Hydropower plant built in an off-grid community in Peru
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- For updates on the vortex hydropower plant and other projects, see our Facebook page / kadagayaproject
Please subscribe to our channel for further videos.
Further technical details can be found here in a 2019 publication (www.sciencedir.... Please contact us for a copy if you cannot access the paper online.
The Kadagaya project is developing a research centre for appropriate technology. We are located in the jungle of Peru and are developing a self-sufficient community in parallel to demonstrate our developed technologies. We are inspired by the concepts of a new social system called a resource-based economy (RBE) and are working to provide the basic needs of clean water, renewable energy, optimized nutrition, holistic education, sustainable housing and more. More information can be found on our website www.kadagaya.org.
This video briefly introduces the gravitational vortex hydroelectric plant built by the Kadagaya community. Some features and advantages of this relatively new technology are as follows:
• suitable for rivers with low head (1-5 m) and high flow
• does not require a large dam to be built
• has positive effects of the local ecosystem (aerating the water and allowing fish to flow in both directions)
• simple design with low investment and maintenance requirements
• can be constructed with manual labour and materials and technology available in developing countries
• a feasible clean energy solution for off-grid communities
The construction of the hydro plant took around 1.5 years. A large part of this time was spent excavating the channels and tank. This was done manually as the site was not accessible by machinery and we encountered many large river boulders and seasonal flooding that slowed work down.
A small dam and dyke were constructed on the edge of the river to feed the inlet channel. The entire hydroelectric plant is located inland to avoid problems with flooding during the wet season. An inlet gate controls the level of water (and hence the energy generated). An overflow channel just before the tank protects the electric system from flooding.
The spiral shape of the tank is optimised to achieve a strong vortex in the centre of the rotation tank. The water exits the tank through a small hole at the base of the vortex and flows out the exit channel, back into the river.
A vertical axis turbine sits within the core of the vortex. The axis of the turbine is attached to a gearbox that accelerates the slow rotation of the turbine into higher revolutions required by the generator. The generator (alternator) converts the rotational energy into electricity. We are using a 10 kW 3-phase (380 V) AC generator that generates around 7.5 kW. The voltage is regulated using control circuits and the electricity is carried via cables over a distance of 500 m to the house.
We plan to share our knowledge and experience of this project in more detail in the future (including technical and financial details). In the meantime, please contact us by email (kadgaya.adm@gmail.com) or leave a comment here with any questions.
Thanks for watching. If you have any questions or comments about the technology or the Kadagaya community, please contact us. We learnt a lot during this project and are really happy to share advice.
I understand that this is an old vid, so I don't know if my observations would be still relevant.
I like the idea of making power accessible to remote communities and understand the tremendous challenges sometimes involved in doing so. That's why I commend you guys for doing the project.
Firstly, regarding the efficiency of the design, I think it can be increased with a little tweaking of the penstock by adding a "wicket gate" in the volute, which is basically independent, adjustable vanes around the runner vanes of the turbine. That would increase the speed of the water vortex and pressure on the runner blades.
Secondly, the design of the runner vanes / "turbine blades " needs to be changed from those straight blades to angled blades ( similar to that of a Kaplan turbine blade ) which is more aerodynamic and would increase the efficiency of the generator. There are two types blades generally used in hydro turbines. Impulse (Pelton turbines) and reaction ( Kaplan & Francis Turbines ). Because the blade & runner assembly is completely submerged in the water, your turbine would fall into the crossflow classification, hence the need to adjust the curvature of the blade, which would increase the speed and efficiency of the runner.
Thirdly, the draft tube exit below the submerged hub of the runner should probably be connected to a pipe that opens out into the channel that goes back into the river. The opening should be about 3X the size that is connected to the opening at the bottom of the runner.
Hi Dane, thanks for your interest and apologies for the late reply! The velocity profiles in the vortex system are quite complex, and the pressure distributions need to be considered differently than fully submerged reaction turbines that are common for other hydropower systems. In general, the turbines used in vortex systems are partially impulse and partially reaction. The efficiency of the turbine was not a major priority in the initial testing of our plant. However, now we are in the optimization stage, and we are designing a new turbine based on detailed modeling of the velocity profiles. We think we have a very nice design, which is currently under testing. Stay tuned for some details about this soon :)
Greetings from USA 🇺🇸
I enjoyed the video so much;And looking forward to more detail technical information about the vortex turbine based on your experience.
I wish you guys the best.
Thanks for all the hard work you have done 🙏😊👍
So proud of you guys! I can't wait to come back and visit!
Awesome! You made a great job. It's a cool system for people who live close to the river.
Thanks for the support! Rivers are an under-exploited source of low-head sites for microhydropower. Stay tuned for more updates on turbine optimization soon!
Great, useful project. With love from india
Excelente trabajo, llevando la energía a lugares lejanos
Gracias por tu interes! Suscríbete al canal para recibir actualizaciones!
This make the job done.. not expensive dams.
80'000 of this can make more energy than a 1 Billion Dam.
You to make the proportions of costs.
