Mapua Institute of Technology

School of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering

ECE131L

Energy Conversion (A6)

Report

Date Performed: December 6, 2017

Date Submitted: December 6, 2017

Name: Cruz, Patricia

Class #5
Course &Sec: ECE131L/A6 GRADE

Dr. Catherine S. Salvador

Professor
 Group#4

Members:

Class # Names
2 Bayang, Ulysses Aaron
5 Cruz, Patricia (Leader)
15 Jabat, Kiana
 Monitoring System for Water Turbine with
Pressure Control System
Ulyssess Aaron Bayang, Patricia Cruz, Kiana Jabat
#
EECE Department, Mapua University
Muralla St. Intramuros, Manila Philippines
Abstract The basic principle of hydropower is that, if the
water is piped from a certain level to a lower level, the
resulting water pressure can be used to do work. This study is
practical implementation of the theory of hydropower
generation. It considers the design and installation of mini
hydropower plant. A storage tank and a plastic pipe were used
to represent the dam and the penstock respectively. The
turbine and generator were constructed and the various parts
were coupled together to form the hydropower plant. The
hydro turbine converts water pressure into mechanical shaft
power, which is used to drive the electric that is suitable for
powering some household electrical appliances. In this paper
it mainly addresses the water pressure and level problems in
hydraulic turbine which is the most direct factor that affects
the efficiency of the hydraulic turbine. The revolution speed
of the turbine can also be used to measure the amount of water
flowing, and help tune for even distribution of supplying
water. This was controlled under the control of commands
form Blue Terminal which then controls the dc motor. The
level of water is controlled using fuzzy logic controller block.
The two inputs to the fuzzy system are the water level error,
level, and the rate of change of the water level, rate.
Index Terms Hydropower, Water Turbine, Pressure
Control
I. INTRODUCTION
Hydropower is a renewable energy source currently used in
most parts of the world to supplement with electricity needs.
Hydropower was first used in 250BC, and it was recorded that
waterpower was used to power the clock. Since this time,
hydropower has evolved from running a small clock to
generating enough power to supply a large city.
In ancient times, water wheels were used, but only got a new
impulse at the beginning of the 19th century with the
invention of hydro turbines. Small-scale hydropower was
first commonly used style of electricity generation in early
20th century. In 1924 for example, in Switzerland alone,
nearly seven thousand small-scale hydropower stations were
in use. Then improvements of distribution possibilities by
means of high voltage transmission lines caused fainted
interest in small-scale hydroelectric power installations. Also
in China, renewed interests in the technology of mini
hydropower started between the year 1970 and 1985, estimate
says that between this times nearly seventy-six thousand
small scale hydro power stations were built there [1].
Hydropower is a very clean source of energy, which does not
consume but only used the water and again make it available
for other uses. It involves the conversion of the potential
energy of water into mechanical energy, which is a
technology with higher efficiency, in most cases double that
of other conventional electric power plants. Hydroelectric
power plants already supplies over 6% of the world energy
needs and over the next decades much of the growth in
renewable energy source will result from large-scale
hydroelectric power project particularly in the developing
world. The basic principle of hydropower follows that; if
water can be piped from a certain level to a lower level, then
the resulting water pressure can be used to do work. This
means that hydropower involves the use of potential energy
released by the weight of the falling water through a vertical
distance to generate energy. If the water pressure is allowed
to move a mechanical component, then that movement
involves the conversion of the potential energy of water to
mechanical energy which can be used to drive an electric
generator, a grinding or some other useful devices [2].
Hydroelectric power depends on the dynamic head, the
amount of water flow and the efficiency of the generator or
turbine. To know the power potential of a river, it is necessary
to know the flow in the river and the available head. The flow
of the river is the amount of time that passes in a certain
amount of time across a section of the river. Flows are
normally given in cubic meters or seconds.
This available power will be converted by the hydro turbine
into mechanical power. As a turbine has efficiency lower than
one, the generated power will be a fraction of the available
gross power.
The main objective of this research is to see the possibility of
powering a generator using water from a storage tank in other
to generate electricity without polluting the environment.
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Efficient flush pelton-type hydrogenerator with double
rotors
In designing the water turbine system the efficient flush
pelton-type hydrogenerator with double rotors comprises a
