HOME MADE ELECTRICITY

By: YEDLA VASUDEVA

Guide Teacher : Smt M.L.T.Sundari

Sponsors of this Project: Directorate of Science & Technology, New Delhi SCERT, Hyderabad Education Department, Vizianagaram., A.P.

Title Page Table of Contents Experiment The Question Hypothesis Research Material Procedure Results Conclusion Bibliography

Pg. 1 Pg. 2 Pg. 3 Pg. 4 Pg. 5 Pg. 6 Pg. 11 Pg. 12 Pg. 13 Pg. 14 Pg. 15

Experiment
I will examine the electricity generation from home water tank keeping hydro electrical working model to the outflow pipes. The generated electricity can be used to light LED and charging of gadgets like cell phones.

THE QUESTION
Can we produce electricity from home water tank?

Every year, the usage of electricity is increasing and the power generation becomes very difficult as the cost of producing and the availability of resources. Our daily lives are totally dependent on electricity. The problem of power cuts and increasing in the tariffs burdens everyone is a real thing. There is a need to increasing the generation of electricity and reducing the peoples vows. I learned how to make electricity using the mini hydroelectric generator drawing water from water tank. The generation of electricity from water take made me to think of producing even small amount of electricity can reduce load on grids.

HYPOTHESIS
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Small level electricity can be produced taking water from home water tank to charge electronic gadgets like cell phones and lighting LED bulbs. Even producing a small amount of electricity in mini hydroelectricity generator can save money.

RESEARCH
A History of Electricity For thousands of years, people all over the world have been fascinated by lightning. Some people must have wondered how to put that kind of power to practical use. But it wasn't until the 18th century that the path to the everyday use of electrical power began to take shape. Maybe you have heard about the famous kite experiment by American Founding Father and inventor Benjamin Franklin. In 1752, to prove that lightning was electrical, he flew a kite during a thunderstorm. He tied a metal key onto the string and, as he suspected it would, electricity from the storm clouds flowed down the string, which was wet, and he received an electrical shock. Franklin was extremely lucky not to have been seriously hurt during this experiment, but he was excited to have proved his idea.

Ben Franklin proved that lightning was a form of electricity.

Throughout the next hundred years, many inventors and scientists tried to find a way to use electrical power to make light. In 1879, the American inventor Thomas Edison was finally able to produce a reliable, long-lasting electric light bulb in his laboratory. How does it work? Hydropower uses flowing water to create energy that can be captured and turned into electricity. Hydropower provides the largest source of renewable energy in India The most common type of hydropower plant uses a dam on a river to store water in a reservoir; this is called Impoundment hydropower.

Water released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, which activates a generator to produce electricity. Hydropower Fundamentals The major components of a hydroelectric dam are as follows:

POWER HOUSE
RESERVOIR

DAM

TURBINE

GENERATOR

POWER LINE

TRANSFORMER

1. Dam A barrier built across a watercourse to hold back the flow of water and create a reservoir. The reservoir that is formed is, in effect, stored energy.

2. Penstock A pipeline used to convey water, under pressure, from the reservoir to the turbines of a hydropower plant. 3. Turbine

A machine that is turned by the force of the fast moving water pushing against its blades. Turbines convert the kinetic energy of the water to mechanical energy.

4. Generator

Connects to the turbine and rotates to produce the electrical energy.

Hydropower for Home Use Not everyone can have a Srisailam Dam for their own personal use. however with new technology, there are systems available that will allow to generate hydroelectricity from small, personal turbine. You might have listened about many home made things like medicines, toys etc. but homemade electricity is something new in which we can produce electricity in our houses only in a small scale which can be used at least during power cuts time. In the same way, the homemade micro hydro power plant uses water as its fuel. The amount of potential energy is determined by the size of your turbine wheels and the speed of the water current. As the water flows through the turbine, this potential energy is converted to kinetic energy turning the turbines. The mechanism in the turbines then further converts this into usable electricity for your home. Generally every house has a water tank which can be filled daily once or twice or even more. So be filling the tank we can produce electricity. For this we need to construct two tanks one is at higher level and another is at certain low level from the first tank. In the lower tank we need to arrange blades (turbine). The water from the outlet of higher tank will fall on the blades of the lower tank and sooner blades start rotating. When the blades start rotating by way of pulleys mechanism generator can be rotated. The generated electricity can be stored in battery and can be used during power cuts. The water from the second tank can be used for house hold purposes. This is my idea, if we try to implement this model, electricity scarcity can be reduced.

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MATERIALS
D.C. Motor -3 Volts Turbine made of plastic spoons Water tank made of plastic House model Multimeter Storage batteries Plastic can for keeping turbine system

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PROCEDURE
Electricity can be generated by hydro power. To generate I have arranged a water tank and water from outlet pipe has to fall on turbine made of plastic spoons. When turbine rotates the pulleys attached to this system also rotates. On other end of belt a 3 volts D.C. motor was used to rotate with belt attached to it. The electricity generated in this model can be measured using a multimeter. This generated electricity will send to battery storage. When the times of power cuts with this storage facility, electricity can be drawn and use.

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Results
When I measured the output current it is nearly 1 volt for this small model. For bigger models results can be vary.

Conclusion
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At the end of this experiment my aim of producing electricity is correct. If I made some improvements in the design of turbines and pulley system I could have generated more electricity to charge batteries and draw electricity from it. LIMITATIONS: The water level in the tank has to be maintained to get required water pressure. As the pressure is not uniform, maintaining of steady voltage is difficult. Energy expansion not possible The size and flow of water may restrict future expansion as the power demand increases. ADVANTAGES: The energy produced using home hydro power is delivered directly to your home. Another advantage of home hydro energy is they work at all times. Hydro produces a continuous supply of electrical energy in comparison to other small-scale renewable technologies.

Bibliography
1.Hydroelectricity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity

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Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling ...

2.What is hydroelectricity
expert-eyes.org/deepak/hydro.html Hydroelectricity or hydroelectric power is the electricity obtained by harnessing the power of water flowing down from a high level. It is a timeless and renewable ...

3.How Does Hydroelectric Energy Work? | eHow.com

www.ehow.com Hobbies & Science How Does Hydroelectric Energy Work?. Hydroelectricity works by harnessing the potential energy of flowing water. Gravity pulls water downstream, where it ...

4.HowStuffWorks "How Hydropower Plants Work"

science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/.../hydropower-plant.htm Find out how hydropower plants work. ... How well do you know Albert Einstein? 10 Scariest Bioweapons ... How Roller Coasters Work ... Hydroelectric Footwear

5.Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydropower

www.technologystudent.com/energy1/hydr2.htm ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HYDROPOWER ... In some countries , people are forcibly removed so that hydro-power schemes can go ahead

6.Advantages of hydroelectric energy

www.howtopowertheworld.com/advantages-of-hydroelectric-energy.... The advantages of hydroelectric energy include its reliability and speed of use. Not only that but it emits no greenhouse gases in general use and the fuel is

7.Hydro Electric Science Fair Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXfwZ5_kyr4

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