Science Forums 2

[gushovard]

If you only have a small generator why do you want to control the load? If your water supply is constant then charge a grid connect inverter using the generator and put power to the grid and or your house. This way the power is always connected to the grid and you get to collect all the power available and store it as a credit on the gird if you are not using it, for later use. Very few people have power to spare however so not many installations supply power to their house and have a surplus as well. If your turbine is an enclosed case type with an archemedes spiral to run the turbine then you need to run this type of turbine at about half the inlet speed of the water. If you dont know this then convert the pressure at the inlet to head in meters and use the following G (9.8) x Head ( in meters) = 1/2 x V^2 to determine the inlet velocity. Measure the diameter of the turbine and work out the circumference to determine the RPM then divide it by 2. Your turbine will be most efficient at this speed. The faster the turbine spins the more centrifugal force will have to be overcome which is a real cost in turbines so the larger the diameter of the turbine the slower it spins (since centirugal force is 4xpi^2xrxm/t^2) and the less centrifugal force has to be overcome. Capacitors can store a small amount of energy for a short time but are impractical for storage or varying the load. If you put one in the circuit it will generally increase the current and cause losses unless you are using it for power factor correction. Forget batteries if you are connected to the grid since they are not required and also the power companies wont let you connect to the grid if you have batteries in your system as they are worried you might be charging them off peak and then using the power during peak period. Good luck with your turbine project.