Humming bird ELC/IGC network: Index

'Humming bird'

Electronic Load Controller / Induction Generator Controller ^{1

Networking site}

Purpose

About 10 years ago, I designed the 'Humming bird' Electronic Load Controller / Induction Generator Controller. I wrote a building manual for it and mr. Wim Jonker Klunne put it on his site², see original Humming bird site. That site has hardly changed since 2001, but it is regularly visited and I don't want to change or remove it.

Since then, I got hundreds of emails from people interested in the humming bird and asking for technical advice, price quotations for a complete controller etc. I could not help those people very much: I do not have time to build controllers for sale. Also my background is a bit technical and specialistic: I know a lot about this controller design, but I have never installed it in a real Micro Hydro project in a third world country.

I guess that by now, quite a number of people have valuable experience with humming bird controllers and I hope they are willing to share it with others. What I can do, is help people to get in touch with one another. I promise to update this site regularly, if there is interesting news to add.

Structure

Market place: Controllers, parts, services etc. offered for sale, or wanted to purchase.
Experiences: Stories of people who used the humming bird.
Overview: Use of humming bird design worldwide.
Various, questions and answers, whatever comes up...

New: Gerber files available
End of 2011, Dan Hepler sent me the complete technical design of an ELC he made for AIDG, see Dan's design.

The above pages are still very empty:

If you have something to tell, please fill in the questionnaire.
Maybe write down the URL and visit this site again in a couple of months time.
Maybe add your email address to the update list. Then after every major update of this site, I will send you an email with a short description of what was added.

Guidelines

The information on this site will have to come from you. It is only fair that you know how I will treat information that you might send me:

If you send me information and do not state explicitly that this was intended for the web page, or that you allow me to use it for that, I will not put it on the site. If I find it interesting, I might ask you permission to put it on the site.
If you agree on publishing your information on the page, I assume that you agree that I might edit and summarize it, select pictures and maybe add a omment of my own.
Once a new version of the page is online, I will inform the one who sent me this new information. Then if he/she disagrees with the contents, I will either change it, or remove it altogether.

Having your email address on the web page means that it might be found by senders of spam emails. To reduce that risk:

I will not put your email address on the page unless you specifically say that you want this or allow this.
The email addresses on the page will be hidden behind a little script. This way the link still works, so people can start writing you an email by clicking on the link. But programs who filter email addresses out of random web pages, won't recognize them as such. Of course anyone could still get your email address by clicking on the link, so there still is some risk that you end up on a spam list.
For people who do not want their email address on the page, I will make email links to me. Then I will forward such mails the next time I check my mail box. This might easily cause a delay of a week or so, so it is not an ideal solution.

If you have a web page of your own, I would rather make a link to that page. Then you can make it the way you like and it saves me the selecting, editing and updating work.

Well, these were my ideas. If you have suggestions on the contents or structure of this web page: Please let me know.

Jan Portegijs
Gelaarsde Kat 115,
5629 KJ Eindhoven, Netherlands

Note: To avoid spam, email addresses are hidden by a script.
If you don't see an email link below, enable "javascript" in your browser.
If no new email pops up after clicking on the link: Right-click on the link, "copy Email Address" and paste that in a new email

Mail to

My involvement with Mycro Hydro started with another project: The Firefly, see also Firefly building manual and Firefly experiences. Through the years, I did not hear much about it, I guess that there was less interest in it and people who wanted to build one, could do so without asking me for advice.
However, on 31 March 2011, of Triple Benefit sent me a flyer on their low-cost Pico Hydropower Kit

What is an Electronic Load Controller / Induction Generator Controller?
They are electronic devices used in Micro Hydro plants that:

Provide power their own little electricity grid and are not connected to a larger grid: The system runs in 'island' mode.
Have a turbine without a 'gas handle' that is controlled by a mechanical or hydraulical governor. As long as enough water comes in, the turbine produces a fixed power. So matching electricity production to electricity demand is done by throwing away surplus electrical power in a dump load.

An Electronic Load Controller (ELC) controls frequency of the produced electricity. It is used with synchronous generators. Then voltage depends on generator characteristics and user load characteristics.
An Induction Generator Controller (IGC) controls voltage of the produced electricity. It is used with standard industrial induction motors that are wired up such that they can be used as generators. Here frequency depends on generator characteristics and user load characteristics.

Are you interested in other aspects of Micro Hydro?
Have a look at microhydro webportal of Wim Jonker Klunne.

visitors since 27 nov. 2006

Jan Portegijs, last updated: 29 January 2012

'Humming bird' Electronic Load Controller / Induction Generator Controller 1 Networking site

Purpose

Structure

Guidelines

'Humming bird'

Electronic Load Controller / Induction Generator Controller ^{1

Networking site}