2anoez01s Micro Hyero Systems, Head Loss and Power Calculations Pipe sizing exampl Assite has 60 meters of head and a flow of § liters per second, a very typical situation here on the coast. The pipeline will have to be 150 meters long, and is going to be polyethylene plastic, (poly pipe). We will accept a head loss of 10% at maximum flow, that is, § meters (of height lost to pipe friction. The powerline length is 50 meters to the battery Refer to the section on “Power Calculations" for more detailed explanations of these formula Step 1. Determine the available power. S liters per second is 0.005 cubic meters per second ) Power = (1000 x Qx hx 9.8 )x efficiency) watts Power = ( 1000 x 0.005 x 50 x 9.8) x 0.5) watts Power = (5x 50x 10) x 0,5 = 1250 watts Note: the acceleration due to gravity value of "8.8" was rounded up to "10" The final output will be somewhat less as the net head will be 45 meters at full low, or around 1125 watts, 90 % of the ast calculation. This is close enough, and we decide to proceed with the project. Step 2. Pot a flow of 300 liters per minute on a friction chart applicable to the pipe material you are using, so the flow velocity is less than 5 feet, per second. Note the pipe size indicated, and draw lines for several sizes that are available. Ths will kely be 2 inch, 2.8 inch, 3 inch {nd 4 inch. Pipe friction charts are available from pipe suppliers. Each type of pipe wil have a different coefficient of friction, so a chart Used for steel wil not be accurate for plastic pipe. From the chart. 2inch gives a velocity of 8.2 feet per second which is too fast 255 inch results in 5.2 feet per second, 3iinch gives 3.7 feet per second Pipe inside aiameters vary with pipe schedule, (wall thickness), s0 you wil seldom get exaclly the diameters listed. Adjust the line you drew on the graph to match the pipe diameter you will be using. This is extremely important if you are using small diameter pipe like 1 inch or 1.25 or 1.5 inch PVC. Some pipe is sold by schedule and some by DR’ rating (dimension ratio). On long runs of 1000 feet, even the slight differences in inside diameter can make a bg difference to head loss. Be careful when making calculations. If you really want to know the PVC pipe loss, here is the standard Hazen.Wiliame' formula that is used for pressure pipe fiction loss. You can also Google it to find more information on the subject. f= 0.2083 (100/C)"1.852 X Q"1.852 /id*4.865 ‘where f= friction loss per 100 feet C= coefficient of friction, usually 150 for PVC Q= water flow in USGM id= pipe inner diameter For Poly pipe, C is often 140 meaning higher friction. Always try to find out the C for your pipe and the exact id ur allowable head loss is 5 meters in 150 meters of pipe length, of 3.33 meters per 100 meters of pipe. Charts are usually normalized to meters per 100 meters or feet per 100 feet, so you may want to convert at this point. In this example, 2.5 inch poly pipe will deiver the Tequited maximum flow with 3.3 meters of head loss per 100 meters of pipe, and the flow velocity is right on feet per second. Itis possible to run more water through the 2.6 inch pipe by increasing the nozzle size. This wil increase the head loss beyond our limits, but it will produce more power. In fact we could drop to 70% of the gross head before the power curve would stat to fall. However, ‘wide ranges of pressure result in variable jet velocities which in turn determine turbine RPM. In DC systems this is often acceptable, but in AC systems, RPM must be maintained, and a low jet velocity results is a significant loss of efficiency. This is why hydro equipment is 50 site specific, what worked well atone site may perform badly at another. Step 3. Determine the correct nozzle diameter to accept a maximum of liters per second. Often, several nozzles are cut and installed to match {low conditions. ‘Stream Emagine’ turbines used on some of the example sites featured here are equipped with 2, 3 or 4 nozzles. Each nozzle can have a control valve permiting a wide range of flow to suit conditions. In larger AC systems, spear nazzles are often used ‘which permit continuous adjustments of flow by varying the position of a movable spear within the nozzie. Refer to a nozzle flow table to determine the corect size to use, or start small and gradually increase the size while measuring the flow ina bucket or through a weir. Since water Is non compressible, the flow velocity and nazzle size can be calculated from scratch. One only needs these