Re: Aspen Hollow Hydro Site Tour
Hi Paul,
It's a bit of a long story closely tied to the history of this group,
but since you asked - here it is.
I'm using a runner I built using turgo spoons from Cargo & Kraft in
Sweden. I ran your plastic pelton for about the first 3 years after I
put the system together. In fact I called and spoke with you on the
phone when I was just getting started. I wasn't really satisfied with
the performance of my system (and being an engineer I'm still not) and
thought that perhaps part of the problem was in the shallow exit angle
of the plastic pelton runner. Your bronze turgo wasn't out at the time
or at least I'd only seen the plastic one. I really really wanted one
of Dan New's (Canyon Industries) beautiful pelton runners but couldn't
afford it. Your bronze turgo is also very nice, but out of my budget
as well - and made for a 17mm alternator thread while I was running a
3 hp 3-phase motor.
I'd been exchanging hydro pictures and discussion with Peter Ruyter
(Cargo & Kraft) in Sweden and he sent me some plastic turgo spoons
that had come into his posession. I sat on the spoons for about a
year before I built a 16 spoon runner (using the larger "orange
spoons") which has a pitch diameter of about 6 inches, using stainless
sheet and plate cut on a CNC waterjet for the hub. Then in March of
1999, a fellow egroup member, Ron Davis, who had been running a dual
ES&D pelton scheme in his Bolivian Watermotor wanted to try a runner
using the smaller "blue spoons". I had a hub set made from Delrin for
the blue spoons and Ron tried it in his watermotor. He has
subsequently re-designed the watermotor around the 20 blue spoon and
16 orange spoon runners.
Then a student in a RE degree program at Appalachian State University
in Boone NC, Marcus Renner, wanted a blue spoon runner with arbor for
an alternator after his friend Scott Sudreth built one using the blue
spoons. I don't recal how we all got connected, through the egroup
somehow. Since then I've built a couple of dozen runners for people
all over the world, from the ~ 3.5" blue spoon (20 spoons) to orange
spoon runners from 16-30 spoons (6-9.25") and supplied spoons for a
few people who have built their own runners.
At this point in my life I am not in this to make a living, but the
IRS wants me to make a profit. I'm a chemical engineer whose real job
is fuel cell R&D, but microhydro sometimes seems like more fun. I do
tell people if they want a nice turnkey unit to look at the systems
you and Don Harris build, and point them to your nice web site (does
Harris Hydroelectric have a web site?). Wim helped me put a web page
on his site, which I have since moved and expanded. My web site is
pretty basic, but I think there is still some good stuff on it, like
the spreadsheet momentum balance for impulse runners showing the
effect of exit and entrance angles.
http://www.geocities.com/turgo_gen/
http://www.geocities.com/turgo_gen/turgo_drive.html
To me the biggest problem with microhydro for battery charging is the
electronics to control charging, and step down from a high voltage
(relative to the battery bank) AC or DC transmission line while
keeping the turbine at its ideal load rpm. Your variable air gap
system is one approach if the battery bank is near the turbine, but I
think we all need a nice electronic box to do that so a variety of
motors from local sources could be used.
I'm glad to see you are now involved in the group.
Joe
joseph hartvigsen turgo turbine watermotor ron davis fraud peter ruyter brian kunzler bolivia ceramatec nuclear energy fraud extortion peter ruyter wim klunne swedish patent office
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