Time Flies...

I can't believe it's already the end of the year. Well, the last few weeks have been rather stressful. I've been rushing to get the paper for WREC up together. It seemed only yesterday I had got the abstract accepted, and then I was rushing to get the paper in. With help from my supervisors and friends in the lab I managed to get what I think was a fairly good paper into the conference. We'll now see what the reviewers think. After submitting, I was asked to review some other submissions, which seems a bit strange to me, but I'll give it a go!

The turbine rig has been taking up a lot of my time. From the CAD drawings to the final build has been quite quick, just a matter of months. Using the workshop's new laser cutter I've managed to make a lot of the components from thick acrylic, which has helped to reduce the build time. I found the main problem with the laser was that it didn't produce square edges, making the assembly of the casing rather difficult.

Finished turbine rig

We've run the rig with air, attaching the air line to the inlet of the turbine. With a little assistance initially the turbine turns and a can measure a torque, which is fantastic. The problems we've had with the air in starting the turbine shouldn't occur with the water, as it is almost 1000 times more dense so for the inlet flow, it would produce around 1000 times the force. The testing is going to be fun!

I've received most of the components now to fit out the hydrolab in the university to test the turbine in, the pipe work and fittings I'll need to install with the help of the lab technician Jack. There has been a lot of discussion about the best way to achieve the varying pressure at the turbine inlet, there is only one example of a turbine test rig in literature and so I was allowed quite a free reign on ideas. They varied from one that resembles a pico hydro system installation to using the header tank in the lab and bleeding off any excess pressure. Eventually, in the solution we have chosen the water will come down from a header tank in the roof, and the pressure will be controlled through ball valves to ensure the correct pressure at the turbine. We also have wide range of heads to deal with from 0.5m to 3.5m at the turbine, which may cause a few issues. So, the first part of the testing is to see how well we can vary the pressure at the turbine inlet before starting to spin the turbine.

As well as the rushing around, I've managed a bit of time to travel around, the work for Bad Girls kept me in Bristol most weekends for the last few months. At the end of November I went to Paris, which was great fun. We took a bus ride across which was good value, but the other passengers were slightly irritating. I've spent a lot of time on buses in Nepal in the most uncomfortable of positions, but I have to say the 7 hours to Paris had to be one of the worst rides I'd had. The Eurotunnel and company did make up for any lacking in fun on the journey though. Paris always is fun, so much to see and do, it's like walking around a film sometimes so many sites that you've seen on TV. We went up the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and walked for many many miles around the streets. The hotel was in Montmatre, an interesting place most famous for Moulin Rouge, and we certainly found some 'different' shops around. Along the Champs Elysees there was a German Christmas Market, which was strange for the middle of Paris.

The Eiffel Tower lit up at night

The 'interesting' shops around our hotel

Eating a hot dog from the German market

I also went on a bit of an explore around Bristol. All the time I've lived here, it's always been on or near the Gloucester Road to the north of the city. Up and down the Gloucester Road, several buses ply their trade, and I catch them relatively regularly to the city centre, but never beyond. So for an adventure we decided to go for a ride to the end of one of the bus lines, which apparently would take us to Hengrove Depot. I had heard rumours about the south of Bristol - there were only dirt tracks there, people talked a different language, no running water and electricity was only used as an attraction. All of these rumours proved to be false, they had roads, running water and electricity, although their accent was even more bristolian, if that was possible. So, for anyone else thinking of catching a bus to the end of the line, do it, it could be a fun day out (we found a cinema and Harry Potter!)

Have a great Christmas and New Year!

SAM