Encontro de Energia no Meio Rural

Abstract

SOUZA, Teófilo M. de and BIANCHI, Inácio. Software para dimensionamento de microcentrais hidrelétricas. In Procedings of the 4th Encontro de Energia no Meio Rural, 2002, Campinas (SP) [online]. 2002 [cited 24 April 2024]. Available from: <http://www.proceedings.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=MSC0000000022002000200058&lng=en&nrm=iso> .

Rational, practical and economic implantation and operation of a micro-hydroelectric plant (less than 100 kW) depend on the meticulously study of the project, in which important factors as the prices of the turbine, generator, pipeline, foundation and structural manpower, and electric conductors must be taken into account. The software HIDRWATT supplies the data for design and installation of micro-hydroelectric plant of up to 20 kVA and it was developed to be running in any PC/compatible microcomputer. Calculation of installed power and selection of adequate pipes are made considering the flow rate, the net head and the pipeline length. The specification of the conductors is made by using the amperes × meters method. The calculations are made for Pelton turbines with specific installation for micro-hydroelectric; of optimized efficiency for net head over 1.5 m and flow rate over 1.5 l/s that use high electromechanical efficiency generators with permanent magnet. A unique program congregates pipeline calculation, turbine and generator specification, sizing of the conductors with respective protections, and generation of all information to be attached to the calculation memorial making the budget and the execution of the project easy. The software revealed easy to handle, demanding minimum computational resources. As a low-cost tool useful for micro-hydroelectric implantation viability evaluation, it can contribute for popularization of micro-hydroelectric plants, and better exploitation of the hydric potential of the agricultural regions.

Keywords : Micro-centrais hidrelétricas; micro-hidrelétricas; eletrificação rural; turbina Pelton; potencial hídrico; gerador elétrico.