Turgo impulse wheel - an upgraded version of the Pelton.Pelton wheel turbines are available in various sizes and operate best under low-flow and high-head conditions. The impact of the jet spray on the curved buckets creates a force that rotates the wheel at high efficiency rates of 70–90%.
The water sprays out of the nozzle in a jet, striking the double-cupped buckets attached to the wheel.
Water is funneled into a pressurized pipeline with a narrow nozzle at one end. Pelton wheel - uses the concept of jet force to create energy.The most common types of impulse turbines include the Pelton wheel and the Turgo wheel. They rely on the velocity of water to move the turbine wheel, which is called the runner. “Heather,” “Ultima Thule,” “Sylvestor,” “Slate Tracker,” “One Quiet Conversation,” “A Certain Lightness,” and “Greyleaf Willow,” by Blue Dot Sessions. Music licensed under Creative Commons attribution.Impulse turbines, which have the least complex design, are most commonly used for high-head microhydro systems.
This is the third of a four-part series on understanding and dealing with a changing climate. Both researchers are also affiliated with the Duke Energy Access Project an exciting initiative that takes an interdisciplinary approach to developing sustainable, modern energy solutions around the world.įor their work in Nepal, Robin and Subhrendu are collaborating with the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre which is a part of the Government of Nepal in their Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation. Robyn Meeks and Subhrendu Pattanayaak’s work is funded by the Duke Energy Initiative Seed Grant Program. It is for this reason that the team of Duke researchers find themselves in the Himalayas: to find out why some work and some don’t, and to see if this small but beautiful alternative energy source may be a viable solution for providing electricity to off-grid communities not only in Nepal but around the world.
Many don’t produce enough electricity for the community, or sometimes none at all. In other villages however, these systems are far less effective.
For most mountain communities, living off-grid is the only option.īut rather than fight against their geography, many of these communities have discovered a way to use the mountains to their advantage, harnessing the power of the fast-flowing mountain streams for power using a system called a micro-hydro minigrid.įor many communities, these systems not only provide power for basic necessities like lighting and cooking, but also are drivers of local economies. Here lay the source of electricity for an entire community.Ĩ0% of the geography of Nepal is composed of mountain ranges like Annapurna, making the big power grids that we take for granted in the developed world an impossibility in much of Nepal. Gone are the paved roads of Pokhara, the Nepali city where they had begun their day, or even the narrow dirt roads that had carried them deep into the mountainside.Īhead, the whir of engines in symphony with the rushing water of a nearby stream mark an end to their journey: a tiny structure containing within it a single turbine, waist high and six feet wide.