HYDROPOWER SERVICES AND INITIATIVES

1. Small Scale Hydro Development Consulting
2. Large Scale Hydro Unit Performance Testing, Data Collection and Documentation
3. Kinetic Hydro Technology Development and Services

Small Scale Hydro Power Development Consulting

Low Head Small Scale Hydro is the application of traditional hydro technology at a site where there is a natural waterfall or rapids. By running the penstock from the high side of the waterfall to the low side, we can extract power without the use of a dam to create head. We will evaluate your site, and propose an appropriate system. We will perform economic analyses, feasibility studies, system design, construction management, and operations and maintenance planning.

Large Scale Hydro Unit Performance Testing, Data Collection and Documentation

We provide independent, third party performance testing, data collection and documentation. By installing temporary instrumentation and dataloggers, we can collect flow, pressure, vibration data, and linear displacement data. Collecting data at high sampling allows for detailed steady state and transient analysese at the following points:

1. flow
2. penstock pressure
3. draft tube pressure
4. unit speed (using a phototachometer)
5. headcover deflection
6. shaft uplift
7. turbine shaft vibrations at the guide bearing
8. generator shaft vibrations at the guide bearing
9. opening and closing pressures of the wicket gate servomotors
10. wicket gate position
11. strain gage data on components of the wicket gate assembly
12. stator radial growth using position transducers at the sole plates
13. vacuum breaker valve operation for draft tube vacuum relief

Using the data from these points, we can perform a number of analyses:

1. determinging the performance and efficiency of the unit
2. characterizing the unit’s response to a load rejection
3. characterizing the operation of the wicket gates – which provides us with information regarding the hydraulic forces acting on the gates and the friction forces within the actuating mechanism
4. characterizing the unit’s stator growth pattern, including sudden deflections when excitation is turned on or off, and sudden movements due to uneven friction at the sole plates
5. mechanically balancing the generator rotor
6. determining the force distribution in the wicket gate assembly

Kinetic Hydro Technology

Kinetic Hydro Turbines (KHTs) are presently being developed by various companies around the world. Unlike traditional hydro systems in which the power generating capacity is a function of head, the power generating capacity of kinetic systems is a function of water velocity. Kinetic hydro devices are similar in principle to wind turbines - except they are deployed underwater in free flowing streams. The power output from these machines is proportional to the velocity of the water to the third power (so if you double the water velocity you will get eight times the power out). Having detailed knowledge of the velocity profile of a given site is required to appropriately deploy this type of technology. We offer services relating to this very new technology - specifically, we will measure the elevation gradient of a river and we will measure the cross sectional area and the velocity profile of a river or tidal estuary.

We are presently developing a hydraulic power transmission system in which kinetic hydro turbines are coupled to pumps delivering raw water to a shore mounted header (penstock) that drives a shore mounted Francis Turbine or Pelton Wheel. In this manner, the hydraulic system acts as a "dynamic dam", creating head in the penstock. We call this system the Northern Lights Hydro Model.