Experimental activity at test rig validating correlations to select pumps running as turbines in microhydro plants

Barbarelli, Silvio; Amelio, Mario; Florio, Gaetano

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2017.03.013

Cited by 108 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Another limitation of the methodology is the fact that while many theoretical PAT BEPs were analysed among the possible combinations of flow across the irrigation season, a finite number of pumps exist in the market. The PAT curves were obtained using Equation (10), which is based on experimental data from 12 pumps tested as turbines [32]. In reverse these pumps function as PATs and are considerably cheaper than traditional turbines due to mass production.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, l different scenarios were defined, each of them corresponding to one PAT, whose BEP was (Q lBEP , H BEP ). To regulate the PAT inlet conditions and keep the network service conditions downstream, the bypass scheme proposed by Lydon et al [32], has been considered, in which there are two control valves, one before the PAT and the other in parallel. The regulation used was hydraulic regulation (HR), since previous investigations concluded that HR is generally more efficient than electric regulation, showing larger efficiencies when the working conditions vary from the design values.…”

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The methodology assumes that the selection of a pump to operate as a turbine with the specified BEP can be carried out independently, using the approaches described in Lydon et al [32]. The method then adopts the approach proposed by Barbarelli et al [32] to estimate the PAT characteristic curves (head & flow). Barbarelli, proposed an alternative curve to the curve suggested by Derakshan and Nourbakhsh [33], to obtain the relative head for any given machine, based on 12 pumps tested as turbines.…”

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

Chacón

Díaz

Morillo

et al. 2019

Water

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In pressurized irrigation networks, energy reaches around 40% of the total water costs. Pump-as-Turbines (PATs) are a cost-effective technology for energy recovery, although they can present low efficiencies when operating outside of the best efficiency point (BEP). Flow fluctuations are very important in on-demand irrigation networks. This makes flow prediction and the selection of the optimal PAT more complex. In this research, an advanced statistical methodology was developed, which predicts the monthly flow fluctuations and the duration of each flow value. This was used to estimate the monthly time for which a PAT would work under BEP conditions and the time for which it would work with lower efficiencies. In addition, the optimal PAT power for each Excess Pressure Point (EPP) studied was determined following the strategy of minimising the PAT investment payback period (PP). The methodology was tested in Sector VII of the right bank of the Bembézar River (BMD), in Southern Spain. Five potential sites for PAT installation were found. The results showed a potential energy recovery of 93.9 MWh and an annual energy index per irrigated surface area of 0.10 MWh year −1 ha −1 . Renewable energy will become increasingly important in the agriculture sector, to reduce both water costs and the contribution to climate change. PATs represent an attractive technology that can help achieve such goals.2 of 20 points of excess pressure. Water networks are commonly sub-optimal in terms of their use of energy and water resources, due to changes in elevation, demand, water pressure and leakage rates across many kilometres of pipelines. Recent research has studied the application of MHP turbines in water supply and wastewater infrastructure to reduce pressure to desired levels and recover energy in the form of electricity [11][12][13][14]. In pressurized irrigation networks, the irrigation devices (drippers, sprinklers) continue to evolve towards greater efficiency in the consumption of water and energy. This results in a lower working pressure requirement in some areas of an irrigation network, triggering the potential for available energy recovery. In addition, due to changes in elevation and demand across a typical irrigation network, areas of excess pressure are unavoidable, unless a network is situated in an area with uniform gradient and demand distribution.The use of pump-as-turbines (PATs) for energy recovery have been shown to be cost-effectivepotentially just 10% of the cost of conventional MHP turbines [15][16][17][18][19] at sites with small power output capacity [20,21]. Nonetheless, PATs have the disadvantage of relatively low efficiency, which can reduce further with large flow fluctuations. It has been shown that the efficiency of the PAT can reduce to approximately 70% of the maximum efficiency when the flow is 20% below the Best Efficiency Point (BEP) flow rate [21]. Different investigations have also analysed the use of PATs in irrigation networks for energy recovery. Nonetheless, the flow fluctuations in the i...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

Chacón

Díaz

Morillo

et al. 2019

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A sample of 12 pumps was measured at the hydraulic test rig of the University of Calabria (UNICAL) in direct and reverse operation [19], measurements for 4 other pumps were found in [20], while the remaining 11 in [13].…”

Section: Journal Of Sustainable Development Of Energy Water and Envimentioning

confidence: 99%

Using a Statistical-Numerical Procedure for the Selection of Pumps running as Turbines to be applied in Water Pipelines: Study Cases

Barbarelli¹,

Amelio²,

Florio³

2018

J. sustain. dev. energy water environ. syst.

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Cite as: Barbarelli, S., Amelio, M., Florio, G., Using a Statistical-Numerical Procedure for the Selection of Pumps running as Turbines to be applied in Water Pipelines: Study Cases, J. sustain. dev. energy water environ. syst., 6(2), pp 323-340, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.13044/j.sdewes.d5.0181 ABSTRACTA combined method using statistical and numerical models has been developed by the authors for selecting a pump running as turbine to be applied in micro-hydro plants.The data of the hydrological site chosen for the installation (head and capacity) allow the calculation of two conversion factors which identify the pump to use successfully as turbine in that place. Then, a one-dimensional model, starting from data available on the pumps manufacturers catalogues, reconstructs a virtual geometry of the pump running as turbine, and calculates the performances curves, head vs. capacity, efficiency vs. capacity, useful for identifying the operating point. Two study cases are presented to apply the proposed methodology, concerning the feasibility of the installation of a pump running as turbine in the purifier water plants of Casali and Sersale, located at 1,000 m above sea level (Calabria, South Italy).The assessment of the annual energy yield gives a confirmation of the effectiveness and convenience of using pumps running as turbines.

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An experimental and numerical investigation into using hydropower plant on oil transmission lines

Ansari

Aligholami

Khosroshahi

2022

Energy Science & Engineering

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Replacing control valves in the inlet lines of oil transmission stations with hydropower plants can be a logical solution to convert energy losses into useful power. In this regard, this paper carried out an experimental and numerical investigation to study the feasibility of applying a pump as turbine in a hydropower system and its performance on the oil transmission lines. An experimental platform, comprising a tank, hydropower, centrifugal pump, electromotor, and measuring instruments, was constructed. An external gear pump was employed regarding the high working pressure of the system, maximally 80 bar, as an actuator of the centrifugal pump. By comparing the efficiency of the electropump with the hydropower-driven pump, it was observed that maximum efficiency, approximately 20.6%, occurred when the pump reached its best efficiency point. Furthermore, based on experiments on hydropower-driven pump under different inlet pressures, an optimal point was observed for the system. This issue enhanced the system's efficiency by 19% as the flow rate increased by 1.9 L/s in the inlet pressure of 80 bar. According to the results, as the flow rate increases, there is a descending trend in outlet pressure. Besides this, there is an optimum condition for the maximum efficiency of hydropower plants and this crucial point should be determined by experimental or numerical studies to reach maximum performance. Furthermore, extracted values of power from the computational fluid dynamics model were compared with the experiments with less than 8% error in most cases. Therefore, a correlation was introduced for the prediction of power based on effective parameters of outlet pressure and volumetric flow rate for the off-design condition in each inlet pressure with roughly 2% error.

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Experimental activity at test rig validating correlations to select pumps running as turbines in microhydro plants

Cited by 108 publications

References 13 publications

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

Using a Statistical-Numerical Procedure for the Selection of Pumps running as Turbines to be applied in Water Pipelines: Study Cases

An experimental and numerical investigation into using hydropower plant on oil transmission lines

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