Hydro-Hydraulic Energy Invention
Pakistan inventor Sarfraz Ahmad Khan has been working hard to develop new hydro technologies like this hydro power invention. His latest concept features the run of river active setup of micro hydro power generation blended with basic principals of hydraulics. This concept explores the possibility of transmitting the (collective) mechanical power gained from run-of-river hydro setup by converting it into hydraulic pressure. The sum-up of hydraulic pressure will make the main generators work. The basic concept requires hydraulic systems that can help to us to gain some reasonably good mechanical advantages. The hydro-mechanics will convert the mechanical force into hydraulic pressure. The collective hydraulic pressure shall be utilized to rotate the generator shaft.
SketchUp File | Download SketchUp
Why include the hydraulic system?
As we know, if we produce a run-of-river micro hydro active system, the cost may be lower but on the other hand the output is not very significant. If we produce a large number of hydro rotors we will require an equivalent numbers of generators. In this concept we will collect the mechanical energy of Rotors spinning by the effect of high velocity river, into the hydraulic pressure by the help of input pistons. The hydraulic pressure gained from multiple set-ups of run of river rotors can be collected in an active hydraulic pressure chamber. By using the interchanging valves this pressure can be consecutively transferred to the output pistons. So the output piston will work to rotate the shaft of generator.
As a result we will have large numbers of rotors to utilize the sum of their mechanical force. We will need to install only two appropriate size generators for higher output. This theme can cut the cost of many small scale generators and instead of installing a row of generators we will have to install only two generators.
What are the Ideal Locations?
a. Barrages.
b. High-velocity rivers with narrow width, remarkable downward slopes that are near glaciers.
Note: As we know the barrages constructed for agricultural purposes do have very good pressure of water streams under the gates. As the infrastructure of barrages or gates can hold this system, so the mechanical energy of powerful stream can be converted into the electricity.
Help evaluate these hydraulic modules:
I do have a number of questions in my mind like”¦
- What would be the mechanical advantage?
- What kind and what size of input / output pistons shall work?
- What kind of fluid will be appropriate to use in hydraulic system?
- What type of interchanging valves shall be used, and which types are commonly used in market?
- How feasible is this concept in terms of maintenance cost factor?
Advantages:
Multiple rotors can collectively and actively work to produce electricity using only two generators. The cost of generator claims at least 30 to 40% proportion of Micro Hydro setup cost. Now we can cut the cost of large number of generators required and benefit from:
- Environmentally friendly power.
- Multiple setups in one row.
- Job creation in hilly areas.
- Low cost, higher outputs.
Problem Areas:
- Hydraulic components cost and maintenance.
- Risk factors with regard to the enormous hydraulic pressure.
SketchUp File | Download SketchUp
Working Details:
For a better understanding of these 3D Models please download the following sketchup files:
The 3D models illustrate how the rotors convert water into hydraulic pressure and how the sum of hydraulic pressure is used to rotate the generator shafts by using output pistons.
System Components:
- Rotors working upon the basic principal of run-of-river water wheel methodology.
- Input pistons (part 1 of hydraulic module)
- Hydraulic pressure chamber.
- Interchanging valve.
- Output piston (final part of hydraulic module)
- Generators.
- Infrastructure for electric power stabilization and distribution to nearby grid or local populations.
Estimated power out-puts under ideal conditions:
Average Width of River – 12.20 Mt
Average depth of River – 2.00 Mt
Average Flow of stream – 22 ˜ 25 Mt² Per Sec
No water head available but the velocity can produce the effect of 1 Mt head.
As we have the assumed readings for each rotor output – the possible final output after transmission of power into mechanical to hydraulic – and respectively hydraulic into mechanical force will surely result in energy loss. Therefore the efficiency factor can be driven after some expert professionals assess the design concepts.
