Hydroelectric Waterwheel System - Sustainability

In our project we planned to make a hydroelectric system that would produce convenient sustainable power. I think we made a good effort and were able to get quite far, however we did not finish within the time available. We will finish it later on because it is a worthwhile idea to utilise the free water from their stream. Due to unavailability, most of the time we were not able to form our entire group out at Sams. This meant we could not collaborate at peak level on our project. I enjoyed doing the project because I learnt so much about sustainable energy and electronics.  From this, my next steps are to build my own sustainable generator from a wind turbine, which I plan to power  mobile devices, TV, lights, speakers and laptops from. This is exciting for me but since I am busy at present I am going to continue my own project after exams. I also plan to build an electric bike from old laptop battery cells I have bought, a 250w hub motor and other components I will purchase. I enjoy

On Saturday, Sam and Stefan took down the flume in the stream as it had been destroyed by the heavy rain. We then got to rebuilding it with an opening, however ran out of time. Previously in the holidays, Stefan had a go at rewiring another Smartdrive motor, a 42 pole copper stator. Success! He also began building his own turbine but for wind power. It's going good. Later on it will have a turning mechanism in the wind and it will be mounted in an open area.

Friday and Saturday, 6th - 7th October Stefan stayed over at Sam's house and they both continued to work on their project. Past week or two: All ordered items have arrived including the charge controller, rectifiers and fuses. On Friday, Stefan and Sam began by cutting, trimming and digging their track down into the stream. It looks very nice now. Sam and his dad put together a flume. With the help of a sledgehammer to smash down rocks, they were able to secure the flume into the stream. It is a large wooden track that diverts water to the wheel. Later on in the evening, Sam and Stefan began rewiring the SmartDrive motor into 3 phase 4 x 3 coils in series. Some photos show their work. They finished rewiring on Saturday and roughly tested the setup. Despite their efforts, the results were very disappointing. The wheel was supposedly making just under 12 watts, (12 volts at 1 amp). They figured that the wheel was not spinning fast enough and 20 or so watts were being lost from

UPDATE  We have not done much the past few weeks because we have been busy with other things. Stefan said he has got nearly all parts we need for the project. I hope to get back to it soon.

Saturday and Sunday, 16th - 17th of September Stefan stayed over at Sam's house and they both had a very productive weekend. Summary: I won't talk about much this post as I have put together a fun video of our hydroelectric system.  We cut and screwed together lots of wood for the water wheel and its stand/holder. We were also able to secure the SmartDrive in place with lots of tests and had a fun time in the creek with it. Some of it was tough, like trying to align the wheel perfectly, but we managed to get it working in the end. We tested our 300W inverter on a small lamp and it was great, we also managed to get the SmartDrive turning on full load in the creek which was really impressive, considering we haven't even built a proper flume to project the water more efficiently. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this video:

Our project is to build a hydroelectric system as part of our sustainability issue. PLAN: Our final goal is to complete this build and have it running efficiently - we will avoid power loss and waste by making adjustments and tweaks along the way. Our steps so far: - Investigated the stream - Collected the SmartDrive motor - Began to research parts in a hydroelectric system - Began to design then started building the water wheel - Ordered online necessary parts Our steps for the future: - Finish building water wheel - Rewire SmartDrive - Setup water wheel with SmartDrive, adjust for peak performance and test on load - Wait for parts to arrive  - Install ordered parts - Lead wires to house/Caravan - Test our system along the way, there will most likely be failures so we will have to try fix them as best as possible, and this will take time. Depending on the issues, such as the electrical parts or the spinning of the wa

Sunday, 10th of September Stefan and Sam (with the help of his dad), began to design, cut, sand and loosely put together the water wheel.  The day: In the morning, Sam's dad helped us to cut the harder parts of the water wheel. After a quick search, Stefan found out the paddles should be small and on an angle to create small pockets for the water to catch in.  We first cut 2 big circles of plywood for the outside of the wheel and then 16 rectangular smaller pieces for the middle and paddles. Then came the refinements. Sam sanded most of the plywood, evening out the pieces so they were of the same size.  A week earlier, Stefan had made a prototype to hold the smart drive generator together out of MDF wood. This sucks in rain so Sam cut a new one and we re-did it out of ply. The results were great! After the hard day of work, we were able to sit down and relax. We were now able to assemble the wheel loosely to see how it would work. Looks awesome so far. At the t

Stefan Stoove Sustainability  - Our problem is that we cannot charge and power small appliances at Sam's house without the use of the generator. This can create issues such as not being able to do schoolwork on devices at home and insufficient lighting. For our project we will solve these issues while helping out their family and sustaining the environment. We will construct a hydroelectric system using an old washing machine motor which will produce sustainable, clean green energy. A budget of around $150 seems reasonable for this project.  ISSUES: 1. Cost of petrol in generator - with a hydroelectric system, the load on the generator will decrease. 2. Pollutants - Petrol is combusted: bad for you and the environment since it is derived from fossil fuels. 3. Power isn't readily available  - straight up , a small battery bank won't handle high wattage appliances for long. This means they will heavily rely on using the generator if they require running

So basically, I said that I was doing a school project and was looking for a smart drive washing machine motor, the people at the dump said cool and pointed over to where the old washing machines were. I had help from my dad to remove the stator, shaft and other bits to rebuild it into a generator at home. I was able to do this successfully and the results were amazing. The one wheel was able to produce over 20 volts at just 1 turn a second! So, I decided to spin it as fast as I could. My multimeter showed the voltage produced. 130 VOLTS!!! If you were wondering, I was careful not to TOUCH it at the high voltage, but did have some fun at below 50, it tingles and pulses through the fingers. I blew a couple of LEDS and resistors with ease. This generator does produce 3 phase AC, quite confusing for some people like me. I am considering purchasing a 3 phase rectifier to convert this voltage into DC so it is easier to work with.

Sunday, 27th of August Sam and Stefan explored the area where the water wheel will go. We are planning to make it out of plywood and PVC pipe which will be the center. We will then use our knowledge of electronics to make a 'dynamo', which will run electricity through wires to other uses such as a floodlight and chargers in their home. Sam's family currently uses a petrol generator which charges many of their 12V car/boat batteries to power their lights and other small appliances. We are also considering using a washing machine motor as our dynamo. The water wheel will have paddles to create resistance which turns the wheel fast. We are hoping to get up to 30 volts of electricity. Area where wires could be dug underground - maybe power an LED floodlight Wires could lead into caravan to charge devices, power lights, etc. as the generator is not always on Difficult to charge devices when there is no power Generator produces lots of electr