What prompted your interest to pursue this study?
This year, for our alternative energy science class, we have been asked to create a project that conserves or saves energy in a unique way. You can use solar, wind, water, or any other type of power you can think of. But first, I had to think of a problem that people have, or something that we waste all the time, without even thinking about it. My first thought was of water. We waste it daily from when we leave the tap on when you brush your teeth, to that extra water that goes down the sink when you get a drink of water. Or what about that bath and shower water that you only use once, and then it goes down the drain? All that water may not go to the landfill, but it does take a lot of energy to clean and purify that water all over again. So I thought, "What if there was someway to harness the energy the falling water creates when it goes down the drain." For example, if you were to put a small water turbine in the drain, and when the water flowed into the drain, it would turn the water turbine, and if the water turbine was hooked up to some sort of power converter, then we could harness some energy just by emptying a bathtub. The average person uses about 109500 liters to 136875 liters of water a year, just think about all that power going down the drain! If the water turbine in the drain idea works, then you could save tons of energy every year. So I have decided to take on this idea, and hopefully turn it into a successful project, and maybe even the new way to save energy.
What are some initial questions we will need to research and ponder?
- How does a water turbine work?
- How do power converters work?
- What is waterfall power and how does it work?
- Where does the water go after it goes down the drain?
- What cycle must the water go through to be purified?
- About how much energy is used for water to go through these processes?
Materials needed:
- two micro-hydro water turbines
- two small sheets of plywood
- low rpm electric generator
- screwdriver
- screws
- two rolls of duct tape
- a couple large tubes of PVC piping
- some source of draining water
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4683787_waterfall-generate-power_.html
http://www.hgtv.com/video/waterfall-power-plant-home-video/index.html
http://grist.org/list/this-artificial-waterfall-will-power-olympics-2016/
http://www.absak.com/library/hydro-power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_turbine
http://www.ec21.com/ec-market/water_turbine_generator.html
http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2010/03/09/build-small-scale-hydroelectric-generator/
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Hydro/hydro.htm
http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/watr1.htm
http://hydro.org/
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/hydropower-profile/
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/build-micro-hydropower-generator-repurposed-printer-parts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower
The people who work at the Dam
Technology majors at the High School/Community College
photos by: photographing-waterfalls-1.jpg
527316.jpg
dams_with_water.jpg
Criteria and Constraints
Criteria: 1. Project must be created to work efficiently
2. project must be neat and organized
3. project must not lose to much energy
4. project must be able to create as much energy as possible with certain constraints
Constraints: 1. project has to be done with a minimal amount of money
2. project has to be done with a minimal amount of time
3. project must not take up the time spent on other class assignments
4. project has to be created with a limited amount of supplies
5. project must be able to be created at home
Definitions to know:
Current: current is the flow of electric charge through a conductive medium. In electric circuts, this charge is often carried by moving electrons in a wire. it can also be carried by an ion in an electrolyete or by both ions and electrons such as plasma. The SI unit for measuring the rate of the flow of electric charge is an ampere, which is the charge flowing through some medium at the rate of one coulomb per second. current is measured using an ammeter.
Voltage: voltage, AKA electric potential difference, is the electric potential difference between two points. It is measured in electric potential (volts or joules per coulomb) voltage can represent a source of energy, lost used, or stored energy. a voltmeter measures the voltage between two points in a system. voltage is equal to the work which would have to be done per unit of charge against a static electric field to move the charge between two points.
Electric current
RESEARCH: Multimeters
multimeters are mainly used for measuring voltage, resistance, continuity, and current. This is what the project I am currently working on, (no pun intended) will require. I need some type of device to measure these factors that are essential to testing the level of efficiency of my project (voltage, resistance, continuity and current). From a tutorial video, I learned that you can find multimeters in just about any store that sells hardware. (Home Depot, True Value, etc.) You should makes sure that the multimeter that can measure voltage ______ resistance _()_, continuity .))))), and current 10a.
V ...........
it is alright if the multimeter is not completely accurate. Having a give or take of 2% should work just fine. When testing a material, turn the knob on the ammeter or multimeter to the operation you want to measure. Then you will always attach the to wire clamps (red and black) to each end or in each socket, or at the very least on two places of the material. If you have done this step correctly, you should get a reading on the multimeter. If not, try attaching the wire clamps to different places, or adjusting them. If you can measure the voltage and the current, then you can find the work. just multiply the voltage times the current of the item and you have your work. for example:
Voltage = 1.5 x Current = 2.0 = Work = 3.0
Here is some background on current:
Current Fundamentals
"In solid conductive metal, a large population of electrons is either mobile or free. When a metal wire is connected across the two terminals of a DC voltage source such as a battery, the source places an electric field across the conductor. The moment contact is made, the free electrons of the conductor are forced to drift toward the positive terminal under the influence of this field.
The free electron is therefore the current carrier in a typical solid conductor. For an electric current of 1 ampere rate, 1 coulomb of electric charge (which consists of about 6.242 × 1018 electrons) drifts every second through the imaginary plane through which the conductor passes." - National Instruments Current Measurements how-to-guide
There are two easy ways you an measure current, you can use d'Arsonval ammeter, or you can base it on the theory of electricity using Ohm's law.
Ohm’s Law – "Ohm’s law states that, in an electrical circuit, the current passing through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference (in other words, voltage drop or voltage) across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them.
The mathematical equation that describes this relationship is:
I = V/R
where I is the current in amperes, V is the potential difference
between two points of interest in volts, and R is a circuit parameter,
measured in ohms (which is equivalent to volts per ampere), called the
resistance."- National Instruments Current Measurements how-to-guide
Voltage Measurement Fundamentals
"To understand how to measure voltages, it is essential to understand the background of how you take the measurement. Essentially, voltage is the electrical potential difference between two points of interest in an electrical circuit. However, a common point of confusion is how the measurement reference point is determined. The measurement reference point is the voltage level at which the measurement is referenced to.
Reference Point Methods
There are essentially two methods to measure voltages: ground referenced and differential.
Ground Referenced Voltage Measurement
One method is to measure voltage with respect to a common, or a “ground” point. Oftentimes, these “grounds” are stable and unchanging and are most commonly around 0 V. Historically, the term ground originated from the usual application of ensuring the voltage potential is at 0 V by connecting the signal directly to the earth.
Ground referenced input connections are particularly good for a channel that meets the following conditions:
• The input signal is high-level (greater than 1 V)
• The leads connecting the signal to the device are less than 10 ft (3 m)
• The input signal can share a common reference point with other signals
The ground reference is provided by either the device taking the measurement or by the external signal being measured. When the ground is provided by the device, this setup is called ground referenced single-ended mode (RSE), and when the ground is provided by the signal, the setup is called non-referenced single-ended mode (NRSE)."-National Instruments Current Measurements how-to-guide
here is a couple pictures of our homemade water turbine hooked up with gears and a motor. so far we have been testing it by running faucet water over the turbine and measuring it's current with a multimeter.
this is us using the voltage from our manually powered turbine that spins a motor creating enough power to light up several Christmas lights.
Goals for this week
work on improving design
- our new design will hopefully reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic that gets in the way of the turbine and wires.
P.G.
Goals for this week 1/22/13
calculate the GPE of three gallons of waterGoals for this week 1/22/13
measure the voltage produced by our turbine powered by that water
Goals for this week 1/29/13
fit a piece of PVC piping onto our bucket to mimick a drain system
attatch motor to turbine to reduce plastic
Our Finished Product!!!!!!!
Testing Our Water Turbine