formulas. The ‘low wil typicaly be 5% less than the et area suggests, so cut Ita fraction big. Also, jet velocities are often about 5% less than calculated due to inefficiencies in the nozzle and other complex factors. Area = 3.1428 x R'2 (Radius) Circumference = 3.1428 x D (Diameter) Jet velocity = 8 x H* 1/2 (8 times the square root of the net height in feet) Imagine a solid bar of water passing through the nozzle traveling atthe jet velocity. One only needs to determine the bars volume per Unit time as it passes by. This is usually in one second. The diameter and hence cross sectional area are found first, then simply otatexuhemcharset= ut 8 %69C atk20name%30%22TOC%22%20etyle%s30 22k family 3A 20Verdarna%2C%2OWial%20%20MSH208=Ns%620... 182ane2015 Micro Hyero Systems, Head Loss and Power Calculations ‘multiply this by the ‘bars length passing per second to arive at the volume. This is easy to do in cubic inches and linear inches, then ‘convert to gallons or ites. See the conversion chart below. Units of measure: ‘Any time we deal with the subject of energy, power, pressure or heal, various definitions are required to make meaningful calculations. ‘and comparisons. This section explains the meaning of the ‘SI’ or metric units, and compares them to the imperial or US units. Every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy on these figures. In all your calculations, be sure the result makes sense, and that yyou are not getting a result that seems out of proportion tothe input numbers. In dealing with energy transfer, be sure to factor in losses due to in-officiencies. This is very important when comparing casts from the BTUs produced from burning fossil fuels to KWh / BTUs achieved from electrical heat sources, Definitions Ampere -Unit of electrical curent, a quantity of electron flow equal to 6 * 10% electrons / second. Analogous to water volume or quantity flowing in a pipe. Vott -Unit of potential difference or electromotive force. Analogous to water pressure in a pipe. In a house, ‘normal wall voltage is 117 vols, Stoves and dryers use 240 vals, Watt Unit of power, the product of amps times volts. The rate of work done in a set unit of time, Equal to the ‘energy spent by one amp flowing through one chm for one second. Kilowatt -Unit of power, one thousand watts -Unit of power, the rate of work done in a set nit of time. In this case one hour. If you run a 100 watt bulb for 10 hours, that equals 100 watts times 10 hours = 1000 watt hours, or one kilowatt hour. Electricity is ‘usually bought and sold using block units of kilowatt hours, (1000 watts for a period of time). Normal utility billing is every month or two, 50 if you use say 15 kilowatts over a 24 hour petiod for 60 days, that wll work out to 15 KW hours a day times 60 days = 900 kw hours. At 7 cents a kilowatt hours, that wil cost you $ 63 dollars. It is important to note that you can use up the electricity at any rate you need during a ‘ay, the meter just counts the total used per biling period ‘Ohm The measure of electrical resistance equal to that resistance which dissipates energy at the rate of one att fram a current of one ampere. Kilowatt Hour Joules - kilowatts - BTU's 1 Joule 1 watt flowing for one second ‘Joule 1. Newton/ metre ‘Joule 0,000048 BTU 18) ‘948,000 BTU. 1BTU 1054.6 Joule 1 RW 3412 BTU/hr kWh 3412 BTU 1kWh 3,6 Mega Joule Definition of a BTU Energy required to heat one pound of water by 1 degree F. 10 BTU 10 pounds (1 imperial gallon ) heated by 1 degree F. Energy 4 Walt hour 3.413. BTU 1 kWh 3413 BTU 1 Them 100000 BTU Power and Heat flow 1RW 0.948 BTU/sec = 3413 BTUMhr kW 1.3415 HP = 738 ft In/sec = 44,268 ft Ibfmin 1Ton 12000 BTU HP 0.764 kW = 2546 BTUIhr th (0.7485 kW = 560 ft Ib/sec = 33000 ft Ibymin Power and Heat flow TW [0.946 BTUisec = S479 BTU TW _ [1.9415 HP = 796 fbyeec = 44,268 1 b/min {Ton [12000 BTUhr hp [0.764 kW = 2646 BTU “Tp [0.7455 kW= 550 Ibsec = 99000 ft fimin Volumes and conversions. otatexthemcharset= ut 8.9690 2%k20name%30%22TOC%2%20etyle%s30 22k family 3A 20Verdarna%42C%20Ail%20%20MSH208eNS%620.... 262anoez01s Micro Hyero Systems, Head Loss and Power Calculations Titre IS gal * 0.28442 cubic ft = litres * 28.313 us gallon ire * 9.785 imp gallon ire * 4.5459 cubic foot = US gallons * 7.49 cubic meter = 1000 titres Length meters = feet * 0.9048, feet meters * 3.281 km miles * 1.809 miles m* 0.621 Pressure 1 PSI = 6894.76 Newtons / sq, m = 6894.76 Pascal Absolute Pressure = psia = Gauge pressure (psig) + 14.7 Chemical content of fuels 1 f183 of natural gas = 1020 BTU (chemical energy constan!) 