hi all, I apologise for my ignorance in advance If I travel to a thrid world country and would like a micro hydro for very small cost, what do I need? How much will it cost me. Say I want a 2kW system and I have plenty of potential is the stream.
I can make a small weir out of wood and stone and some cement. I can make a penstock out of a 6" plastic drainpipe. The downflow a similar material. For a turbine I could make a banki out of wood and some sheet metal. Yes I know that the banki needs a medium to high flow. The banki will need an axle and I may need a V belt - flat belt pulley system to increase generator rpm. For a generator use a truck alternator from a junkyard. I need a box to keep the generator dry, and some mountings to keep the generator box up high and off the uneven ground. Can I then have a pure DC system with DC lighitng, DC fridges and use a $50 ineffecient inverter for those applicances used infrequently that run on AC only? Is this practical? do I need expensive battery storage, inverters, control boxes etc. I know that this is not a particularly effecient setup but my priority in this case study is low cost. On the radio today they said 5 billion people live on $3 a day or less, thus the emphasis on homemade equipment and eliminating batteries and expensive inverters etc. Please feel free to tell me it is all wrong and will not work. Yes I know that no battery storage means I am hostage to reliable stream flow. Remember priority is low cost rather than high effeciency. And yes it is just a hypothetical question for someone that may or maynot do something like this one day. N. Peter Evans 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! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microhydro/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
