is definitely possible!
Ill share some of the calculations we have been working on :)!!!
Log in to reply.