SketchUp File | Download SketchUp
Request for analysis and conclusions:
I request that professional engineers specializing in the field of hydro power and hydraulic components see the model and post their valuable comments, or rate this concept, whether is it workable idea or not. If there are any changes or up modifications required I will open to discuss all the features. My contact details are as follows:
Sarfraz Ahmad Khan
109-West, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Email:
sarfrazahmad2807@yahoo.com
Sarfraz.ahmad2807@gmail.com
Phone:
0092-51-2828408
0092-51-2206873
Fax: 0092-51-2828409
Cell: 0092-322-5106080
Res: 0092-51-5576127
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February 26th, 2008
ASAK
Well Done, Good work, Keep it up.
April 26th, 2008
Hi, This is so simple to understand, I’m not an engineer but this seems so good to be true.
I’m a Chartered Accountant by profession, I offer you my support. I wish If I had the resources would have done something to assist you. Don’t know what those fat a** people in out science and technology ministry are doing …
May 18th, 2008
Asakm,
This seems to be a good project. I am an mechanical engineer and it can work, but the thing is you have to approved this project by govt. agencies before doing it.
May 18th, 2008
Well done!
I am not a engineer but it is very simple to understand. Keep it up and don’t stop and try to get it approved and bring this project on ground. It looks alright especially in our Pakistan where we have so many opportunities with rivers and canals. Good luck!
June 26th, 2008
I don’t know.. why don’t you use directly energy?
And at first convert it to pressure… you can connect hydro rotor to generator without convert the energy to the pressure, and u can reduce the destruction of energy. And you can use a wheel with high mass to moderate the velocity of rotation.
June 26th, 2008
Seems like a great written project for a junior high school attendee, but utterly functionally implausible when it comes to implementation.
June 29th, 2008
I can make the above work without the following listed below:
WATER
WIND
SOLAR
and reduce the size….. let’s talk.
July 25th, 2008
It’s always good to think of new concepts for renewable energy, but this idea does not seem plausible to me. From looking at the sketch up at full scale (with human in background), it seems like you would be covering large areas of rivers with this system. In this day and age with proper environmental considerations in place, this will not be possible. This being said, I do think that this system could be put in place in smaller human made canals, where there are less impacts on river ecology, such as current changes, silt transport, and fish kills.
August 28th, 2008
Dear Sir: I looked through your project and seems well. I do have a similar idea, but in a smaller scale in which high grade hydrogen is produced for buoyancy and the redundant electricity is selling to the grid. Do I make sense? For me, electricity is an input and a byproduct, while hydrogen, demanded in 99,99% purity is the final good. I come form the Economic Sciences, so costs and prices drive me. Best of luck, and keep working on such wonderful ideas.
César Jaramillo
Costa Rica
September 10th, 2008
Hey I’m a mechanic and engineer for 2-stroke engines i like your idea. Great idea, I was looking at your project and I was thinking what if you used a series of belts to power your generator just to make it a little simpler but like i said great job!!!
September 11th, 2008
I thought this concept has been implemented before. My advice to you is to do your research on other countries that have the similar industry as yours. The wheel/ pulley/ belt concept are more practical and cost effective to optimized your design. My background is ME.
September 18th, 2008
It seems workable but take in to account the spacing of rotors since they are connected to a common flywheel the differential speed of the rotors, due differential flow rate of river, would reduce the output . Part of the output would actually be eaten-up by the system for synchronizing the speed of the rotors. Better to have independent system with input to the final stage.
November 7th, 2008
I like your idea, I have recently been playing with Gear pumps and came up with the same concept for wind turbines. In an area where wind is slow, it may be necessary to connect three wind turbines to turn one generator. I believe that the efficiency is good compared to belt driven because the hydraulic connection can connect turbines that are 20 or 30 feet apart. You just can’t do that with a belt!
When you consider that each aditional turbine would cost 30% less than the first (no generator)I believe it makes sense.
I must agree with the idea that the impact on a waterway would be large, but look at the impact that has been accepted in many communities throughout the world.
November 27th, 2008
great idea, very hard to put in use. besides, the vertical movement to adjust for tides is important, as well as debris in the water. Very tough to get approvals. keep going! good stuff…pd- inventor of GMAX-
December 10th, 2008
Good idea,
Yet the efficiency lost through the hydraulic system could hinder the output power generation
December 23rd, 2008
Hi Gmoore
can we have an online meeting our power generation without water, Wind and Solar.
