Spoon! DIY Pelton Hydro Power, 500W EBike Hub

BarelyAWake

BarelyAWake

New Member
...was putterin' around the interwebs, wandered into this & while it's just an experiment, I jus' hadta share this guy's creativity - he's cobbed himself a genny for less then what jus' a Pelton Wheel costs (ebay), with regen it's got some potential lol;

ryanonthevedder said:
Used a 500W hub motor and some spoons to make a pelton turbine hydro generator. This is the working generator running off of a garden hose.
The plan is to take it up to the gold claim and use it to power the cabin and charge the batteries that I use
Click to expand...

http://youtu.be/spAxoOrC4PA




...I love the spoons :D


edit: Figured I'd include the more common DIY Pelton water turbine in case this is new to some folks, the 'convert an old washing machine into a water powered generator' type sans spoons... this is a particularly good resource vid;
http://youtu.be/0ieFZI4-6K8
 
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Something like that would have been perfect back in the day when I was doing the small holder farmer thing. A nice little creek flowed across our land and a Pelton wheel would have been just the job.
 
It's an interesting concept for sure, although a bit atypical for a Pelton Wheel using the hub like that & I'd imagine he'll get far better rotation speed once he's made & aligned pressure nozzles... but yea, Peltons are perfect for LVHP sources (low volume, high pressure) like little creeks on farmsteads ;)
 
Yeppers, very good stuff ajoh :D ...but jus as a BTW small Peltons are often operated with little more then a gravity run, the lead hose from the reservoir (creek/pond) down the hill jus' needs be larger then the nozzle as the weight of the water in the hose will pressurize it.
 
Wouldn't a lot of water drip down into the hub over and do damage over time?
That pic kinda reminded me of the 'sneaker wheel' (a bicycle wheel covered in sneakers instead of a tire)...lol
Cheers,
-Low-
 

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rotfl yea, the sneaker wheel - I knew the spoons reminded me of somethin' lol, thanks lowracer :D

Well... as for the water thing, I've ridden my ebike/hub motor in all seasons/all conditions for goin' on three years now & never had any water intrusion issues, in fact my very first test ride was in the pouring rain, not that I was psyched for that sort of test but it did jus' fine so the above should be good *shrug*

It isn't an optimum setup for a Pelton wheel it's true, nor is it particularly economic if you haven't a spare hub or cheap used ebike... but it is an awesome example of tinkerin' around & experimenting I figure ;)
 
Yes I agree,
Thinking outside the box is what leads many of us to try new things & every now & then a better approach to motorized bicycle movement.
I gotta go and gear up for todays Breast Cancer Bike Ride in my town (Pedal only).
Cheers,
-Low-
 
I've been thinking about this for years. I worked on a fake paddle wheeler on the Mississippi as a kid and they fascinate me. The paddles are incredibly inefficient. Pretty much only the most verticle is giving propulsion and moving the boat. The trailing paddles are digging water up and the leading are trying to lift the stern. A flat plank is not at all optimal either.

So and on the water wheel connected to my imaginary house and on either side of my imaginary Dutch sailing barge to generate electricity, I had thought a "V" shape to trap the oncoming water.

That got me thinking that as the water got traped in the "V", it would form a buffer and you would lose some of the power as the oncoming water would be directed around and past the "V"/paddle.

So thinking the "V" should be open at both ends. Allowing just enough water to escape that water moving faster and from behind, be of more help.

Building a test tank for a beach erosion idea I have and will experiment. Also want to try a cone shape on pivots. Each one in the water would maintain horizontal and be 100% powering and efficient.
 
I question the inefficiency; I wonder if something as simple as a stator plate, board, or vane in front of a paddle wheel would totally transform it.

Another thing, dirt racing machinery relies not solely on traction, but to some degree also on the reaction to hurling lumps of dirt backwards. The question is, is not are paddle wheels turned too fast, but are they not turned fast enough?

Just a thought. I hope somebody will invite me over when you go for a world stern wheeler record.
 
Where I was going is that a river is only moving around 2 to 4 knots. But has immense power, force. So it would be more a case of converting torque to an optimal speed via gearing. Increasing rather then a reduction.

A spoon as opposed to some thing flat is gonna catch way more possible kinetic energy. Water does not compres. So as it gets stopped/slowed by driving a wheel or as the wheel is driving it, a "bubble" or build up is created. Driving the propulsion around and past. Which does reduce it's power. My thinking is an easement, slight release will lesson the loss.

Really am gonna experiment with different drivers/paddles.

Not sure how to measure? Thinking an old, mechanical bike speedometer. With some sort of brake on the wheel to replicate the large amounts of torque required to generate electricity. Takes a lot.


