Easter Holidays

So, for the last few months I've been working on finding a way of selecting a turbine. This has meant going back to basic theory and looking at how turbines work, which has been very useful. It has reminded me of the fun I had in my undergraduate times, we did experiments with Pelton wheels, jets, flow measuring devices and so on. It also has brought some things to attention, why propeller turbines are normally used at low head, the problems with Pelton and Turgo wheels when the jet is slow. Here's some pictures of turbines if you have no idea what is what...

Pelton Wheel

Turgo Wheel

Crossflow

Francis Turbine

Propeller Turbine

Waterwheel

Archimedes Screw

The PhD is in association with Engineers Without Borders - UK (www.ewb-uk.org). So, I joined EWB for their annual research conference at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, where I presented a poster about my research. The poster didn't say too much about the solution of my research problems, but I think describes the problem quite well. It was interesting to listen to the other EWB researchers, what they were up to, their motivations and so on, and also see who was up to anything hydro-like.

EWB Poster

This term, I've helped out in my first undergraduate lab. My supervisor was doing a series of lectures on Electrical Product Design, and part of this included a lab on designing a solar powered motor - the product itself wasn't the most useful, the process is the important part. So I helped out in the lab. I was rather scared, as I still really hadn't done much practical electronics apart from building the SMPS (see last time's blog), and I knew they would ask questions that I couldn't answer. But, it wasn't too bad, I managed to answer most things, and with the help of George, my lab-mate, we survived.

I had an afternoon out in Bristol with a friend, which as many people know is the home of the engineering genius Brunel. I met the man himself at his iron ship, the SS Great Britain.

Brunel and Me (yes, I needed a haircut)

I've also booked my tickets to go back to Nepal again. I'm going to arrive there exactly one year after leaving last time, 16th April, which is a bit of a coincidence. I'm really looking forward to seeing all my friends there and just having a relax. The plan is to do a bit of research into small scale hydro as well. I'm very very excited.

For now

SAM