If interested plz mail me at attiq[AT]sapphireconsultingservices.com
January 1st, 2009
Hi,
First, it is amazing that internet is enabling this co-operation sans boarders. I am appreciate the idea of combining the energy into high pressure fluid. It allows spacing the turbines far apart without gears, belts and the problems associated with different individual speeds. A few thoughts. Well, when i started writing i did some math.
Water at 1m/s speed through a 1 square meter cross section, means 1 cubic meter of water -1000kg -flowing at 1m/s, has a kinetic energy 0.5 x 1000 kg x 1 m/s x 1 m/s = 500 Joules. Assuming that the flow is constant, it gives 500 Watts. For a 12m x 2m river, it is 12 kw per turbine. We will be able to tap only a fraction of this. That is good and bad. Bad that we are running at lower efficiency. Good that the water slowed down by first one is used by the second. Well, then it runs at slower speed if it is close by.(different speeds – no belts, chain – clumsy) Otherwise we will have to keep the second turbine(?) down the stream so that flow attains the lost speed. Again, if if the efficiency is low, and they all rotate at comparable speed, close enough, we may be able to extract more with more number of them. My wild guess is 50% efficiency. We need to consider the losses due to this hydraulic system (friction in piston, friction of un-compressible fluid on the walls of the tube, efficiency). This combined with the efficiency of the rest of the system, we might get total 25% efficiency. I am not sure of even that. This massive structures giving only 3kW may not be so bad. We need to consider – at what cost. If it can be built at say even at $5/W ($15000) it is worth trying. Finally everything boils down to $(or any currency) per watt in large scale. I also share the environmental issues.
The working fluid is water here. If it is something else more compressible, say air, although we loose some heat while compressing it, we can store energy in air cylinders. I read of some cars running on compressed air. I can also imagine similar pistons for wind turbines. Thereby reducing the cost of generators/stress/fatigue on top of wind turbines.
George
Bangalore, India
January 15th, 2009
Your concept is great, I agree that gears and pulleys are bulky. However, the fluid or air going to the “Cylinder or tank” must also not be pulsating coming out the other side spinning the generator. I’ve come across this problem with my invention “GeMax”. My solution was a holding tank brought up to preasure, then a secondary tank evenly distributing power without pulsing (I’m using water)..
Paul DiMaggio-
February 18th, 2009
Aslamoalaikum,
I am a mechanical engineer. I would like to congratulate Mr khan for his wonderful invention and wish him luck for all his endeavors. I am pondering over this invention. I find some improvisation in theis design. Sarfraz I want to discuss with u regarding this invention. Hopefully next month because I am busy in my exams these days. Best of luck.
February 19th, 2009
Aalamo alaikum
I don’t know where have you got up to with this idea as i said before it looks possible.Have you contacted some body in order to put this idea into reality, there may be some complications and you may need to bring some changes in your design but hardest thing is to take the first step which you need to take, and we blessed with one of the greatest cannal system in our region which can be ++ point in this regard. Please keep us up dated with your project as people like me far away from Pakistan are always eager to hear any success story from Pakistan. God help you and give you courage to carry out your good job.
March 26th, 2009
Hi,
This is one of the great idea I ever seen. I am trying to explain this to my prof. He is Ph.D. in hydraulic power generation. Will you please send the more details about this project? This concept is excellent and we are interested in study this further. Please please forward some more information about this. We will be greatful to see this concept working successfully.
Congratulations for this great concept, Please kindly send the details on my E-mail ID
AMOL GHAISAS
amolghaisas[AT]gmail.com
April 25th, 2009
If you have interest in making your comcept into a production item, please contact me at the above e mail address. I own several factories engaged in various forms of energy and energy related products.
