DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO HYDROPOWER FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES Mohamad Ridhzan Bin Roslan Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Electronics and Computer Engineering) 2009 UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
R13a BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS Judul: DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO HYDROPOWER FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES SESI PENGAJIAN: 2009/2010 Saya MOHAMAD RIDHZAN BIN ROSLAN (HURUF BESAR) mengaku membenarkan tesis * ini disimpan di Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut: 1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. 2. Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja. 3. Membuat pendigitan untuk membangunkan Pangkalan Data Kandungan Tempatan. 4. Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi. 5. ** Sila tandakan ( ) di kotak yang berkenaan SULIT TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972). (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/ badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan). TIDAK TERHAD Disahkan oleh (TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA) Alamat tetap: No. 173, Lorong 4A6 Tabuan Laru, 93350, Kuching, Sarawak DR. AL-KHALID HAJI OTHMAN Nama Penyelia Tarikh: 12 APRIL 2010 Tarikh: 12 APRIL 2010 CATATAN * Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah, Sarjana dan Sarjana Muda. ** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT dan TERHAD.
This Final Year Project attached here: Title : Design and Development of Micro Hydropower for Underserved Communities Student Name : Mohamad Ridhzan bin Roslan Matric No : 16647 has been read and approved by: Dr. Al-Khalid Haji Othman Date (Supervisor)
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO HYDROPOWER FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES MOHAMAD RIDHZAN BIN ROSLAN Thesis is submitted to Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Electronic and Computer Engineering) 2010
Dedicated to my beloved family
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This project has been made possible as a result of the co-operation and support rendered by several individuals. While it is impossible to list down all of them, I am very grateful for their assistance. Firstly, I would like to extend a very special note of appreciation to my supportive Final Year Project supervisor, Dr. Al-Khalid Haji Othman who has put so much effort in coordinating this project. I am thankful to his patience, advices, comments and guidance throughout the course of this project. His patience and guidance throughout this project is greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank to lecturers in Electronic Department who have offered their advice. Their advice and help was especially helpful in improving this thesis. Grateful gratitude also dedicated to anyone who directly or indirectly helps in making this project success. Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends for all their love, care, support and companion that had helped me in sailing through the many hard days in lives and studies all these while. Thank you.
ABSTRACT Micro hydropower is a mean to generate power with water as its source. This system is useful in generating electrical energy at places with no connection to the national power grid and located near a river or waterfall. This thesis describes the design and development of micro hydropower system for the underserved community. This thesis will cover the design aspects of the intake weir, penstock, water jet nozzle and turbine of the micro hydropower system. This system will be implemented at a village called Kampung Semulong Ulu in Sarawak, Malaysia. This thesis will explain how to implement micro hydropower system with improvisation made to suit the material available locally. Besides that, a more cost effective method is also introduced so villagers can maintain and implement this system. This thesis hopefully will be informative and lightening.
ABSTRAK Kuasa hidro mikro adalah cara untuk menjana kuasa daripada air sebagai puncanya. Sistem ini adalah berguna untuk menjana tenaga elektrik di tempat - tempat yang tidak sambungan kepada grid kuasa national dan juga terletak di lokasi berdekatan dengan sungai atau air terjun. Tesis ini menerangkan tentang rekaan dan melaksana system kuasa hidro mikro untuk komuniti luar bandar. Tesis ini akan merangkumi aspek rekaan untuk bendung kemasukan, saluran paip, muncung air jet dan turbin untuk system kuasa hidro mikro. System ini akan dilaksanakan di Kampung Semulong Ulu di Sarawak, Malaysia. Tesis ini akan menerangkan cara cara untuk melaksanakan sistem kuasa hidro mikro dengan membuat mengikut bahan bahan yang terdapat di pasaran tempatan. Selain itu, cara yang lebih jimat kos juga telah di perkenalkan supaya penduduk tempatan dapat menyelenggara dan melaksanakan sistem ini. Di harap agar tesis ini akan member banyak manfaat.
TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS Acknowledgement Abstract Abstrak Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures Abbreviation PAGE V Vi Vii Viii Xiii Xv Xvii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Statement of Problems 3 1.3 A Solution: Micro Hydropower Electric Generator 4 1.4 Aims and Objectives 5 1.5 Benefits on Project Application 6 1.6 Expected Outcomes 7 1.7 Thesis Structure 8 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Micro Hydropower 10 2.3 General Principles and System Overview 10
2.4 Power 13 2.5 Implementation of a Micro Hydropower System 15 2.6 Demand 15 2.7 Identifying the Catchment Area 16 2.8 Determining Scheme Layout 17 2.9 Site Survey 19 2.9.1 Head Measurement 19 2.9.1.1 Dumpy Levels and Theodolites 19 2.9.1.2 Abney Level 20 2.9.1.3 Water Filled Tube 21 2.9.1.4 Spirit Level 21 2.9.2 Flow Rate Measurement 22 2.9.2.1 Bucket Method 22 2.9.2.2 Float Method 23 2.9.2.3 Salt Gulp Method 25 2.10 Design Strategy 27 2.11 Weirs 28 2.12 Forebay Tanks 28 2.13 Penstock 30 2.13.1 Calculating Penstock Pipe Diameter 32 2.13.2 Calculating Penstock Pipe Thickness 37 2.14 Turbines 39 2.15 Drive System 42
2.16 Generating Electricity 43 2.17 Electronic Load Controller 44 2.18 Electrical Output 45 2.19 Summary 45 Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction 47 3.2 Design Methodology 48 3.2.1 50 3.3 Development Architecture 51 3.4 Project Site 52 3.4.1 Demand Sizing 52 3.4.2 Water Intake 54 3.5 Nozzle Design 56 3.6 Turbine Design 59 3.6.1 Turbine Bucket Design 59 3.6.2 Bucket Frame 61 3.7 Load Control 62 3.8 Methods Used for Testing 63 3.9 Summary 64 Chapter 4 MICRO HYDROPOWER SYSTEM 4.1 Introduction 65
4.2 Design 65 4.3 System Architecture 66 4.3.1 Location 66 4.3.2 Reservoir 68 4.3.3 Filtering System 69 4.3.4 Penstock 71 4.3.5 Turbine 72 4.3.6 Nozzle 74 4.3.7 Drive System 75 4.4 Summary 76 Chapter 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 5.1 Introduction 77 5.2 Intake Weir 77 5.3 Penstock 78 5.4 Turbine 78 5.5 Nozzle 79 5.6 Drive System 79 5.7 Power Output 80 5.8 Summary 83 Chapter 6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 6.1 Conclusions 84
6.2 Recommendations for Further Works 85 6.2.1 Intake Weir and Filtering System 86 6.2.2 Penstock 86 6.2.3 Turbine 87 REFERENCE 88 Appendix A 90 Appendix B 91 Appendix C 92 Appendix D 93
LIST OF TABLES TABLES PAGE Table 2.1: Velocity Correction Factor for Types of Streams 29 Table 2.2: upvc and HDPE Difference 34 Table 2.3: Material Grain Size Equivalent 36 Table 2.4: Physical Characteristics of Common Materials 41 Table 2.5 Heads and Turbine Types Application 43 Table 3.1 Load Sizing for Day and Night Power Usage 55 Table 5.1 Output in RPM for Generator 79
LIST OF FIGURES TABLES PAGE Figure 2.1: Definition of Head 12 Figure 2.2: Overview of Micro Hydropower System 14 Figure 2.3: Abney Level Measuring 22 Figure 2.4: Contour Area Calculation Example 27 Figure 2.5: Moody s Chart 37 Figure 2.6: Turbulence Loss in Penstock 39 Figure 2.7: Schematic Diagram of Synchronous Motor Brushless Excitation System 47 Figure 3.1: Methodology Flow Chart 51 Figure 3.2: General Layout of Micro Hydropower System 53 Figure 3.3: Top View Of Forebay Tank 56 Figure 3.4: Side View of Forebay Tank 57 Figure 3.5: Side View of Nozzle 58 Figure 3.6: Nozzle Tip and Rear Measurements 59 Figure 3.7: Front and Side View of Turbine Bucket 61 Figure 3.8: Top View of Bucket Highlighting The Notch Cut Into The Ladle 61 Figure 3.9: Front and Side View of Bucket Holder 62 Figure 2-Way Current Distributor 63
