Work

Design of a Microcontroller-Based Automatic Water Discharge Mechanism for Feeding a Pelton Turbine in Micro-Hydroelectric Systems

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This study presents a state-based, event-triggered control framework for conditioning intermittent and low-flow water streams in high-rise buildings for micro-hydropower applications. Rather than directly extracting energy from stochastic drainage flows, the proposed approach formulates the discharge mechanism as a hybrid hydraulic–control system in which continuous water accumulation dynamics are coupled with discrete actuation events. A threshold-based control law is implemented to regulate the transition between accumulation and discharge states, ensuring that water is released only when sufficient hydraulic head and volume are available to generate impulse-compatible outflow conditions. The framework is experimentally validated using a laboratory-scale prototype configured to operate under repeatable and isolated conditions with clean water, allowing the intrinsic performance of the control architecture to be assessed independently of fluid variability. Experimental results demonstrate highly repeatable discharge cycles and temporally consistent hydraulic pulses, confirming that state-driven control can effectively decouple inflow irregularity from turbine excitation requirements. The findings indicate that intelligent, state-based flow conditioning constitutes a transferable and scalable principle for building-integrated micro-hydropower systems, extending beyond the specific hardware implementation presented in this study.

Source: Afyon Kocatepe University Journal of Sciences and Engineering

DOI: 10.35414/akufemubid.1870285