Study regarding the use of wind energy in the area of water supply
BADEA LEPADATESCU1, IOAN GHIMBASEANU2
1Department of Engineering Technology1 and Materials Science2
Transylvania University of Brasov
500036 B-dul Eroilor, nr.29
ROMANIA
Abstract: - In the paper is presented a solution to solve the problem of water supply for an isolated small
community where the area posses an outstanding wind potential. It is a place with a few buildings which
are located near a river and is needed water for daily requirements. The water must be taken from the
river and send it to a tank from where it is sending anytime where is needed.
It was taken into consideration two types of wind turbine, one with horizontal axis and other with vertical
axis. After studying the advantages of each one it was taken a decision to produce and install a wind
turbine with horizontal axis.
Key-Words: - wind turbine, domestic water, renewable energy.
1 Introduction
All around the world is a number of small
isolated communities, like island and rural
villages without access to a large electricity
grid. The absence of an electrical network in
their major area or the prohibitively high
connection cost, force this remote
consumers to cover their urgent
electrification needs to use small diesel
electric generators with all the problems of
pollution of environment and noise.
The development of renewable energy
sources is a central aim of European Union
energy policy–reflecting the clear benefits
that clean, sustainable and secure energy
supplies will bring to current and future
generations of Europeans, as well as other
peoples worldwide. Clean-because they
reduce the pollution that scars our cities and
countryside. Sustainable –because they are
renewable and do not contribute to the build
up of greenhouse gases that cause climate
change. Secure-because they are sourced
within Europe, not imported, and thus they
reduce our dependency on events elsewhere
in the world that we cannot control
Because we want to build a wind turbine
was to pump water is necessary to know first
the percentage of renewable energy sources
in total consumption and the energetic
potential of renewable energy sources.
These are shown in Table 1[1].
Table 1. Energetic potential of renewable energy sources in Romania.
Renewable energy source
Energetic potential on year
Equivalent safety energy
Solar Energy:
-Thermal
-PV
60x106 GJ
1.200 GWh
1.433
103,2
Wind energy
23000 GWh
1978
Hydro Energy
40000 GWh
516
Biomass
318x106 GJ
7597
Geothermal Energy
7x106 GJ
167
DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE
DOI: 10.37394/232022.2022.2.6
Badea Lepadatescu, Ioan Ghimbaseanu
E-ISSN: 2732-9984
35
Volume 2, 2022
Wind turbines are classified as vertical or
horizontal axis machines depending on the axis
of rotation of the rotor. The energy available in
the wind is proportional to the cube of the wind
speed: if the wind speed is doubled, there is
eight times the available power.
Wind turbine has many applications as:
• Stock water – sheep, cattle, horses;
• Domestic applications – household water for
drinking, sanitation, and washing;
• Irrigation – for house and vegetable gardes;
• Filling dams, reservoirs, fish ponds, lakes;
• Dewatering wet lands;
• Water for small industry;
• Waste water removal;
• Sewage;
• Remote locations;
The selecting of a wind turbine should be based
on the next criteria: wind conditions, source a
water supply, water requirements, total pumping
head, and governing.
Regarding of wind conditions, the right
combination of wind turbine and pump is one
which will work easily in light winds (about 10
km/h). This will also depend on the total
pumping head [2].
Wind turbine will be useful for pumping water
for stock and domestic supplies in isolated rural
areas. It can be an economical alternative where:
• Wind conditions are reliable;
• Unattended pumping is required for long
periods;
• There is no other viable power source;
• The user requires environmentally clean
power;
The principal advantages of using a wind turbine
are outlined below:
• run unattended for long periods;
• low maintenance;
• suits isolated locations;
• no energy costs;
Some of their disadvantages are:
• high capital costs;
• intermittent pumping in very light winds;
• requires auxiliary storage;
We will study the two solutions of wind
turbines with their advantages and
disadvantages to can take a decision to solve
the problem for domestic water supply.