3.10: Figure Dummy Load Circuit 64 3.11: Figure 4.1: Location Map and Route from Kuching to Kampung Semulong Ulu, Lingga, Sri Aman.67 Figure 4.2: Filtering System for The Reservoir.69 Figure 4.3: Filtering system for the reservoir 70 Figure 4.4: A Resin and Fiberglass Reinforced upvc T-Joint 72 Figure 4.5: Pelton Turbine Made From Ladle 73 Figure 4.6: Red Nozzle and Ladle Turbine 74 Figure 4.7: Drive System 75 Figure 5.1: Voltage versus Rotations per Minute Graph 80 Figure 5.2: Voltage versus Current Graph 82
ABBREVIATION RES - Rural Electrification Scheme ELC - Electronic Load Controller UNIMAS - Universiti Malaysia Sarawak HDPE - High Density Polythylene PVC - Poly Vinyl Chloride MCB - Miniature Circuit Breaker
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter will be an overwiew of the micro hydropower system and its significance for underserved communities. Besides that, the project background and its objectives are also discussed. Furthermore, the expected project outcomes and its contribution will be explained. 1.1 Introduction Electricity has become one of our important needs since its discovery. Its discovery has sparked a rapid evolution in our technology that it affects our everyday
life be it good or bad. However, not all of us humans have the privilege to benefit from this commodity [1]. In Malaysia, although most of the advertisements show that we are a developed country, in reality there were underprivileged community that resides on the outskirts of big cities who does not have the chance to experience electricity [1]. To extend the use of electricity to these communities, the Malaysian government has introduced the Rural Electrification Scheme which purpose is to introduce electricity to these communities. However, the implementation of this scheme is slow and would cost millions as the geographical and logistic factors are a lot because most of the communities without electricity are not easily accessible [2]. In order to compete with developed nations, Malaysia must utilize and implement the current ever growing technology. However, in order to optimize the capability of Malaysia, no community must be left behind in the race. Therefore, measures must be taken to give opportunity for this underserved community to join the effort to further develop Malaysia [1, 2]. This project is intended to design and implement a micro hydropower system that would be efficient and at a reasonable cost. A case study is made on a village called Kampong Semulong Ulu located in Sarawak where the system was implemented. The micro hydropower system consists of intake weir, penstock, nozzle, turbine, drive system, electric generator and load controller. This project will focus more on the design aspects that is needed to develop a micro hydropower system and means of implementing the system with the current resource available at hand. Certain modifications to current standard design to compensate to the limited resource will also be discussed.