first rotor mechanism, a second rotor mechanism, runner
mechanisms, a fixed main shaft and spray pipes, wherein each
runner mechanism comprises peltons and a wheel disc; the
wheel discs are hollow; the peltons are distributed on the
outer circumference of each wheel disc; the outer
circumference of the first rotor mechanism is fixedly
arranged on the inner circumference of the corresponding
wheel disc; the second rotor mechanism is internally and
externally spaced from the first rotor mechanism coaxially;
the center of the second rotor mechanism is fixedly arranged
on the fixed main shaft; and the spray pipes are arranged on
the radial outer sides of the peltons [3].
B. Application of multi-model control with fuzzy switching to
a micro hydro-electrical power plant.
The hydro turbine features vary significantly with water flow
and the unpredictable variation of the user load. Therefore,
the electrical load controller should be designed to work at
any operating point, according to the quantity of water
available and the users load variation. The design of an
adequate controller that allows obtaining the desired
performance requires a good analysis of the dynamic
behavior of micro hydro power plants. To achieve this, it is
necessary to develop an accurate model for describing the
process. Analytical models are attractive since they provide a
fundamental understanding of the relationships between the
various input and output parameters. Because of its
complexity and high degree of non-linearity, it is very
difficult to obtain an accurate model for MHPP. To resolve
this problem, the system could be identified around given
operating points using classical methods. However the
constructed model would be closed depending on the
considered operating point.
An alternative method, the so-called Takagie Sugeno (TS)
type fuzzy models has been widely used to represent or
approximate complex and non-linear systems. This fuzzy
model is described by a family of fuzzy IF-THEN rules where
each one represents a local linear input output relation of the
system. The overall fuzzy model is achieved by smoothly
blending these local linear models together through the fuzzy
membership functions. Consequently, conventional linear
system theories can be applied for the synthesis of the global
controller. Based on the linear TS fuzzy model, the fruitful
linear system theory can be applied to the analysis and
controller synthesis of the non-linear system. Recently, the
stability issue of fuzzy control systems has been extensively
investigated using linear matrix inequality techniques. The
main idea is to use feedback control law for each local model
and the feedback gains are determined using the linear matrix
inequality theory. However, these approaches suffer from
long computation time, the complexity of the design
procedure and non-optimal calculated gains. Another idea is
to synthesize a local controller for each operating point and
use a TS fuzzy system to switch between the local controllers
according to the position of the system in the state space [5].
III. METHODOLOGY
A. Control a DC motor with a smartphone via Bluetooth
The materials and components used in designing and building
the schematic of the control DC motor are the following:
Arduino UNO, 1x Bluetooth Module, 1x Smartphone, Blue
Terminal application, 1x L293D IC, 1X DC motor, 1x
Breadboard, and jumper cables.
The wires were connected based on the schematic given
below (See Figure 1) to control the motor. The IC L293D has
two +V pins (8 and 16). The pin '+Vmotor (8) provides the
power for the motors, and +V (16) for the chip's logic.
Specifically, this IC were connected to the Arduino 5V pin.
The motor were provided with a separate power supply using
pin 8 connected to the positive power supply and the ground
of the second power supply is connected to the ground of the
Arduino.
Figure 1. Schematic to control a DC motor
The speed of the motor is controlled by Enable 1 pin. While
the direction of the motor is controlled by input 2 and input 7
pins. To control the direction of the motor the pins input 2
and input 7 must be set to opposite values. If input 2 is HIGH
and input 7 is LOW, the moor will spin in one way, on the
other hand input 2 is HIGH and input 7, the motor will spin
in the opposite direction. To control the speed of the motor
the speed is set by using the enable pin.
For the android communication with the Bluetooth module
the Blue Terminal application was used. There are three
command to control the DC motor:
0 Turns off the DC motor
1 DC motor rotates to right
2 DC motor rotates to left
B. Water Level Indicator
When the generator is powered on it can be seen that there are
LED's glowing, indicating the level of the tank, the RED
glowing indicates the tank is fully empty pump. After the
pump is on you will then see after some period of time that
the LED's will start to glow from bottom up till the final
Green LED will light up. The list below are the guided
indication of water level.
Red LED Indicating no water in the tank as none
of the sensors are getting contact with the water or
very low.
 Yellow LED half of water in the tank
Green LED more than half of water in the tank

