Our version of the Poncelet water wheel is a revolutionary development of a forgotten 1820’s technology. It is an efficient device for converting the kinetic energy of flowing water into usable electricity. The wheel is made from stainless steel and is suitable for domestic or commercial sites producing up to 100kW. The Poncelet water wheel is designed by ourselves and manufactured here in the UK and is installed simply and easily with minimal construction work.
Owing to the interest shown in our Poncelet Wheels we have now included design, manufacture and installation of other traditional forms of water wheel (i.e overshot, breast shot, Zuppinger) and also higher head turbines.
We can also provide bespoke and hybrid water wheel designs where required.
How do you know if you have a site suitable for generating electricity?
To establish if your site is suitable for generating electricity from a Poncelet Wheel you need to have flowing water and you need to know the three key components, which are WATER VELOCITY (in metres per second), AREA (in square metres) and HEAD (in metres).
Water Velocity
The more flowing water you have, the more potential power you can generate. The Water Velocity can be estimated by recording how long (in seconds) a ‘floating object’ (such as a ball) takes to travel over a given distance (in metres). Divide the distance by the time taken and you will have the Water Velocity (in metres per second).
Area
The Area is calculated using the simple equation of:
Depth (in metres) x Width (in metres) = Area (in square metres)
Head
The water needs to drop, or fall, a distance of between 1 and 5 metres. Measure how far the water falls in metres.
Generated Power
To calculate the power generated by the above figures use the following equation which will estimate the potential power:
Water Velocity(metres per second) x Area (in square metres) x Head (in metres) x 9.81 (Constant for Gravity) = Potential Energy (in kilowatts)
Efficiency
Most turbines work on an efficiency of up to 70% (greater efficiencies can be obtained from our Archimedes Screw) using this efficiency value (i.e. 0.7) would give you the expected output from the site.
Potential Energy (in kilowatts) x Efficiency = Output Power
Please contact us for further details