CALCULATE THE POWER OF A WATER TURBINE

Knowing the electrical power that a micro hydraulic turbine can generate is the first step to be able to evaluate any project anywhere in the world.

The first thing to bear in mind is that the available hydraulic power will always be greater than the usable electrical power. This is so, because the system has different losses and therefore there are a series of performances that must be taken into account (performance of the micro turbine, performance of the generator and performance of the electronics; electrical panel and inverter)

What is the hydraulic power of a water turbine? How is it calculated?

Generally when we talk about hydraulic power in a micro hydraulic turbine we start from the basis that the fluid to be turbined will be water, therefore in our case, the hydraulic power formula is expressed:

Where;

  • PH is the hydraulic power in kilowatts
  • g is the acceleration due to gravity in meters per second squared. This value is 9.81.
  • Q is the flow rate in cubic meters per second.
  • H is the pressure drop measured in meters of water column.

Knowing the pressure drop and the flow of our installation, we will be able to calculate the available hydraulic power for a micro hydraulic turbine.

What is the electrical power of a micro hydro turbine? How is it calculated?

Once we know the hydraulic power, if we multiply it by the total output, we can calculate the electrical power and therefore the power that would be usable by our micro hydraulic turbine.

We have previously commented that the global yield is:

Where;

  • ntot is the overall performance
  • nt is the efficiency of the water turbine
  • ng is the efficiency of the electric generator
  • ne is the electronic performance (the sum of the electrical panel and inverter)

Therefore, the electrical power can be expressed:

Application example

We have a flow of 0.1 m3/s and a pressure drop of 50 meters. Calculate the electrical power considering the following yields;

  • water turbine 0.8
  • electric generator 0.95
  • electronic performance 0.95

At Powerturbines, we are delighted to be able to help you. To do this, please write us an email to the address info@powerturbines.eu and we will respond as soon as possible.

 

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