ILF
May 24th, 2009
My friend
I think that you would be much better off starting with a system that works on simple pulleys, belts and smaller generators. One massive hydraulic leak and you would have nay sayers lined up at your door and around the block. Don’t forget you can increase the speed of the flow of the river by using concrete forms in the river to create a smaller port for the water to flow through. Don’t forget the power yield from a fluid is a logarithmic one not a direct one. Your looking to increase the speed of the fluid. By creating many smaller units you will find the necessary parts and equipment easier to come by. Not to mention installation and maintenance costs will be lower. My background is in industrial mechanics. Let me know what you think. I’m a Canadian Citizen who is looking for a little bit of intrigue and adventure working in a different country. If anyone out there reading this is looking for a person with an industrial mechanics background and who like to think and work problems to a solution drop a line! pvpurcell[AT]yahoo.com
June 4th, 2009
Check out national geographic 2009 overview much better system works with less power like fish.
July 25th, 2009
G-Max-is a tidal Flow activated device to make electricity. The first prototype and test have gone very well. I hope to post some drawings soon so i can hear your opinions. Hopefully, an interested engineer can help me with some calculations for a percentage of the potential profit.
August 3rd, 2009
The idea is good but it can be made more simple. Why not use canals coming directly from Barages like Sukkar,Guddu,Taunsa and Ghulam Muhammad Barages. Water through pipes can be flowed from either sides of the canal to water turbine at a certain slope;run the turbines with the water momentum to produce power.Smaller turbines can be installed at distances of 200 M on the entire feasible length of the canal. Experts can design capacity of generator in the system. I am sure,in view of availability of above types of canals in Pakistan, we are sure to produce more than 10,000 MW electricity from one canal only. There are so many types and designs of hydel turbines available in the markets. We can also select some floating types of such equipment for use on rivers. I have pondered on such opportunities in our country,which are immense, the problem is that our high tops do not want to give any facility to our common people. They want to keep them involved in their personal problems of bread, water, power etc.
September 5th, 2009
I am working as and am a qualified mechanical engineer. Came across this site by researching water hammer and ram pumps.
Your idea appears good on the surface, but not very realistic, I can think of a dozen issues just by looking at your pretty design, if you want to make use of water streams, study turbines, for a little bit of non conventional go a little on a limb and read on Victor Schauberger.
But should you want to stick to the above concept you may want to use compressed air for the power transfer medium, and when you talk reciprocating hydraulic machines be prepared for mega bucks, inefficiency, high maintenance cost. Another words stick to direct reduction drives, with smaller generators. Remember this, “simplicity”, and you cannot go wrong.
Best of luck
September 5th, 2009
Roger, your comment is appreciated. “Direct Drive” never thought of that. Coming up with challenges in the transfer of power for my device G-Max. I’ve ruled out belts & pulleys. Now using pressure tanks- water as the fluid. Seems to buffer the pulsating action inherent in the device by controlling the outgoing valve on the serving tank directly into the pelton turbine. The holding tank/s seems to be the answer for temp storage of this fluid energy.
Using a direct drive method, could there be some sort of “slip gear” to buffer the pulsate’s? I wonder if there are systems in place now that are similar?
October 18th, 2009
Bad idea. The first waterwheel will absorb a good deal of water energy and the second in the row will gain less energy and third almost nothing. Besides there is no such strong, cheap and light materials that could withstand a large force of fast wide river. And a small scale device will bring almost nothing because there is no much energy in the streaming water inlike in the falling one. Complicating system with extra things like cylinders make this device much expensive, unefficiency and unreliable.
October 19th, 2009
Neat! What about using augers or helical forms instead of planar blades to reduce pulsing and maybe increase power input? And there are carbon fiber belts on the way! Peace to you and yours from Missoula Montana.
October 26th, 2009
This is a good project. We are doing an environment project in India ,as a part of our course in Engineering. Thank you for your valuable ideas.
January 23rd, 2010
Hi,
I’d like to add something: Since electrical machines prefer a higher speed of rotation, you should consider using hydraulic motors and pumps instead of pistons/con-rods.
After all, you can save all the transmission when you invest some time in the design of a small, fast running turbine. This time will pay off, because you save costs and gain reliability.
Best of Luck
Niklas
n.rusche att gmx dot net