2 Wind turbine with vertical axis
The idea is to use a wind turbine with vertical
axis to produce electricity that will be used to
pump water from a river. For the remote
locations, and when is desired to be
independent regarding the electric energy
source, it was designed a wind turbine with
vertical axis helical type (Fig.1).
Fig.1 Rotor of a wind turbine with vertical
axis helical type.
This type of wind turbine is easy to mount
on the roof of a house, having the main
advantage of don’t need to be pointed into
the wind direction with a system as other
types of wind turbines. In the same time it
works without any noise and the shape of
the rotor make these turbines to be with any
damage for the birds [2].
The rotor of this wind turbine was made by
the FINEX Company, patented in Romania,
and is with three blades with fiber glass
material. The main advantages of this type
of wind turbine with helical type rotor
whose main rotor shaft runs to the flow
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streamlines, from other type of wind
turbines with horizontal axis are:
- simplicity in construction and good
strength;
- high reliability;
- smaller cost with 20 % as similar
turbines;
- specific power bigger on the active
surface;
- big torque moment at starting;
- at the wind speed bigger than 20 m/sec is
self breaking without mechanical
components, due to its original shape of
rotor [3];
- doesn’t need orientation after the wind
direction;
- it can works to high wind speed, as 50
m/s;
- it is only one wind turbine that is
accepted by environmental agencies,
because it doesn’t kill birds;
- doesn’t make noise during its function;
The rotor was mathematically designed and
tested in experimental conditions on the car
adapted as a mobile laboratory, where were
measured the next parameters:
- wind speed [m/s];
- rotational movement of rotor shaft
[rpm];
- generator power [W];
- air temperature [0C];
One rotor can generate a power of 600 W, at the
wind speed of 12 m/s, and by mounting on a
common axle of two rotors, it is obtained a total
power of 1200 W.
Because the rotational movement of the rotor
shaft is of maximum 120 rpm, it was needed to
use a device that increase the rotation movement
and ensure an optimum conditions of working for
the PGM (permanent generator magnet).
The electric current is threephase and is
needed to use a device to modify it in order
to be measured as good accuracy as possible
the current generated at different number of
rotor shaft rotation. To select a wind turbine
we must taken into consideration some
points as a water source, which in our case is
a river, the volume of water to be pumped
(livestock requirements) and the lift (from
water level to top of the tank).
In Table 2 is showing technical characteristics of
wind turbine with vertical axis for a power of
1000 W.
Table 2 Technical characteristics of wind turbine
with vertical axis.
Power
1000 W
Wind speed
Cut-in wind speed: 1.8 m/s;
Nominal wind speed: 12
m/s;
Cut-out wind speed: 20 m/s
Blade numbers
3
Rotor diameter
1.20 m
Current
generator
GL-PMG 1000
Turbine weight
135 kg
This type of wind turbine is very efficient at
wind speeds of 3.5 – 7.5 m/s, when the
probability of using it is between 12.3 -9.5
%. For many reasons, this type of wind
turbine is more efficient than other wind
turbine with horizontal axis and with three
blades. Table 3 shows the values of power
that were obtained for different wind speeds
at a various probability of wind.
Table 3. The values of wind speeds and
power generated according with the wind
probability.
Speed
(m/s) Power
(W)
Wind
Probability
(f)
0
0%
0
0%
1.5 4 6.61%
18
10.04%
49
12.22%
104
13.04%
190
12.63%
313
11.30%
480
9.41%
700
7.35%
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3 Wind turbine with horizontal axis
to pump water for domestic supply
To select a wind turbine we must taken into
consideration some points as a water source,
which in our case is a river, the volume of
water to be pumped (livestock requirements)
and the lift (from water level to top of the
tank). Some estimations available wind must
be made, preferably from site readings using
an anemometer. The wind turbine outlets are
normally discharged into an open tank i.e.
into the top of the tank.
