The movement of water through town water supply system is utilized to generate electricity. Install sections of specially designed pipes throughout cities where their water supply is gravity fed. These pipes are made with an inner sleeve rotor akin to an Archimedes Screw. As the water moves through each section of piping it turns the inner sleeve. This acts as the rotor in a water turbine generator.

Or there could be cross section fan blade turbines built into the water mains. Whichever is cheaper or more efficient. As the technology improves household piping could contain really small turbines.
-- brattleboro, Apr 09 2006

Halfbakery: Hydroelectric Sewer Power Generation Hydroelectric_20Sew...0Power_20Generation
And then... [jutta, Apr 10 2006]

Lucid Energy http://magazine.goo...water-turbine-power
Portland Now Generates Electricity From Turbines Installed In City Water Pipes [xaviergisz, Mar 30 2015]

I'm thinking cities or towns with reservoirs high enough to gravity feed the whole system. And the generating pipes would continue throughout the entire length of the system. Sure the turbines would impart friction to the flow but that would only limit certain systems. I'm not thinking of only one section of pipe, I'm thinking the whole system.
-- brattleboro, Apr 09 2006


I saw this on the History Channel. The Romans had waterwheels at the end of the aqueducts.
-- bungston, Apr 09 2006


This idea results in very low water pressure downstream of the turbines. bone.
-- sninctown, Apr 09 2006


re: low water pressure

How much drag would the Archimedes screw inner sleeve create? Installing the electroplumbing in large water mains (large cities' water supply flow is formidible) shouldn't have too much of an impact on water pressure.

How about installing the electroplumbing in rivers? Pipes ten, twenty feet in diameter, river flowing harmlessly through spinning the internal sleeve. Instead of damming across a river the electroplumbing would lie inside the river. It wouldn't disrupt the flow at all.
-- brattleboro, Apr 10 2006


The power generated is (ignoring inefficiencies) the pressure drop across the turbine multiplied by the volumetric flow rate. You want power? You need pressure drop.
-- Texticle, Apr 11 2006


But the inner sleeve of the electroplumbing pipe is more of an Archimedes Screw or a double helix. The water pushes past the baffles or blades causing them to rotate inside the outer pipe sleeve. This acts as the rotor of a generator. There are magnets embedded in and windings around the inner sleeve.
-- brattleboro, Apr 11 2006


Your anno starts with "But" however I see nothing contrary to the point I made prior.
-- Texticle, Apr 12 2006


Good point...

"But"... the linear aspect of the shape of these long curving, twisting, "channels", in my world, would not result in cavitation or a drag inducing pressure drop. The water runs along the entire length of the blade on both sides of it. There is no violent slicing as with a conventionally pitched turbine fan blade. The water moves along, inside the pipe, pushing on both sides of the electroplumbing double helix blade. There is no Bernoulli effect to account for.

Putting the pipes in a river, I imagine you'd need a funnel type of opening to speed the water up and really push it through the pipes though. Sure it needs tweeking...
-- brattleboro, Apr 12 2006


You *DON"T* want this in rivers.

Insta-sushi!
-- DesertFox, Apr 12 2006


In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics.
-- Texticle, Apr 12 2006


//Putting the pipes in a river, I imagine you'd need a funnel type of opening to speed the water up and really push it through the pipes though.//

Gee this sounds more and more like a dam to me. With thousands of years of human ingenuity and engineering accomplishment why do you think it is that we still are building dams in rivers to generate electricity and not helical screws.
-- jhomrighaus, Apr 12 2006


//which depleats water pressure// OK you lot! Pipe down!
Own up!
Which one of you pleated the water pressure?
-- coprocephalous, Apr 12 2006


You take energy out of the water flow, it has to come from somewhere. Even if it's really smooth, well designed etc such that there is no unnecessary drag, you need a force to spin your generator. The water has to exert that force on your archimedes screw. Newton's Laws state that the archimedes screw will then exert the same force on the water. This will slow it down.

If it's in a river, then because water is flowing more slowly through the pipe, the rest is going to pile up until it's high enough to go over the top. You've then essentially created a dam.
-- david_scothern, Apr 12 2006


[xavier] re. link: I don't think it's reasonable to cite "use by Portland" as validation of an idea.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 30 2015


As I understand it, Portland is particularly suited for this idea (high rain fall, high water catchment). I found it interesting that a company was prepared to invest in capturing a relatively small amount of energy - enough to power 150 homes according to the article.
-- xaviergisz, Mar 30 2015


Kelvin doesn't get a mention even though micro-piping has been developed.
-- wjt, Mar 31 2015



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