design and development of smart hydro power system
Exexuitive Summary The development in the renewable energy field and the increasing number of new uses of electricity generated a need to modernize the electrical system. Some existing uses have grown considerably like heaters, air conditioners and other uses like hybr
2025-06-28 16:31:25 - Adil Khan
design and development of smart hydro power system
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryExexuitive Summary
The development in the renewable energy field and the increasing number of new uses of electricity generated a need to modernize the electrical system. Some existing uses have grown considerably like heaters, air conditioners and other uses like hybrid electrical vehicles and heat pumps are developing and increasing the power consumption. As everything is moving towards smarts so there is a need of development of a hydropower plant or hydropower system smart enough to tell its output values and faults that if occurs through the wireless connections so that if the person whose job is the maintenance of the power system if is not physically present there can access that information from anywhere on the earth though wireless connection.
It will generate the ac output of same frequency that is in Pakistan i.e. 50 Hz. As its turbine will not be as much big and neither do the generator so we will compromise on the generator output voltage or we will try to step up the generated voltage to 220 V.
Smartness in the hydropower system can be achieved in number of ways i.e. using Arduino Wi-Fi shield using push and pop notifications along with SQL, using Node MCU ESP8266, using ESP12, using ESP32 with the site “Things speak” or with the mobile application etc.
If a stable smart Hydropower system is created it will be an innovation in the world of producing energy from water, increase the stability of a system and reducing the maintenance cost. Second feature of this project will be the production of a prototype that will be very useful for the students because they have the visual model of hydropower system for experiment along with the theoretical stuff they are being taught at that time.
Following are the problems that still occur in hydropower plant
- Lack of smartness in Hydro power generation
- Load based output frequency control
- Lack of online monitoring system
- Malfunctioning alarming
- Measurement of all instantaneous parameters
The ultimate aim is to develop a technology that allows the production of dispatch able hydropower in a changing context. This would allow an operation that provides inertia to the EPS and allows a higher penetration of RES. Advanced monitoring would also provide advanced levels of safety that are currently not available.
Project ObjectivesThe objective is, therefore, to gather and elaborate real-world (big) data on the actual working conditions of the turbines to enhance the capacity of hydropower plants to provide advanced grid supporting services, without compromising their safety and reliability. The objective of the emerging technology presented herein is to support hydropower plants to fulfil the future EPS requirements, by enabling fast frequency containment reserve (FCR), frequency restoration reserve (FRR) and black start in emergencies. This novel concept has not been studied so far and builds on the knowledge acquired in terms of recent research projects where an extensive series of testing and experiments analyzed the phenomena that need to be monitored and controlled.
The project will be targeting following main aims and objectives
- To make a fully functioning hydropower system prototype (Automation)
- Alarm on fault detection
- Sensing each output parameter and displaying it properly i.e. current, voltage, water flow rate, generated output power
- Online Monitoring system
- Output frequency control (Controlling Water Hammering Effect)
- Sending the output parameters to either a mobile app of on server
Such a technological advance would build on the so-called digitalization of hydropower, which will transform the way projects are designed, developed/upgraded, operated and maintained. Existing hydropower facilities were in many cases constructed several decades ago. Accordingly, the degree of digitalization of their equipment is low compared to that of the O&M components and systems of modern RES e.g. wind turbines. The rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing fleet offer the opportunity to digitize the way hydropower equipment operates. Apart from the prolongation of the lifetime and addressing cyber-security risks, rehabilitation and digitalization involve increasing the overall efficiency and, thus, the produced energy. Current estimations show that the digitalization of the world's 1225?GW installed hydropower capacity could increase by 42?TWh the annual production, which is equal to USD 5 billion in annual operational savings and significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Our project consists of two main parts. First formation of the hardware model of hydropower system and secondly its monitoring and automation. It will generate approximately 200 to 300 Watt output power. All the parameters will be measured as well as monitored. Data will be uploaded to internet or the app will be developed which will show the real time data of the running hydropower system.Controllers will be used for processing and monitoring the parameters.
HARDWARE
PARTS
Control Panel
Different meters are installed there in order to measure different parameters of hydro power plant.
In this project we will be sensing all the required parameters that are actually sensed in the Hydro power plants too. Following parameters will be sensed and measured.
- Voltage
- Current
- Frequency
- Power
- Energy
- RPMs
- Flow Rate
AC Generator/ Alternator
Now for the generator portion of our project we have choices. We can use either Synchronous Generator or an Alternator. According to our research that we have done up till now, Alternator seems to be a good choice for us because of the following reasons
- It is Easily available
- Have multiple Pole
- Can easily be modified
Turbine
As we know that turbine is any device that can convert energy of water waves into mechanical energy that will be used by us to generate the electricity through generator. Again we have choices in choosing turbines we can use any of the following turbines depending upon the pressure of water that we will create by using the pump.