Figure 4. Another input to the fuzzy input for plotting the

Figure 2. Schematic of Water Level Indicator membership functions for given variable.

C. Simulation of Fuzzy Interference System plotmf(tank,'output',1)

The level of water in a tank were controlled using a fuzzy
logic controller block. To implement a fuzzy inference
system, the FIS name parameter were specified of the Fuzzy
Logic Controller block as the name of a FIS structure in the
MATLAB workspace.

In this model the level of water is controlled using fuzzy logic

controller block. For this system, the water can be controlled
that flows into the tank using a valve. The outflow rate
depends on the diameter of the output pipe, which is constant,
and the pressure in the tank, which varies with water level.
Therefore, the system has nonlinear characteristics.

The two inputs o the fuzzy system are the water level error,
level, and the rate of change of the water level, rate. Each
input has three membership functions.

figure Figure 5. Output of the fuzzy sytem with five membership

plotmf(tank,'input',1) functions.
figure
plotmf(tank,'input',2) showrule(tank)

In this model, the water level can be controlled also using a

PID controller. To switch to the PID controller, the const
block was set to a value greater than or equal to zero.

The model simulates the controller with periodic changes in

the setpoint of the water level.

sim('sltank',100)
open_system('sltank/Comparison')
Figure 3. One of the inputs to the fuzzy system for plotting
the membership functions for given variable.
 When the DC motor was controlled by the command it
behaves accordingly to the executed command. Thus, this
tells that this prototype is capable of controlling the water
flow; hence, the pressure can be altered under the control of
the commands. Additionally, it tunes the supplying water for
even distribution.

The premise above can be explained when the generator is on

(dc motor), the water starts to get pumped from the
underground reservoir or from the underground water supply
from the pipes to the water tank. In the tank there is a set of
sensors. As water starts to get filled in the tank and when the
water level in the tank starts to rise up, what happens is that
the sensors that is installed in the tank starts to get activated
one by one indicating the water level in the tank. And finally
when it reaches to its top most sensor, there will be a visual
display that the water has filled in the tank and one can be
alerted that the tank has been filled up and the water pump.
That is, when the dc motor is on the unit it monitors the power
present in the unit and secondly it is also the indicator telling
that there is no water at all present in the tank which red led
indicator. Yellow if it is half of water in the tank and Green
LED when more than half of water in the tank

The two inputs to the fuzzy system are the water level error,
level, and the rate of change of the water level, rate. Each
input has three membership functions. The output of the
fuzzy system is the rate at which the control valve is opening
or closing, valve, which has five membership functions. Due
to the diameter of the outflow pipe, the water tank in this
system empties more slowly than it fills up. To compensate
for this imbalance, the close_slow and open_slow valve
membership functions are not symmetrical. A PID controller
does not support such asymmetry.

The fuzzy system has five rules. The first three rules adjust
the valve based on only the water level error.

If the water level is okay, then do not adjust the

Figure 6. Setpoint of the waterlevel.
IV. RESULTS and DISCUSSION
Table 1. Shows the gathered results when the turbine
generates the energy to supply power for the LEDs by
controlling the DC motor when it is connected via Bluetooth
using the Blue Terminal application. The implementation of
the command were considered such as turning off the DC
motor and rotating to the right and left. The water level is
indicated by the LEDs green, red, and yellow.
valve.
If the water level is low, then open the valve quickly.
If the water level is high, then close the valve
quickly.
The other two rules adjust the valve based on the rate of
change of the water level when the water level is near the
setpoint.
If the water level is okay and increasing, then close
the valve slowly.
If the water level is okay and decreasing, then open
the valve slowly.

Trial Green LED Yellow LED Red LED

1 OFF ON OFF
2 OFF ON OFF
3 OFF OFF ON
4 OFF OFF ON
5 OFF OFF ON
6 ON OFF OFF
7 ON OFF OFF
8 ON OFF OFF
9 OFF OFF ON
10 OFF ON OFF
 V. CONCLUSION

This water turbine which can be associated to a Pelton turbine

is capable of controlling the water flow. The pressure
exhibited can altered under the control of commands form
Blue Terminal which then controls the dc motor.
Additionally, it tunes the supplying water for even
distribution. Water level can be indicated by red, yellow, and
green LED. If red glows then the water level is either empty
or low. Yellow if it is half of water in the tank and Green LED
when more than half of water in the tank. The level of water
is controlled using fuzzy logic controller block. The two
inputs to the fuzzy system are the water level error, level, and
the rate of change of the water level, rate.

VI. RECOMMENDATION
To improve this study the suggested developments are the
following:
To increase the spin of the shaft the best preferred
voltage would be around 12V or 24V.

REFERENCES

[1] Wisconsin Focus on Energy, (2002). http.//focus on

energy.Com/data/common/pagebuildersfiles/1802977667
low head %20 hydro. NE.Pdf. Retrieved on 5/9/2003

[2] Trout Unlimited. Conservation Threats Hydro 2003.

Retrieved November 27, 2017 from
http://tu.org/conservation/thereats-hydro.asp.

[3] Yuanjun G. Efficient flush pelton-type hydrogenerator

with double rotors. European Patent Office 2016.
CN106026574 (A)

[4] Salhi I. Application of multi-model control with fuzzy

switching to a micro hydro-electrical power plant. Elsevier
BV 2010 : doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2010.02.00.