The wind is a natural resource that is
available everywhere. As a general rule the
wind blows for between 8 to 10 hours per
day, at a speed that is useful for the wind
turbine. Table 4–called Beaufort scale-is
used to assess local wind conditions [3].
Table 4. Assessment of local wind conditions.
Force
Name
Definition
Speed range m/s (kph)
0
Calm
Smoke rises vertically
0 (0)
1
Light air
Direction shown by smoke, but not vane
1 (7)
2
Light breeze
Wind felt on face, leaves rustle
2-3 (14-21)
3
Gentle breeze
Leaves, small twigs & flags in motion
4-5 (28-35)
4
Moderate
Raises dust and paper, small branches move
6-8 (42-56)
5
Fresh breeze
Small trees in leaf sway
9-11 (63-57)
6
Strong breeze
Large branches move, wires whistle
11-14 (77-98)
7
Near gale
Whole trees move, walking slightly impeded
14-17 (98-119)
8
Gale
Breaks twigs off trees, walking difficult
17-20 (119-140)
9
Sever gale
Slight structural damage
21-24 (147-168)
10
Storm
Trees uprooted, considerable damage
> 25 (>175)
Table 5 will be used to determine the
volume of water that is needed for the wind
turbine to pump. After is doing the total
requirements is needed to add a safety
margin.
Table 5. Determination of the water volume
needed.
Water use
Estimated
daily use
(Litres)
Domestic–drinking (per person)
2
Domestic–hygiene, bathing (per
person)
10
Domestic–toilet (per person)
10
Domestic-laundry (per person)
15
Domestic-household cleaning
10
Swimming pool
750
Usually this margin is between 10 to 50 %
and depends on the reliability of the wind
resource –a good wind resource will only
require a 10 % margin, while a light wind
regime will need more (to allow for the days
when the wind does not blow) [4].
The idea was to build a wind turbine which
is used to pump water for domestic supply
necessities in a holiday location where are a
number of 10 houses.
The holiday place is near to a river and they
intend to use the water from the river for
their daily needs.
In Fig.1 is shown the principle of the idea of
taking water from a river and to send it to
the tank from where it can be used anytime.
The main elements of the wind turbine used
to extract water from the river shown in
Fig.2 are: 1-the water tank; 2-wind turbine
body; 3-diaphragm pump; 4- pipe system; 5-
the river.
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Fig.2 The principle of wind turbine to
pump water.
To achieve the needs regarding the domestic
supply water was designed and realized a
wind turbine with horizontal axis which is
presented in Fig.3. The main parts of the
wind turbine are: 1- the multiblades rotor; 2-
the tower or mast made by tubular steel with
two sections of pipe coupled together; 3-the
guy wires attached to the tower in three
points and with an underground concrete
anchor for each set; 4- the diaphragm pump;
5- the concrete base;
The rotor is mage by 12 blades and has a
diameter of 1, 5 m. The height of entire
turbine is 6 m. The wind turbine is located
at 5 m distance from the river whose water
we intend to use for domestic needs.
To pump the water was chosen a diaphragm
pump shown in Fig.4. The pump is acted by
a cable (4) that has a reciprocating motion
which is received from the rotor mechanism.
The rotor mechanism transforms the
revolution motion into reciprocating motion
through a cam.
In a cam operated wind turbine, the lift of
the water occurs during more than one-half
the cycle. Using a cam that allows for three-
quarters of the cycle lifting and one-quarter
return, starting torque is reduced by 60
percent.
The wind turbine will start in light winds,
and if combined with counterbalancing,
starting torque is reduced by 72 percent
Fig.3 A wind turbine with horizontal axis to
pump water.
A diaphragm pump (5) is a pump that uses a
combination of the reciprocating action of a
membrane made by rubber and non return
check valves to pump water. When the
volume of a chamber is increased – the
diaphragm moving up- the pressure
decreases, and fluid is drawn into the
chamber. When the chamber pressure
increases from decreased volume – the
diaphragm moving down- the fluid
previously drawn in is forced out. After that,
the diaphragm is moving up again draws
fluid into the chamber, completing the cycle.
