Field Service Leader –

A brief survey was also carried out to establish the current costs and power ratings of end-use equipment relevant to the setting up of multi-purpose watermill upgrades. The following table summarises the general conclusions from a survey in Saharanpur (U.P.):
Equipment Rating Price
Good quality single-phase generators 2-5kW 4000-9000Rp
Grindco Mills 1-4kW 1000-2500Rp
Rice huller 1.5-3kW 1500-2000Rp
Oil expeller 3-4kW 5500Rp
Spice-grinder 0.75-1.5kW 1300-1800Rp

Case Study – Dehra Dun
Another typical example is a 1.5m head site near Dehra Dun in Uttar Pradesh. The owner mills with a traditional watermill by day, but also wants to generate electricity to be able to run a jam-making business from the produce of his farm. He also wants power for lighting, TV, and fan in the evenings and night. He has a flow of 150 litres/sec and power potential of 2kW. He would be keen to invest in improved hydropower technology, but has found nothing available to meet his need. In this case the miller’s requirements would be served by a modernised gharat-type system which could still be used for milling, but also adapted to allow an add-on generator to provide electrical power.

Rotor Design

* The runner design should be chosen on the basis of strength, cost and performance.
* The turgo-type from Nepal (also copied in India) is perfectly satisfactory, giving 40-50% efficiency. However it has to be fabricated by hand. A design that can be sand-cast in one piece would be much cheaper for batch production, and would guarantee quality.
* High ‘specific speed’ rotors, eg. propeller turbines, lead to a lighter turbine but may also cause some customer resistance since the concept of a propeller turbine, for example, is very different from a traditional Gharat.

3.5 Bearings

* The design of bearing system is likely to differ significantly between the simple gharat upgrade and the construction of a multi-purpose scheme for 24 hours operation.
* For long life and low maintenance, recommended for the multi-purpose units, the key issues for bearings are: good alignment, good sealing, and adequate rating.

3.6 Drive train

* The drive options for a multi-purpose unit include flat belts, Vee-belts belts and link belts. Flat belts are widely used but transmit limited power and are difficult to keep on the pulleys. Vee-belts give a smooth drive and stay in place on vertical and horizontal drives but availability of the correct sizes may cause a problem. Link belts of various materials are available and can be stocked in reel form and made up to length as required. They are more expensive than conventional Vee belts but some types are claimed to last twice as long.

3.7 Flow Regulation

* Flow variation is catered for automatically in the traditional Gharat by corresponding changes in the depth of water in the open chute. Using a penstock would reduce turbulence losses, and mechanical flow-control (eg. with basic spear valves) can be relatively simple with a single-Jet impulse turbine.
* On low head sites fed from long, level channels, consideration may be given to running a fixed flow turbine (ie. unregulated) on a ‘stop/go’ regime during low flow periods (ie. waiting for the forebay and channel to fill up, then operating for a short time at full flow). This may be the best solution for driving equipment such as oil expellers which require a certain minimum power to operate effectively.
* Overspeeds are unlikely to damage most machinery in the short term but sparks from mill-stones could cause fire unless an automatic shutdown is fitted. This could be a simple lever which trips a jet deflector, for example, when the grain hopper is empty or the shaft speed increases.

3.8 Load Governing

* Mechanical Load Governing is not commonly used in micro-hydro, but may be the cheapest way of protecting very small systems from overspeed. It involves loading the turbine or generator shaft directly to dissipate excess power in proportion to the shaft speed. For example a simple water-immersed centrifugal governor is an option.
* Electronic Load Governing in various forms is now widely used, but is not that cheap (although this needs to be checked with Indian suppliers). It is most suitable for plants in the 5 to 50 kW range.

3.9 End-Use Issues

Perhaps even more critical than the design of hydropower unit is how the power will actually be used.

3.9.1 Mechanical vs electrical
Although the local viewpoint may often be in favour of electricity generation as part of a new scheme, this may not be the best use of the hydropower resource to meet local needs and guarantee the success of a project. In most cases using the majority of power for mechanical end-uses has proven to be more cost-effective and sustainable; almost all of the 1000 micro-hydro schemes in Nepal operate one or more agricultural machines. The key issues can be summarised as follows:

* Electrical power is very versatile and can be used for electrical, mechanical and thermal end-uses; but it requires the necessary appliances to be locally available and affordable.
* Electrical energy is often used non-productively ie. only for lighting. Providing mechanical power effectively forces the use of income-generating end-uses.
* An electrical installation is much more expensive because of the additional, sophisticated equipment required (generator, speed governor, controller).
* Mechanical power is easily understood, it is more likely to be replicated elsewhere in the region, and machinery can usually be repaired with local know-how. Electrical equipment can not generally be repaired locally and the consequences of generator failure can be severe.
* Very little power is wasted with direct mechanical end-uses. In contrast, small generators and motors are typically less than 80% efficient, so a generator operating motorised equipment is less than 65% efficient.
* Mechanical power is restricted to on-site consumption, whereas electricity can be transmitted any distance. Gharats are often hindered by an accessibility problem: people may have to carry their produce down the valley to the gharat and back again, whereas diesel mills may be available in the village. Hence an electric mill operating in the village using hydroelectric power transmitted up from a modernised gharat site may find a bigger market.
* Starting loads, which can be a problem with electrically driven equipment, are easier to handle using mechanical drives. Processing machinery can become clogged if run too slowly and will then take a higher torque to restart.

3.9.2 Charging and income-generation

* Maximum utilisation of the available power is vital for profitability. The long-term target should be, for example, to run agro-processing machinery by day, lighting by evening, and a further useful service at night, for example water-heating, crop-drying, battery-charging or irrigation pumping.
* Agro-processing is a widespread need and charging for the service is straightforward, whether in kind or in cash.
* Water-pumping is also a major need in hilly areas, but defining the service received and setting up an appropriate charging system is extremely difficult.
* An electrical supply can be defined more clearly, but people in the villages have so little cash that securing monthly payments for each domestic supply can be time-consuming and unprofitable. Overnight battery-charging may be a better method of providing a clear-cut electrical service with immediate payment.

3.9.3 Electrical generation

* There are pros and cons for choosing any of a variety of generator types, depending on the application and local availability: Synchronous, Induction, Homo-Polar, or Permanent Magnet.
* Constant voltage and variable frequency is a simple option for lighting loads. This requires a synchronous generator with a field control (voltage regulator) and no other components.
* Underspeeds caused by inadequate power or heavy loads can damage electrical generators. Reduced frequency can cause the transformer (if fitted in the excitation system) to overheat. Induction generators do not like running underspeed which is a condition that often exists where the power is being used for domestic purposes.

3.10 Areas for Development

The technology for village-scale hydropower is generally under-researched and could benefit from R&D in a number of fields, for example:

* Hydraulic testing of alternative runner designs
* Hydraulic testing of open chutes relative to penstocks
* Design of low-cost nozzle valve or simple spear valve.
* Design and test a simple mechanical overspeed trip.
* Design and testing simple mechanical governor.
* Design and testing robust generator.
* Design and testing improved footstep bearing and adjustable top bearing for gharat upgrades.

4. Proposed system designs

4.1 Overview

The preliminary designs proposed for the demonstration units, are as follows:

* a vertical-axis new gharat design with a simplified metal runner suitable for casting or fabrication, and designed for upgrading existing mill installations, but with an option for running a further device off the main shaft.
* a horizontal-axis open crossflow design for multi-purpose operation, either to replace traditional mills or for new sites.

4.2 ‘New Gharat’ Watermill Upgrade

Layout and Upgradability
A principal aim behind the proposed design is that millers should be offered a simple concept, but one that can be upgraded. Therefore the layout of the first demonstration units will continue to be vertical-shaft systems, replacing the existing wooden construction, and used primarily for milling in the traditional manner; the millstones, mill-house and open chute can remain the same during the upgrade process. However options for driving other machinery (either an electrical generator or a rice-huller, spice-grinder, etc.) will also be immediately possible by removing the top mill-stone and replacing it with a single pulley and belt-drive. Further sophistication can be achieved by replacing the open chute with a penstock pipe and control valve. In the longer-term, greater options can be opened up by using the same rotor but with a horizontal axis and belt-driving two or more machines off the main shaft in an enlarged mill-house.

Rotor design
The traditional wooden rotor is less than 20% efficient. The steel runner design used in Nepal is limited hydraulically to about 50% efficiency, and contains two-dimensional curvature which requires laborious fabricated manufacture. Efforts have therefore been made to design a runner which can exceed 50% efficiency but have a geometry suitable either for casting, or low-cost welded fabrication. This would have major implications on its suitability for both low-cost mass production, and for being replicated at local-level. Casting also guarantees the quality of the runner construction. Furthermore, this design of runner is suitable for converting to a horizontal axis layout at a later date.

Speed
Traditional watermills run at less than 100rpm. The Nepali design increased the speed to around 150rpm, which was insufficient to be able to attach a standard 1500rpm generator with a single belt-drive, since 6:1 speed-increase is generally regarded as the maximum. The proposed rotor design is intended to operate in the region of 250-300rpm. This is an important advance in enabling electricity generation, plus other faster-running agro-processing machinery, to operate with a single belt-drive from the main shaft.

Figure 1 shows a schematic of a simple ‘new gharat’ upgrade, and Figure 2 illustrates the same runner used with a horizontal axis in multi-purpose mode.