1.2 Statement of Problems Most underserved communities dwelling in the outskirts of Malaysia do not have access to electricity. As the city dwellers becomes more advance with new technologies, these underserved communities lives a fulfilling life without knowing their potential to advance. Without any knowledge or awareness of the importance of electricity, these communities will not demand to have electricity. With no demand, there will not be any effort to acquire electricity for these communities. Most underserved communities are the ones that does not have proper way of transportation to a major city. This factor would further impair efforts to develop the area. Waiting for a path or road to the closest city would take years. Ways to reach these communities may be costly and time consuming. For this reason, the community is isolated from the outside world. If these communities stay isolated for too long, they may not catch up to the advancements in science and technology. Although underserved communities are said to have no electricity, there are some fortunate ones that have a taste of electricity. But the problem is, these communities are using diesel generator to power up their village. By doing so, the cost of operation is high and inclining due to the increasing price of diesel. Distribution cables and poles for electricity from the main power grid are expensive. Besides that, the underserved communities are usually at places that are hard
to be reached. In order to connect these villagers to the national power grid, sections of the jungle needs to be cleared. These factors, combined with the uneven geographical topology and low population would make the extension of distribution cables from the main power grid not economically wise. Besides that, the not uniform topological geography of the Malaysian land causes implementation a power plant design to be variable. Optimum design of an electric power plant for the underserved community in general may not be achievable. 1.3 A Solution: Micro Hydropower Electric Generator As seen in the problem statement, underserved communities are in their state because of the fact that they are isolated. Bear in mind that this isolation is not because of other population cannot accept them, but actually it is the geographical and transportation factor. A micro hydropower may be the ideal solution for those problems. Logically, if people were to establish a settlement, they would first find an area with water source. This is due to the fact that water is the very source of life. When there is water, animals would flock the area, plants will grow ideal place to start a village. Hypothetically speaking, the underserved community who establish their settlement away from the city should have at least a water source nearby, hence, a possibility to set up a micro hydropower system. Once the system has been deployed, the capability of the community will be increased because they will be introduced to the usage of television and radios that
would open up their world. This hopefully would spark a renaissance in their lifestyle that would propel their living status. A micro hydropower electric generator has a range from 5kW to 300kW [3]. This is suitable because it is not too small and could power up a small village. The cost for the implementation of this system also is an added plus because it is cost effective to establish a micro hydropower scheme in the middle of the often unreachable places rather than taping from the country s main power grid. 1.4 Aims and Objective The aim of this thesis is to design and develop a micro hydropower system. The design of this system will be analyzed and studied. Therefore, building a prototype of this system is achievable. Besides that, the micro hydropower system that will be designed and developed must be reasonable in cost and maintainability, thus making it versatile and easily deployed. The objectives of this thesis are to: Study on the parts and functions in a micro hydropower system. Design and develop a micro hydropower system that is able to generate 5kW of electrical power for rural home use. Make alteration to commonly used designs to suit the availability of materials while keeping the efficiency at an acceptable rate. Be able to apply the micro hydropower system efficiently given the different scenarios of flow rate and head height.
Build a working hardware that would be able to generate up to 5kW of electrical power to simulate a proof of concept for the design made for a micro hydropower scheme. 1.5 Benefits on Project Applications. This project is made to contribute into the micro hydropower field. Besides that, this project can also be a project guide for implementing a micro hydropower based project. On top of that, this project will also show alternative method in implementing the micro hydropower project. This project will contribute for a more efficient use of hardware and resources for implementing the micro hydropower system for the underserved communities. The implementation of the system would also help the underserved communities to have electricity. This is possible due to the low cost method provided and improvisation of locally available parts. Besides that, micro hydropower system does not disturb the ecosystem. Fossil fuel usage to generate electricity would also be decreased, thus making this system environmentally friendly. 1.6 Expected Outcomes The expected outcome for this project is a working micro hydropower system that can successfully generate 5kW power of electricity. This amount of electricity is
enough to power up a small settlement with basic electrical appliances. To generate 5kW power, the design should take into account the head, flow rate, intake weir, penstock and turbine design. These designs are to achieve the required 1500rpm for common electric generator to generate 50 khz of 5kW electricity. On top of that this project would also come up with solutions to limited resources available for these underserved communities. Furthermore the environmental factors that would make the implementation of an ideal micro hydropower system would also be highlighted. 1.7 Thesis Structure Chapter 1 reviews the potential and benefits of implementing micro hydropower system to generate electricity for underserved community. On top of that, this chapter also shows the current problems and a brief rundown of the proposed solution. Chapter 2 will include all the important principals, research and information about the designing process for a micro hydropower scheme. Besides that, each part of the system will be broke down for further understanding and the clarification of the subject. Chapter 3 will describe the design methodology for this project. It will show from the designing strategies and a description on designs used. The procedures for the proof on concept test will also be described in this chapter. Chapter 4 will describe about the implementation of this project. Aspects of its design will also be discussed in this chapter.