Nice electrical power.... great from Papua
Nice project. I can learn , will apply in my village
Ай молодца!!
Buenas tardes estoy interesado para una comunidad de la selva de Perú con podría tener más datos y más información
Is there data about the efficiency available? I hear numbers between 23% and 80%.
The inventor claims 80%, while unhappy customers in Germany an
Switzerland say it is below 50% and some scientist gave numbers of
around 30%. Hardly anybody seems do be willing to share measurement data...
We are in the process of documenting and publishing all our experimental data. It is a priority for us to be transparent and openly evaluate this technology. With the last version of the turbine we measured a system efficiency of around 38% and a turbine efficiency of around 50% (assuming an efficiency of the gearbox of 90% and the alternator 80%). We expect that the total system efficiency could be increased to around 50%, this is actually very good for a hydro system. The inventor (Zotleterer) claims a turbine efficiency of 80% (which would actually result in an overall system efficiency around 50% assuming they have similar efficiencies as we do for the other parts). If you would like more details, please contact us kadagaya.adm@gmail.com
I agree with you Kadagaya. Love what you're doing with the community. I'm sure you'll develop plenty of ways to help the indigenous communities. In our prestudies we also evaluated the design of Zotloeterer and arrived at a system efficiency of 32%. We know you can increase these kinds of turbines up to 60% full system for sure, because we just made one in Chile. Not too far away from you guys ;) . Would be fun to meet up once I'm back in South America. (I'm Geert Slachmuylders). Here's a video of our design if you're curious. Not in a beautiful river, but in a muddy canal. Still an awesome vortex though! ua-cam.com/video/Bhyi1DjGti8/v-deo.html
Why the obsession with efficiency. The water is free and returned to the river. If you have plenty of water, who cares if it takes more water for a given output than you would like. The point is that the village gets power, and the builders have actually made this instead of talking about it as you 'so true it hurts' seem to be doing.
Hi Geert, thanks for getting in touch and great to see this technology getting out into the real world, especially in South America. Please keep in touch as we would love to share experiences.
Moby Duck "Why the obsession with efficiency" thats the entire point of engineering, you brainlet.
the power out put could be greater with a larger gear ratio
The author is named Barrows.
hello friend how are you?
I am Brazilian, and I live in the most blessed region in terms of water.
I would like to know the minimum requirements to use this project here in my region, given the ample opportunity.
Fala Virgilio, alguma novidade no projeto? Podemos trocar ideias
@@ÁrvoresEmadeiras fala mano, por falta de tempo tive que dá um off nos projetos, mas cheguei a fazer uma parceria verbal com o pessoal dos geradores Hoffmann, eu ia buscar locais com potencial hídrico aqui
@@Virgilio007CaT legal, eu to planejando montar uma assim em um rio e ir testando
Hola serían tan amables de compartír más información sobre el dinamo? Si tiene alguna especificación para generar la mitad de energía de lo que produce el del vídeo.
Hola, gracias por tu interes en el sistema. Estamos usando un dinamo trifasico de Jiangsu Farrand Alternator Technology Co., Ltd., China (modelo FLD162E). Hay que elegir un modelo para la energia maxima que puedes producir, pero funciona igual con menos produccion. Pero claro, un dinamo mas pequeño cuesta menos. La energia depende en el caudal, caida del agua, y eficiencia del sistema (la eficiencia de la turbina es mucho menos que el transmisión y otros partes). Si tienes mas preguntas, por favor contactanos por correo (kadagaya.adm@gmail.com).
Avez vous des projets sur de petits cours d'eau ?
This is great!
Excelente!
1.5 years to build?
👍
hola que parte de peru se construyo
can i get a install in Colorado., USA cost for the kit ?
Thanks for the interest in our technology Donald! We do not sell systems, but we can provide information if you want to do an installation yourself. You could look into Vortech and Turbulent, which are companies providing similar technology.
how can i get the construction plans sir, we are in the villages we wanted to have this project to power our village.... appreciate your support..
Please get in touch by email (kadagaya.adm@gmail.com) for more design details.
Estoy interesado en este método para mi finca
Hola Reynaldo, si quieres detalles del sistema, por favor mandanos un email (kadagaya.adm@gmail) y podemos hablar mas considerando tus necesidades.
Sir..can we run this plant with bhore water?
There are no limitations on the type of water used. The technology is suitable for industrial wastewaters as well as river and channel sources. The only requirements are appropriate flow conditions, such as the head and volumetric flow rate of the water. Bore water often has high mineral contents, which could have long-term effects regarding corrosion or deposition of minerals, but this would have to be evaluated for your specific water source.
Too long 1.5years, i also had mine @ 60w using conical basin and with lesser alloy blades compared to yours, get updated updated of upscaled version next month
Hey, I wanted to make this project at my college so will you help me im a mechanical student
are you am American?
@@MatthewHensley8304 no, IND
There is bladeless version i just made--check it out😀
Your video text animations is way too fast.
Thanks for the feedback! We will address this in the next edit.
Take the motor off of a windmill and stop playing around.
Thanks for the comment! We have had a lot of fun and learnt a lot playing around with this system!