4.3 ‘Open Crossflow’ Multi-Purpose Schemes

The ‘Multi-Purpose Unit’ will be appropriate where there is adequate head and flow to produce at least 5kW of power at the shaft. These projects will require considerably greater engineering and financial input than the simple mill upgrades. The key features of this unit must be robustness and very low maintenance. The competitive advantage of these ‘Multi-Purpose Mills’ must be so marked that the enterprising millers that have set up diesel and electric mills, will want to get back into watermilling because it is cheaper and better than diesel.

The open crossflow design is recommended for a number of reasons: the crossflow turbine is well-disseminated through publications by SKAT and others; it can be replicated in modestly equipped workshops; and the ‘open’ arrangement allows the technology to be more transparent and it is also significantly cheaper (and more efficient) without the casing. Furthermore the unit needs to have a horizontal axis because of the horizontal alignment of most end-use equipment and the desirability of avoiding twist belts wherever possible.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate the main elements and proposed layout of the multi-purpose design.

It is not proposed that the components for such a system should be manufactured in the remote areas, but that ‘benchmark designs’ should be built at a centralised workshop, at least for the first batches. If village workshops wish to assemble or modify the units in the future, this should be encouraged. Small diesel engines are now assembled by hundreds of small workshops using components and spare parts supplied by larger companies in the regional centres. The original engines from which the designs were copied were long lasting and the same approach could be adopted with the manufacture of turbine components.

The ‘overhung’ layout allows the wet components to be kept outside the mill building, with the bearings inside. It is important that the bearings and shaft are of adequate specification and that the overhung loads are kept as close to the bearings as possible. Running the end-use equipment off the main shaft is intended to keep the system compact, cheaper and safer to operate.

5. Conclusions and Implementation Strategy

The Watermills Block is addressing the immediate requirements of rural people by aiming to demonstrate the best technical solutions to meet their technical capabilities and economic needs. The technology must be both affordable and locally acceptable – technically and culturally. The history of small hydro shows that ignoring these factors has sometimes led to the transfer of efficient and powerful technologies which have had no chance of being replicated, maintained, or owned by local people, and have therefore been unsustainable unless propped up by foreign aid programmes.

The upgrading of traditional watermills is an effective and sustainable way of meeting the energy needs of a major section of the rural poor. Rather than attempting overly ambitious leaps in technology, the need for sustainability means starting at the current point of development and moving forward in steps that can be understood, afforded, and bring immediate and worthwhile benefit. There is a danger in adopting ‘half-way’ solutions which are too simple to be reliable, but too sophisticated for local expertise to repair.

The danger with any ‘Short Term Development Programme’ is that a lot of effort is put into establishing as many projects as possible within the time and budget allocated, without making provision for the long term training and backup. The Watermills programme is endeavouring to ensure that there will be groups of trained local engineers who are well-equipped to attend to problems as they occur. Gharat-owners will also need training (eg. via a local Association) to maintain their own mills.

If unwisely managed, one negative impact of watermills development can be anticipated (from experiences elsewhere) as occurring through market forces. If one watermill increases its business, other millers may suffer and come to resent the new technology. The Hilly Hydro Project is already taking active steps to prevent this problem by supporting the setting up of Watermill Associations, adding to the existing one in Chamoli. Groupings of local watermill owners in a valley or region will agree by consensus which mills to upgrade and what services should be provided so as to minimise any local conflicts of interest. Past experience [7] has shown that conflicts can be avoided by involving local people in the decision-making process and ensuring private purchase and ownership of the new technology.

There is also a danger of making the pilot projects too sophisticated, so that they are then too difficult to replicate. The project aims to keep the technology simple, robust and transparent, while providing appropriate levels of training and backup.

Consultation Services For Applying For Financial Aid. Posted By: Michael Nyleo –

Financial Controller –

A push to ban soda purchases with food stamps: Mayor Bloomberg sought federal permission on Wednesday to bar …

In an anti-obesity push, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking federal permission to bar New York City’s food-stamp recipients from using them to buy sugared drinks.

