The GEF Small Grants Programme

in Uzbekistan

How to make a mini-hydroelectric power station with your own hands

If there is a small river near your home, you can use such a generator to generate clean energy. This scheme was developed by one American innovator and assembled a mini-hydroelectric power station in just three days.

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He used an idle generator from Cummins Onan, from which he took discs for the turbine wheel, and he made an electric generator from two brake rotors measuring 28 cm each. He also used a wheel hub from an old Dodge. The turbine blades are made of 10 cm steel pipes cut into four pieces.

Next, the designer made a template of twelve inch wheels, on which the marks of the necessary holes were applied, as well as places for the blades in the amount of 16 pieces.

The drilling must be carried out very precisely - the efficiency of the entire installation depends on it.
After drilling the holes, the discs were connected with metal rods, 25 cm long.
A 10 cm hole was made in the resulting product in order to facilitate the installation of the electric generator and to allow better access.
To enhance the tidal water flow, a special pipe nozzle was attached to the turbine, made of a bent metal sheet.

As a result, we got our own power plant - a pipe with an original nozzle was fixed at an angle of 45 degrees, and the turbine itself was pre-installed on the bushing. This approach allowed the designer to make adjustments. The installed pipe can move in all four directions, and the turbine and generator can only be deflected back and forth.

For the generator, the American designer uses the following approach: a stater was made of wire, which has 9 identical rings, each of which was tightly wound 125 turns.
Also, 6 cores were taken away from the stater, and the stater itself was filled with epoxy compound.
The rotor has 12 magnets located along the edges.
The connection of the rotor and stater was made using a mixture of polyester and fiberglass.
The created generator was fixed on one side of the turbine.
A converter was attached to the free side of the electric generator, which was placed in a special aluminum casing. It converts three-phase alternating current into direct current. The power of the installation was 12.5 W at 38 rpm.
For the operation of the installation, a stream was used that flowed near the designer's house.
From this stream, water is collected and supplied to the turbine.
After selecting the correct tilt angle, the average turbine speed is 110 rpm.
As a result, the turbine provides a current of 2 amperes (at a voltage of 12 V).

Smith dam

Reprinted from the site from here