Osmotic Energy-Based Micro Hydroelectric Power System

A hydroelectric system has been designed for a distributed generator in the range of 10 to 100 kW. The turbine of this system is run by osmotic power, which is generated from the concentration difference between sea water and fresh water. The concentration difference creates a pressure and a flow rate. This pressure and the flow rate are the power inputs to the turbine. As the system has a high head and a low flow rate, a Pelton turbine is selected, which is the most suitable device or equipment for this power system. Turbine wheel diameter and jet velocity are estimated based on the turbine power and a nominal rotor speed of 1800 rpm, which produces 60 Hz power frequency. Torque and speed are the outputs from the Pelton turbine. By considering ideal conditions the maximum speed and torque outputs are calculated. A permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) is used to generate the electric power. The whole system is divided into four parts. They are osmotic, hydro, mechanical and electrical. The power in each of these types is calculated and found to be the same. Calculations of higher power levels are also done, (100 kW and 250 kW). In the load side, capacitor, inductor, and resistors are connected. The whole system is first implemented in the Matlab/Simulink and the output values have been achieved. Then, the system is implemented in PSIM software. The PMSG model is used in both Matlab/Simulink and PSIM software packages and the same parameters values of PMSG are considered for both models. The PMSG outputs are electrical current and voltage. The voltage and current outputs from Matlab and PSIM have been compared and found same. The system is also implemented experimentally. An emulation has been done from this setup. In the experimental setup, all the parameter values are taken same those in Matlab model. The voltage, current, and frequency have been measured from the experimental setup and these results are compared with the Matlab outputs. Model is validated using experimental results