Solar Water pump demo from the 60's

[invisbob]

I acquired an old popular mechanics from the late 60's / early 70's and it highlighted a different way to store power from a solar panel. It would use a small 12volt pump during the day to fill a container (55 gallon drum?) and during the day a valve would open and spin small turbine hooked to an automotive generator.

There was no specifics as to water volume or panel wattage but with my small DIY panel, I can easily run a 2 amp motor off of it. I'm thinking a high volume low pressure pump during the day, and at night a low volume high pressure output from the tank.

This something feasible or has modern batteries finally caught up?

[russ]

Hi invisbob - Welccome to Solar Panel Talk!

Sorry but the 55 gallon drum would have to be way off the ground to do any good - somewhere up around where the satellites hang out. The connecting line would have to be probably about the same diameter to prevent head loss.

For an idea about a the amount of water and head required per kW check out this link

1) http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/RENEW/Hydro/Hydro_index.shtml

Russ

[RifRaf]

now say you had a big hill, with a spring or small water supply on it, and you were to try and pump uphill another say 100 meters vertical from the water source, using a series of panels going up the hill each only having to pump up a maximum of 2 meters head.

would a big single system be better? but with a decent supply and a 300 foot head should be able to get a small turbine going

[russ]

If you want to see a real microhydro take a look at this site. Beautiful!

Unfortunately few of us have the geography necessary for such a thing.

http://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/turbine.html

Russ

[RifRaf]

you are correct, totally beautiful. a lot of hard work and an amazing result. not for everyone but it does not appear to hurt much at all, people all the way down the stream could be doing the same thing

[greenHouse]

you are correct, totally beautiful. a lot of hard work and an amazing result. not for everyone but it does not appear to hurt much at all, people all the way down the stream could be doing the same thing

Depends on how much the water is being diverted from the stream itself. All of the water that's flowing through the penstock is unavailable to any aquatic life. If it's just a few percent that's one thing. Add a few dozen more people doing the same thing along the way and the stream could run dry in between hydro intakes and outlets.

[SpaceOddacy]

I acquired an old popular mechanics from the late 60's / early 70's and it highlighted a different way to store power from a solar panel. It would use a small 12volt pump during the day to fill a container (55 gallon drum?) and during the day a valve would open and spin small turbine hooked to an automotive generator.

There was no specifics as to water volume or panel wattage but with my small DIY panel, I can easily run a 2 amp motor off of it. I'm thinking a high volume low pressure pump during the day, and at night a low volume high pressure output from the tank.

This something feasible or has modern batteries finally caught up?

Good idea but I think it would take quite a bit of thought to make it work efficiently.