Love this stuff. Experimenting. Normally turns out I was dead wrong but still a blast.

I once bought 20 hand mirrors and used a laser pointer to interconnect/aim them thinking one light could light the whole basement. (didn't work)
 
Stator vanes and angling the wheel across the direction of flow will improve things. You have curved surfaces, why not use the dynamics associated?

Version 2:

Tapping the water supply from further upstream and storing it in a millpond to flow over an overshot wheel is the traditional English way to efficiency, but is it doable for you?
 
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Big time, Lud. "Over shot" is far better. "Dropping" water is much more efficient. According to this, 5% better then under shot. http://permaculturewest.org.au/ipc6/ch08/shannon/index.html

But adds a lot of complexity, I think.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermill#mediaviewer/File:Braine-le-Château_JPG02.jpg



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermill

Really cool part of these things is that they have been used since b4 BC and still have a place. I am sure they are copies of English mills but you can still find these great sluice ones like your mentioning all over New England. Most are at the feet of water falls. Sadly, most are abandoned.

This one was saved and made into Carol's favorite restaurant. https://www.google.com/search?q=mil...QBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1024&bih=539#imgdii=_
 
Stanley Hooker in his book, Not Much Of An Engineer, relates that he got an award for cutting development time on an early jet engine by removing troublesome stator vanes from the inlet. Later, when the science and the metal improved, he got another one for putting them back on.
 
A pretty good list of resources: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Hydro/hydro.htm

One of the interesting advantages of power generation vs consumption is as the motive source for generation is free, efficiency is less critical - for power generation an advantage of the high pressure/low volume of a Pelton turbine vs they more traditional low pressure/high volume paddle wheels is scale, it's not particularly difficult to build one even as little as a five gallon bucket with a automotive style, single wire alternator for powering a small camp or whatnot, though these are more suited to the task (RPM rates & construction): http://www.windbluepower.com/category_s/1.htm

This is one of the smallest, commercially available hydro generators I'm aware of... though granted, I've no idea how well it actually works lol: http://www.microhydropower.com/our-products/watter-buddy/

Again though, for power generation I'd not shrug off the more traditional water wheel, or paddle wheel (to help differentiate) & in fact some years ago I threw together a DIY cob-job paddle wheel that sufficed to power my 19' camper for almost a year out of little more then some chopped wood pallets, a bicycle wheel & the alternator filched out of my truck (& the two deep cycle camper batts) - though this was way up in northern Vermont on a steep hillside, so the creek had both volume and pressure to work with: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Belvidere,+VT

I'm sure it was ridiculously inefficient, it was under-fed (direction) & the wheel didn't even run on bearings (greasy broom handle heh) but squeak, squeak & free power nonetheless. Despite it's primitive nature & gross inefficiency it never failed me, never paused, never stopped. I did occasionally have to disassemble it though, I did need my truck about once a month or so for munchie runs lol ;)
 
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Thanks Dan :)

If you're referring to making the "spoons" for the Pelton wheel (first pic w/that link), DIY stuff is all over the 'net - 45° PVC couplers cut in half is one idea: http://youtu.be/uZ2fWyDHfrY but you can get ones made specifically for Pelton wheels for roughly a buck each (sold in batches ofc, fleabay)... but as it seems you can get assembled wheels for the same or less w/some searching, it doesn't seem to be the most economical route unless you're buying 500+ lol

As for my lil water wheel, that was some time ago & PDA (pre-digital age) & I really didn't think it worth film at the time - I'd just stripped some pallets for the planks with a bike rim on the side for a belt drive... which after some trial & error ended up being braided twine for the lack of a belt long enough, the alternator was also lashed down for the lack of proper fasteners. Also lacking was but the most basic of tools (camp saw etc), so I used a design similar to the pic below as there's no curves & few fasteners, the broom handle was the axle, secured to the tops of two 4x4" (the big chunks in a pallet) with nails bent over bits of heater hose packed w/grease for it to spin in - there's no way I was drillin' 1" holes through pressure treated with a pocket knife heh;



...in retrospect, somethin' like this would have been easier & tastier too :D

 
har, last pic is great! Very cleaver.

Was just thinking about this stuff over a cup of coffee. (better then the necessary room for plotting stuff) But think I was wrong about "slipping" the water past the fin/paddle. That what ever loss due to build up on the front would be almost made up for by the negative/vacuum on the back? Like drafting behind a truck or Nascar racers.

I gotta build that test tank. Been gonna do it since last fall. After it is used for this and the beach erosion idea, will be turned into the out door cat box with, oddly enough, a catwalk from the porch.
 

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