WHAT???? I hope she has been terribly misquoted!! Maybe she should think about having NO children at this time if she feels like it would SLOW DOWN her career. As an adoptive mother, I resent the implication that adoption is “the easy way” to have a child. Based on my experience; the legwork, paperwork, emotional and financial input, etc., that the adoption process takes is just as career-slowing (or was in our case) as I imagine a physical pregnancy would be. My opinion of her has changed if this is true.
]]>

allmajor corporations would have to pony up more money and follow more regulations. As to Jindal…dweeb, yes, panderer, also yes as are all politicians. The day we have a single person in power who does not tap dance around their own hypocrisy to please everyone, maintain finances and positions, will be the day that butterflies soar out of their asses. The system is flawed, the system will remain flawed until the people correct it, which will apparently be the fifth of never, and so in that case we must return once more the land of reality and taking good with bad to maintain that balance thing I was speaking of previously. If you honestly agree one hundred percent with any politician I am concerned for your ability to reason properly as I know there is not a single one out there that I entirely agree or disagree with, even the worst can have the best points and vice versa. Jumping on the bandwagon of excessive idealism at the cost of everyone's autonomy is not going to solve the issue…and yet, your commentary was exactly what I expected when posting this blog. Instead of finding the point we clearly agree on, the ones we do not were picked out, highlighted, and extenuated without much validity.

Billy Nungesser…also did not mention him, but I will now! Nungesser is a perfect example of exactly why not everyone should be allowed to vote. I'm certain he's a pleasant fellow, and he hasn't really done anything particularly great or vile, but that is the problem with him right there; he is not an entity of action when it matters as we can all see. Kudos to him for at least being on the scene constantly, but the man is a dolt of epic proportions. I do not recall stating anywhere that I supported him, his view points, or his generalized stupidity. Actually, I often wonder if he is secretly related to our “speaker” of the house as they appear to share the thinking and speaking capacities of dead, oily pelicans. They should both be removed from their positions, but we all know that isn't likely.

As for the Yale article, what on earth would make you think I had not read this? Do I appear to you to be a person lacking of education or the desire to seek knowledge surrounding this problem that so obviously vexes me into states of nausea? Apparently I do for some odd reason unapparent to myself but crystalline to you. Oh! Oh! I know what it is, I forgot how this works when someone disagrees with people like you; they become uneducated trailer trash. Let me quote you, “oh, Please!” Its alright to have differing opinions when the end desire is equal, maybe if we could all realize that and adhere to it the entire human race would be slightly less of a disgusting virus. Again, not damn likely…but, back to that article. As I implied, this was read, and I remain of the opinion that doing something is better than doing nothing as well as that the structures will be easier to remove if and when they cause problems than the oil pile up. Additionally, I presume you are aware that in many other countries (I shall not insult your intelligence by linking you here) there are artificial barriers to prevent coastal flooding and other such happenings, their ecosystems have not fallen apart. You may also want to re-read the blog without surfing it for complaints so that you will not miss my point in regards to the barriers, which was that it is positively ridiculous for any state to have to gain federal permission to protect its environment, people, or economy. I seem to recall that there have been a couple of rather bloody wars in this country in regards to that same subject, and yes, yes, I so do advocate another one at this point as there must be some snap back to reality at some point.

Hmm…I'm not certain what I'm supposed to say about your driving, other than that I have this odd feeling that you not driving your car is not changing jack. There are articles on that too you know, how emissions on vehicles are less destructive over all than the general waste of an average household, so maybe you could consider eating two or three less meals, never buying anything even slightly unnecessary again, or living in a tent somewhere off the land if you're really that dedicated to the cause. Nothing wrong with that, a few people in my own family lived that way actually, but since you bemoan lack of mass transit I doubt you're the roughing it type. You know what I do? I drive a high powered muscle car-often-and I do things to offset the harm I'm doing simply by living, fuck the car when everything we do is poisonous to our earth, by carpooling others, keeping up with proper vehicle maintenance to keep my car as environmentally safe as possible, and using only companies and products that are at least conscious of our impact on the planet. What I'll never understand is how oil became entirely related to vehicles, maybe its just because its easier to relate to the public in a campaign, or because the ultimate evil empires of the corporate world are more powerful and scary than the oil companies. What ever the reason, oil is used in nearly every product you touch on a daily basis from plastics and asphalts to cosmetics and medications. In addition to not driving cars any more, are we all going to throw away our technology, health care, and most of our household items? Yet again, this is pretty doubtful and returns me to the point that instead of harping on a single point it would be prudent to unite as a group of concerned people with the same end result and share knowledge even where opinions and methods differ. Its a matter of respect, something that is as lacking in our society as everything else. I wouldn't worry though, well, no, I worry because I'm not far enough on either side to do anything but die even more slowly, your socialist hell will doubtlessly come you. Really, just keep sticking it out and I'm sure you'll get the joy of inadequate health care and a complete lack of personal freedoms that is desired. May you survive it better than those of us already at the mercy of a epic failure.

Again, I do thank you for your opinion whether I agree with it or not. I hope you are putting your concerns in the right place somewhere and spreading the word about this disaster, the general epic idiocy on all counts surrounding its senseless occurrence, and volunteering your time or finances. Best of luck to you, no I really mean it, in your pursuits and blogging, and thank you once again for your time and literacy.]]>