Dear Carlos and microhydro list,
Thank you for the specs. Powerpal gear looks good. I believe those are slightly retooled vietnamese sets. Looking at the specs, even their "high heads" are quite low by our local standards. The rest of the stuff is geared to more substantial flows. Some more facts to consider: * In spite it rains 3 to 4 m yearly here (!), summer months can be quite dry and most streamlets tend to run very low. That would be a problem. This incited me to research higher head/low flow solutions. * There is *no* road in most of the places where we would like to see sets installed. The maximum diameter of HDP tubing that it is reasonable to carry in those conditions is about 2 inches. Agreed, a couple of those could be run in paralell, but this increases the costs. Someone in the list proposed DC gear. While I (like most of the local people that have installed something here) currently have this (550 W with 100 m net head and 1.7 l/s), and it is easier on constraints there are some clear limits: * the kind of inverter that is needed to run fridges, congelators and washing machines is way too expensive for most of the rural people budgets, and cheap square-wave inverters just tend to fry with small tools and fridges. * The main stimulus for replacing the currently installed base of installations would be the ability to run fridges and congelators. That could in turn improve the possibility for additional earnings (i.e. working with "agrotourism"). That is a typical "hen and egg" problem. * The main annual cost for the installations is the replacement of old battery sets (people use cheap casr batteries that only last a couple of years) * Disposal of old batteries is a big ecological problem * Plastic runners just do not cut it with high heads (I had one that barely lasted one week) In brief, we do need a way to generate 220V AC directly. I have thought that for most cases with high head, a 3000 RPM Weg induction motor coupled with condensators and an IGC (a la Nigel Smith) could do. Fridges would probably need to be power-corrected though. I have been training a local metalworks to make small bolted, polished pelton runners, after some trial-and-error the results are starting to look decent. "Chill-casting" or "two step casting" as advocated in jeremy Thake's book did not work, it would have significantly reduced fabrication costs. I'd be very glad to meet you in Puerto Varas when you come, but let's fix the date in advance: I live way out in Todos los Santos, so you also have the option to come here, stay at my home, and see a couple of installations. Greetings, Max El mar, 19 de 10 de 2004 a las 10:37, Carlos Bonifetti escribi�: > Dear Max: > > I'm Carlos from MTF LTDA., Concepcion. I was thinking in your trial for pico-hydro > set for low income peasants in the northern chilean Patagonia since a lot of time, > but the long distance is a trouble for marketing in site planning. Minimun qty. for > low price sets is a must looking for good import discounts. I can offer Turgo or > Pelton sets from APR PowerPal www.powerpal.com as we are their representatives in > Chile. I was in trouble for answer you because an updating Windows XP had thow away > several mail adresses from my directory. > > I know chinese sets from Maqchin, Santiago, but not in practice. The technical > specs. and data for those turbine sets are poor an too general for heigth, flow > ranges, control, etc., for a safe application. Permanent magnet alternators can be > used only for light en uses as lamps, TV and video sets, radio, and very small > domestic electical powered devices; I think that refrigerator can't connected > because the high starting current. > > Our experience with PowerPal is good with the low head MHG-LH sets for 200, 500 & > 1000 Watts, permanent magnet alternators running at 1000 RPM. Water flow needed for > those are 35, 70 and 130 l/s respectively for 1.5 m gross head. We have, installed > by us, a MHG-1000 in the Quinquen Valley rural school (near Lonquimay) and works > well since 1991. > > Perhaps will be good that we can both program a meeting in Puerto Varas for talk, > face to face, about this interesting and very important and common task. > > Best regards, > > Carlos Bonifetti > Concepci�n, Chile > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Max Klohn > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 10:37 AM > Subject: [microhydro] chinese turbine sets > > > > Dear all, > > For a project oriented at low-income, isolated mountain dwellers in > northern patagonia, I have been looking at ready-made, low cost peltric > sets, or the possibility to import or have built Induction Motor > Controllers. Typical parameters are 1-5 l/s and 30 to 100 m head. The > equipment has to be low cost, low maintainance and robust, and involves > a significant component of technology transfer to the rural dwellers who > must be able to maintain their equipment. > > I have recently come upon the following chinese sets, who feature a > permanent magnet alternator, a controller and a dump load (integrated in > the base). > > http://www.maqchin.com/maqchin/pages/maquinaria_china_ltda_productos_centrales_hidroelectricas.htm > models of interest are XJL 13-2 x 4.5 (750 W) and XJL 1 x 3.0 (3000 W) > > In the model I could examine, the rotor was a relatively crudely built > (unpolished) turgo. The nozzle is huge and it is geared towards lower > heights and bigger flows. I am trying to get the parameters of the > rotational speed etc. > > * does someone have more data and a practical experience with those > sets? lessons learned? > * any experiences into adapting this equipment to higher heads/lower > flows? > > Thank you, and best regards > > Max Klohn > > Puerto Varas, Chile > > > > > > > > Does your company feature in the microhydro business directory at > http://microhydropower.net/directory ? If not, please register free of charge and be > exposed to the microhydro community world wide! > > NOTE: The advertisements in this email are added by Yahoogroups who provides us > with free email group services. The microhydro-group does not endorse products or > support the advertisements in any way. > > More information on micro hydropower at http://microhydropower.net > > To unsubscribe: send empty message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Yahoo! 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