11-28-2012, 06:41 PM
Although the gutter hydro system seems like a win-win, a hydro turbine that would run on that low of a head x volume would give you a very low monthly generation yield....
If your head pressure was at 12 ft (that would be the distance from the downspout to a ground mounted turbine on a typical one story house on 4' piers)
and you had a roof area of 1500 sq feet
and the rain was 12" for a month
you would have 1,500 cubic feet of water a month, or 11,220 gallons
if this was a constant 24hr a day rain for the whole month, you would have a consistent 1/4 gpm flow, or 0.03 cu ft/min, or 0.00055 ft3/sec
output 'p' = gravity (32 ft/s) x head (12') x flow (.00055ft3/sec) {x efficiency} = 0.21 kW at 100% efficiency....
probably enough for LED lighting, but not much more (and only if you had a consistent rain and 100% efficiency...our fluctuating rains would give you far less most of the time....maybe easier to kick around a soccer ball!
here is a link to a handy USAID brochere:
http://www.energytoolbox.org/gcre/mod_4/...opower.pdf
If your head pressure was at 12 ft (that would be the distance from the downspout to a ground mounted turbine on a typical one story house on 4' piers)
and you had a roof area of 1500 sq feet
and the rain was 12" for a month
you would have 1,500 cubic feet of water a month, or 11,220 gallons
if this was a constant 24hr a day rain for the whole month, you would have a consistent 1/4 gpm flow, or 0.03 cu ft/min, or 0.00055 ft3/sec
output 'p' = gravity (32 ft/s) x head (12') x flow (.00055ft3/sec) {x efficiency} = 0.21 kW at 100% efficiency....
probably enough for LED lighting, but not much more (and only if you had a consistent rain and 100% efficiency...our fluctuating rains would give you far less most of the time....maybe easier to kick around a soccer ball!
here is a link to a handy USAID brochere:
http://www.energytoolbox.org/gcre/mod_4/...opower.pdf