The entire perimeter of the diaphragm is
tightly held and sealed in place between the
side of the displacement chamber and a
flange, which is tightly bolted to the
chamber.
1
2
3
4
5
4
3
2
1
5
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Fig.4 Diaphragm pump used to pump water.
Each displacement chamber has two valves,
usually spring-loaded ball valves made from
the same material as the diaphragm. One of
the valves admits the water being pumped to
the diaphragm chamber, and the other
allows the material to exit the diaphragm
chamber. It is a driving mechanism that
flexes the diaphragm in and out of the
chamber to suction in and force out the
water. The water is taken from the river
through the device 7 and is sending to the
water tank by the flexible pipe 3. The body
of the pump 7 is connected to the tower 1 by
the plate 2 by a bolt and bush-bearing which
helps when the mast is erected in position.
The initial design was for a wind turbine which
is able to pump 700-1000 l/h. During the tests on
the site location, the quantity of water wasn’t
enough because the length of reciprocation
motion was shorter. To increase the length of
reciprocation motion that acts the pump was
designed a mechanism shown in Fig.5.
Fig.5 Mechanism added to increase the
volum of water pumped.
This mechanism is able to double the stroke of
the reciprocating motion and in this way to
increase the water pumped. It was bolted on the
plate 2 (Fig.5), by the plate 4, the wire coming
from the rotor is fixed with the screws 6 on the
cylinder surface 7 and from the cylinder face 2
through the screws 1 the stroke is transmit to the
diaphragm pump.
The energy available in the wind is
proportional to the cube of the wind speed:
if the wind speed is doubled, there is eight
times available power. The power output of
a wind turbine is dependent on the rotor
diameter and the wind speed. The energy
captured by the rotor is proportional to the
square of the rotor diameter and the cube of
the wind speed. The potential output of a
multiblades wind turbine is given by this
equation [5]:
P = 0,002·D2·V3 (1)
where:
P = power in watts;
D = rotor diameter in meters;
V = wind speed in kilometres per hour
If we expect to have an average wind speed
between 3-7 m/s then the wind turbine will
give a power between 0,12 -1,54 W which
will be enough to start the water pump
working. But in the site where the wind
1
2
3
4
5
7
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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turbine is located the wind speeds can have
sometimes more than 7 m/s which ensure a
good supply of energy for water pump.
For the time when the wind doesn’t blow in
the site is a tank where the water is stored
and can supply enough water for domestic
needs.
4 Conclusions
The renewable energy sources have clear
benefits that distinguish them from fossil
fuels. They are diverse: renewable energy
sources can be exploited in more ways and
in more places than fossil fuels. They are
environment – friendly origin, being known
as “green electricity”: either they do not lead
to greenhouse gas emissions, as in wind and
solar energy production. That is way we use
the wind energy to pump water in a location
that is remote from electricity grid and that
is unattended for long periods.
For our purpose we take the decision to
install in the site the wind turbine with
horizontal axis which meets all the
conditions required for the water supply of
buildings in the small community.
In this case wasn’t necessary to have a
turbine to produce electricity for a water
pump. It is possible to use only the turbine
itself to supply water for domestic use.
References:
[1] Mugea, N., Smuda, E. - Wind multiblade
turbine to pump water. In Conference
INMATECH 2001, Bucharest, Romania.
[2] Manwell, J.F. - Wind energy, New York:
Wiley, 2002.
[3] Paul, G. - Wind power: renewable
energy for home, farm and business. Chelsea
Green Publishing Co., 2004.
[4] Colangelo, V. J., - Engineering aspects
of product liability. American Society for
Metals, 1981.
[5] Dermot, M.G. –Wind for home energy.
Ney York: McGraw –Hill, 1998.
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Volume 2, 2022