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  1. #1
    ron davis's Avatar
    ron davis Guest

    small water turbine powered refrigeration



    Hello,
    We design and build small water powered turbines in South America (Bolivia).
    For some time we have been interested in using our turbines to run refrigeration equipment. A colleague in Colombia has done this successfully on a small scale.
    Right now I have a client for a turbine for a fish farm in Africa and he would like to use it for refrigeration.

    It seems that running a refrigeration compressor directly with the turbine is the easy part, especially since turbines have very high start up torque.
    Then there is a question of power control, air circulation, lighting, etc.
    Rural refrigeration is a very valuable potential application for micro hydro power, since it is very expensive and complicated to use solar panels to generate the power to run an electric motor powered compressor.
    We would be grateful if someone with practical experience in refrigeration would be interested in advising us about this matter. All help given will be acknowledged on our website.

    Best,
    Ron Davis
    watermotor@yahoo.com

    website: watermotor.net
    short video of a small Watermotor directly running an air compressor and several other power tools can be seen at: watermotorturbine on Youtube (first Watermotor, 1999)

    A short article and photo of a refrigerator being directly run by a tiny pelton turbine can be seen on Flickr, search: watermotor photostream.



  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Re: small water turbine powered refrigeration

    Hello Ron,

    I was reading your post with some curiosity. Obviously the price and easy
    availability counts most for your project. Have you tried a car compressor?
    They might be the only ones that cover the full RPM range of your turbines,
    usual open compressors end at 1500 RPM. Any Car clima service station could
    thus service the machine. These compressors would not work for freezing but
    I guess one could make a small coldroom with one.

    best regards

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Re: small water turbine powered refrigeration

    This document will give you a good start into what you need

    http://www.ariazone.com/manuals/Auto...g%20Manual.pdf

    All parts should be available from used cars.

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