Smart Design and Development of a Small Hydropower System and Exploitation of Locally Sourced Material for Pelton Turbine Bucket Production

Small hydropower (SHP) systems are known to be an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and simple form of renewable energy production, appropriate for rural and standalone electrification. Greater access to power in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can be facilitated through domestic design and development of SHP components and systems. Domestic participation in the design, manufacturing of SHP components and application of SHP systems can be promoted through SHP capacity building and the use of locally sourced materials. This study, therefore, involves the design of both civil and mechanical aspects of SHP, and the use of locally sourced materials and manufacturing processes, in the design and production of Pelton turbine buckets. The study succeeded in the coding of a SHP system design and the development of design charts using MATLAB. A390 and A390-5 Mg cast aluminium alloys were selected and investigated as Pelton bucket materials using Solidworks modelling and simulation software. The performance of the materials as measured by von Mises, displacement and strain results were outstanding: the probe maximum stress was 6.7 × 107 N/m2, located along the splitter; the FOS was 4.5; fatigue damage and load safety for fully reversed loading at 106 cycles were 0.001 and 2.03, respectively.