4 gallon (US) # 2 fuel oil= 140,000 BTU 4 gallon (US) propane = 91,200 BTU Calorie (c) Heat required to raise 1 gm. water by 1 degree C. Kilacalorie (C) = 1000 calories. C = food calorie Some practical fuel cost example: Natural gas Js Sold by its heating value in ‘Giga Joules’, not by its volume because the heating ability per unit volume can vary. Since itis a ‘commodity, its price can vary. Electricity | sold by the ‘kilowatt hour. In 8C, the average cost for 1 kwh is currently $0.066, December 2010 price and ignoring the two tier price structure, That is 6.5 cents for 1,000 watts for one hour - or 100 watts for ten hours. So to run atypical 1500 watt electric heater for one hour it costs (1.5kWX 6.5 cents, or about 10 cents an hour) ‘Some definitions you have to understand for this to make sense: "1 means per or divided by. * or X mean to multiply 1 Joule = 1|watt for 1 second (a tiny amount of energy ) 4 Giga Joule = 1 billion Joules (a fixed amount of energy used for billing purposes) For the purpose of these examples, the cost of electricity is 6.5 cents per KW hour. This is ignoring any two tier or time of day price system. 1 Giga Joule is the same amount of energy as 277 kilowatt hours. That is about the amount of electricity used in 15 days in an average home that is heated by natural gas. For an electrically heated home, this figure willbe considerably higher in the heating InBC, the Dec 2010 cost of 277 kW hours of electicily (1 GJ worth) = 277 X 6.5 cents/kwh = $ 18.00 The cost of 1 GJ of natural gas (277 kW worth) in Dec 2010 hovers about § 4.97 per GJ ‘So you can see that heating with natural gas is less than half the cost as heating with electricity Facts about Oil ‘The cost of 1 liter of heating ol at the end of Nov 2007 is $ 0.92. It was $0.77 at end of Sept 2007, the price difference a result of a barrel of oil costing nearly § 100. Oi, ike natural gas, is traded as a commodity on the stock markets ‘A typical home ol tank holds 300 US gallons, or 1130 liters. ‘The heating value of 1 iter of # 2 heating ol is 37,000 BTU, or British Thermal Units. (An old, but useful measuring system - based on 140,000 BTU per USA gallon) ‘At 37,000 BTU per liter / 3,413 BTU per KW hour = 10.8 KW hour per iter of heating oll This means that there is the same ‘amount of energy in ane iter of oil as that used by a 1000 watt electric heater running for 10.8 hours. 10.8 kW of electricity at $ 0.085 per KW: (10.8 X 6.6) = 70.2 cents ‘And as said above, 1 iter of heating ol costs 92 cents. Add to that the lower efficiency of some gas or oll fumaces and the real Cast is somewhat more, Ifthe funace is 75 % efficient, then 25 % of the cost is going to waste, Flectnic heat on the other hand, altnough also quite expensive, is nearly 100 % efficient, so all the power used is tumed to heat atthe electnc heater. otatexuhemcharset= ut 8.9690 2tk20name%30%22TOC%22%20etyle%S0 22k family 3A 2OVerdarna2C%2OMial%20%20MSH208eNS%20... 32anoe2015 Micro Hyero Systems, Head Loss and Power Calculations Depth inch Flow fs, Flow Us Power Calculations : In SI units, (metric) ‘The energy available in faling water Is expressed as, E = mgh where ‘e= energy = (mg h) Joules (a Joule is one watt for one second) m= mass, the product of density (p) x volume (V) {9 = gravitational constant of acceleration, 8.8 meters per second per second hh= head in meters Nolet ano acorn this ebonshi or ener, Power is defined as energy released over a specific time, $0 substituting in the values above, Power= (pV gh) Joules / second (same as watts) ‘The density of water is 1000 kgim*3, (or 1 kg/lter), and the gravitational constant of acceleration on earth is 8.8 mis*2, the force that ives ‘mass’ its weight). In hydro applications, the letter" is used to represent the volume of water combined with its density ‘Substituting in gives gross power equal to, Power = (1000 x x 9.8 xh) wats, or in KW Power = (1000 x Q x 9.8.x h)/ 1000 kilowatts, and futher reduced to. Power = (2x 8.8.x) kilowatts, (with Q in cubic meters per second ) Note: as mentioned above, see how the “V" for volume has been replaced by “Q'" for quantity representing 1 cubic meter of water. Note: See how ths Is similar to the energy equation above, energy = m(Q) x g(9.8) X h ‘Overall system efficiency is often around 55 - 65 % in systems under a KW, so you can round off the above to the folloveng for rough working, Powor = ( Q x hx 10 x 0.6 ) KW... for small systems where Q is volume in cubic meters per second, and his head in meters. For plants in the mult KW range, efficiencies reach 70 percent or higher. Actual efficiency depends on the water flow ‘characteristics, nozzle design, turbine design, coupling, and generator. Power line losses, battery charge / discharge losses ‘and inverter effiency must also be considered. Exampl ‘You have a stream with a flow of 3 liters per second and a drop of 50 meters available. ‘What is the gross power potential in watts ? 