- Pelton Turbine
- Kaplan Turbine
- Francis Turbine
Load
The last part of the project flow will be the load, we will aim to create at least 200W from the generator so that the load of almost 200W can be operated on the output of smart hydropower system.
Pumping Mechanism
As we cannot provide that much height to the turbine in our project so we will use a pump that will suck the water from the water reservoir with great pressure so as to run the turbine and thus the generator which is coupled with turbine and to generate electricity. For that purpose, centrifugal pump will be a great choice.
Data Clouding
• Matlab Connectivity with MySQL Database
• Online Website for Controlling Operations Only Authenticated Users Will Have Access to The Website.
• Authenticated Users Will Change Settings from The Website and It Will Get Updated Within Database.
• Matlab Will Detect the Changes That Happened Within Database & Will Perform Necessary Actions in Return.
Benefits of the ProjectAutomation is the use of control systems, intelligent electronic devices, instruments and new communication technologies to enhance the quality of work, better monitoring and controlling of the system to reduce the human interface with system. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the world economy. Automation has had a notable impact on power sector beyond manufacturing industries also. Now a day’s Power plant control systems have evolved from platforms to communicate with industry standard hardware and software, and then to integrate power plant automation systems with almost unlimited connectivity. The system will embrace the latest information and communication technologies (ICT), and multiple communication channels (some traditional and some personal, such as instant messaging).
Interoperation of various control system in power house and substation automation system from SCADA was a challenge in past decades, but with the development of
various automation systems is possible.
IEC 60870 standard is used for telecontrol in electrical power system such systems are used for controlling electrical transmission grids, power house control system like turbine controller, Protection system, Excitation System and other
geographically widespread control system.
Our project describes a SCADA System for hydro power plant automation in compliance with the various IEC standard and interfacing protocols to ensure interoperability among the various devices.Advantages commonly attributed to automation include higher production rates and increased productivity, more efficient use of materials, better product quality, improved safety, shorter workweeks for labour, and reduced factory lead times.
- Ethical Issues
- Guide book will be provided for those performing experiments on our setup.
- We will insure that the setup will not be dangerous to test and to work on.
- Users data will be confidential.
- It will not provide any risk or hazards to the society.
- The fire evaluation scenarios will be passive rather than active i.e. no shock events like falling floors. There will be no Fire and smoke effects will or if any it will not be dangerous for participants during usage.
- Users will be given the information sheets before experiments or testing.
The project consists of a centrifugal pump with controlled motor speed, three interchangeable sets of Pelton, Francis, and Kaplan turbine complete with individual casing respectively. The test set is a self contained unit comprising two main assemblies; an instrument/control console and a welded steel base frame, which carries the pump, turbine set, and water reservoir tank. In terms of the functionality, an inverter with speed dial controls the centrifugal pump motor speed in between 0 to approximately 3000 rpm. Power transducer is provided to measure the power consumption of the pump motor. Speed sensors are installed on both pump and AC generator shaft to measure the rotational speed of the motors. Load cells are mounted beneath each motor. The torque arm is directly depressing against the load cell arm, thereby compressing against the motion. With the aid of the torque sensor, we can register and detect the torque or force acting on the motors. A volt meter and an ampere meter are provided to measure volt and current generated by the AC generator. Pressure transmitters are installed on each inlet and outlet of both pump and turbine set to measure the pressure on the respective locations. Five sets of Resistor banks will be installed to provide necessary load to the AC generator.
A typical AC car alternator has two windings: a stator (stationary outside winding) and a rotor (rotating inner winding). A voltage supplied through the voltage regulator to the rotor winding energizes the rotor and turns it into a magnet. The rotor is rotated by the engine via a drive belt.
The magnetic field produced by the rotating rotor induces AC electric current in the stationary stator winding. Diodes are used to convert AC current into DC current used in the vehicle's electric system. The output voltage is controlled by the voltage regulator (photo below). Typically, a voltage regulator is built-in into the alternator.
This system consists of a sensors, an ASICmicrocontroller, and a GSM module. The three sensors: the level sensor detects the appropriate water level due to seasonal fluctuating water levels because the unit will not generate power when there is too little water and cannot power-up the Pelton turbine; the water flow sensor measures how much water has moved through; the pH sensor measures the hydrogen-ion activity in water to maintain the durability of the system over-time. The ASIC microcontroller is a Raspberry Pi microcontroller that reads the inputs from the three sensors and send the information via IoT for monitoring purposes. The GSM module or any telemetry system to feedback the community for monitoring
| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 74000 | |||
| Generator | Equipment | 1 | 10000 | 10000 |
| Pump | Equipment | 1 | 8000 | 8000 |
| Pipings | Miscellaneous | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Turbine | Equipment | 1 | 25000 | 25000 |
| Controllers | Equipment | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Sensors | Equipment | 5 | 500 | 2500 |
| LCDs | Equipment | 5 | 500 | 2500 |
| Frame | Equipment | 1 | 10000 | 10000 |
| Rasp berry pi | Equipment | 1 | 8000 | 8000 |