Hello everyone, the use of electricity cannot be over emphasized today, sometimes one wonder how the world was before electricity and how the people of old survive in that condition. As most part of the world struggle to generate more power for adequate power supply while others battle to keep up with the high electric tariff, there is need for an alternatively cheap power supply. Nearly every household uses water tank, generating electricity from water tank will help check this problem.

Image credit: pxhere

The basic idea of this system is to convert the potential energy of water stored in the tank at a high height to kinetic energy use to drive a turbine as water flows from tank to tap. The turbine is attached to a generator which then generate electricity and this electricity is used to power the house directly or connected to an inverter system which then charges the battery for future uses.

From the line diagram, we can see the setting of the system, how water flows through a turbine and powers a generator on it way to the tap in the house. The energy transmitted here to the turbine depends on the pressure of the water, i.e at full tank the running water will transmit more energy. To achieve more energy per time, it is advisable that the water tank should be full. When the water level is too low the energy transmitted to the turbine will be very low and the power delivered to the house or inverter will to too low to run the inverter or power the house.

Knowledge Background

From elementary physics, a body at a higher height has more potential energy than a body at a lower height. This can be proven from the calculation of potential energy

PE = mgh

Where PE is potential energy, m is mass, g is acceleration due to gravity and h is height.

A body of the same mass happen to have more energy at a great height, this can be seen in crane which lift up load off the ground, the higher the crane goes the lesser the weight it can lift, this is as a result of the mass having higher potential at greater height. The same load that could easily be lift off the ground can cause the crane to break at a very great height.

A body of the same mass at different heights has different potential energy, this is as a result of the forces of inertia acting on the body at different altitude. At a higher altitude the body has more inertia therefore more energy. The body is show to have the least potential energy at ground level and increase proportionally with height. It is observer to have the maximum value of potential energy at maximum height. Therefore potential energy is directly proportional to height.

To move a body from a level of lower potential to a higher potential, there is need for external source of power/energy to oppose the force of gravity. For a water tank at a high altitude, a pump is needed to transport water from the ground level of the building t to the top of the tank. This pump can be powered by solar panel or any other means of power. It could be powered alternatively by the power generated from this system but cannot fully run on it because a device cannot be source and sink at the same time, that's a perpetual motion machine and it's not practically possible.

The generator is a device whose main function is to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Generators works according to Michael Faraday's law of electromagnetism. If you place a wire (copper) around the poles of the magnet and move the wire in a certain direction, electrical current is generated in the opposite direction to the movement of the coil. This generated current is what is transmitted through wires to various parts of the house for utility.

---

The Principle of Operation

The principle of operation here is that as water fall from a great height, it falls with high pressure which in turn turns the turbine blades and this turns the a shaft connected to the generator. As stated above, the generator cause current to flow in the opposite direction to the motion of the armature. The continuous motion of the amateur creates a continuous interaction between the coil and the magnetic field. This leads to a constant and continuous generation of electricity. The presence of valve or nozzle in the line is to cause a variation in the flow rate of water leading to higher pressure and more power generation. The load here represent the battery or the household appliances or both.

---

Selection of Components

There are several components to use in other to ensure the turbine works optimally, depending on our desire power output from the turbine, we will be looking at some of the major components that will optimize performance.

• DC Generator
  The factors to consider when choosing a DC generator is the expected power to be generated, the cost of the generator and the number of rotation of the generator. It is also recommended that a permanent magnet DC generator should be used for reliability and optimum performance.

• Battery
  The battery is one major factor to consider when using the inverter type of installation. There are several good batteries out there for this system but the recommended batteries are Ni-Cad or Lead acid batteries. For longer battery life, avoid over charging, always cut off supply once battery is fully charge, this will prevent future damages to battery.

• Nozzle
  The introduction of a nozzle like the Broad nozzle pipe endon the pipeline before the turbine entry point, allows the pressure level to increase at the entry to the turbine making more energy available to the turbine which will be transmitted to the generator. The water pressure return to normal at the exist of the turbine and goes to the tap at normal pressure.

• U-Tube
  Like the name implies, this is a U-shaped tube that runs the water from the tank directly down to the bottom of the building and then back up to the tank before branching out, this is to ensure every flow of the build have water at the same pressure level. With this kind off piping system more power can be generated at low water volume in tank.

---

Conclusion

With the demand for power today and high cost of power tariff in domestic homes, power generation from water tank can serve as a solution. This system is easy to install , operate and environmental friendly as it does not pollute the environment with both noise (from generator) and gases like Carbon(iv)oxides. It is also not affected by weather and climate like solar panel and wind turbine, therefore it can run all year round and in any terrain. It is also cheap as the cost of production and maintenance is relatively low. With this in every home the effect off power outage will be reduce to the barest minimum.

References; 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7