4 ters per second is 0.003 cubic meters per second) Power = (1000 x Qx hx 9.8 x efficiency) watts Power = ( 1000 x 0.003 x 50 x 10 ) watts Now multiply this result by the expected overall efficiency. (say 60%) Power = (3x 50.x 10) x 0.6 = 900 watts (rounded off) In imperial units: ‘Total energy available is expressed as, otatexthemcharset= ut 8.9490 2%420name%30%2ZTOC %22%20etyle%G0 22k family 3A 20Verdarna%2C%2OArial%20%20MSH208eNS%20... 452anoez01s Micro Hyero Systems, Head Loss and Power Calculations energy = Qx 624xh ‘Q= cubic feet of water per minute 62.4 = density of water, @ 62.4 Ibs. per cubic foot n= net head in fest ‘This is really foot pounds of potential eneray per minute, (so many pounds at so many feet head.) ‘One horsepower is equivalent to 33,000 foot pounds of work done in 1 minute, soto figure in HP, Q.X 62.4X h/ 33,000 of Q xh 529 ‘Since 1 Hp is equivalent to 745 electrical watts, convert to KW by Power in KW =(Q x 62.4 x h/ 33,000) X 0.748 or, Power in KW/= (Q x H/ 708) where Q is in cubic feet per minute. In all cases it is important to multiply the gross power result by the system efficiency, again use 55. 65 % for ‘small systems, and perhaps 70 % for larger system. (On larger sites, i is often easier to think of cubic f in one second, so convert the above to. Power in kW = (xh 11.8 ) where Q is now in cubic feet per second, For general work on small systems, the following formula is easy to remember and works well It assumes an overall efficiency (f 55%, 50 the resuit is close to the power you will get Power in watts (net head in feet x low in USGM) / 10 (again, at an overall efficiency of 55 %) This is a standard AWG wire table. Values have been checked against several reliable sources, * Ampacitys listed are for 90 degree wires or cables in bundles or conduit. Check with your local regulations on specific allowable ‘ampacitys or other considerations. Rather than give the one or two way distances you can run a particular power level, its better to calculate the voltage drop based on wire resistance and ampacity to conway. The method is described just below this table. ‘hms 17000] Ampaclly (see | JOhms 7 10007] Ampacily ee Wire Guage on te Al me 0000 050 235 000 063 210 O77 785; 096. 155; 126. 740) 720) 705; cg 85 5 30) 20 5 3 For a DC system, or single phase AC, there will be two wires carrying current, positive and negative, or hot and neutral for AC, Calculate the total resistance of both wire runs, (there and back). Values given are for 1000 feet, so use the ratio of your distance to 1000 feet “the resistance indicated por 1000 foot Example: for 350 fest from the generator to the battery, it would be 700 fest total wire, Say you ‘ate using # 6 which has a resistance of 0.403 ohms per 1000 feet. Your resistance would be 700 11000 * 0.403 = 0.282 ohms Determine the voltage drop by multiplying the resistance you come up with by the anticipated ‘current, (amps in the wire). (Amps = power In watts / system voltage) This voltage will subtract from the gonerator voltage, so In the above example, If the gonerator is producing some DC otatexthemicharset= ut 8 9690 2tk20name%30%22TOC%22%20etyle%30 22k family 3A 20Verdarna2C%20Aial%20%20MSH208eNS%20... 5152anoez01s Micro Hyero Systems, Head Loss and Power Calculations voltage, and wo oxpect 20 amps at 26 volts at the load, that means there is 20 amps flowing through the 0.282 chms of wire which causes a voltage drop of (0.282 * 20 = 5.64 volts drop) Dopanding on the generator, it will either spin fastor and produce a higher voltage to overcomo this loss, and stil provide the 20 amps at the load, or it may got maxed out unable to produco moro voltage, and the voltage drop will limit the ability to push tho curront to the load, (Noto, voltage is liko pressure which pushes the Amps, Amps are like the volume of electricity in the wire, hence the name ‘current’. otatexuhemcharset= ut 8 9690 2tk20name%30%22TOC%22%20etyle%30 22fonk family 3A 2OVerdarnak2C%2OAial%20%20MSH208eNS%20... 6