The need and demand for electricity in Indonesia are significantly increasing, yet the supply of energy sources is diminished. Concerning the issue, water can be a potential resource to be utilized as alternative energy. However, the use of water as alternative energy has not been used optimally. This is what prompted a group of UNY students to invent portable hydroelectric power plants that can meet electricity needs, especially in rural and remote areas. They are Ahmad Rizal Rifani (vocational mechanical engineering), Abdul Rosyid Hidayatullah (physics study program), Helmi Kusuma Perdana and Khakam Ma'ruf (mechanical engineering education program), and Lutfi'ah Sungkar (education and teacher study program) who designed a hydro coil turbine power plant by utilizing river flow as an environmentally friendly source of electricity.
According to Ahmad Rizal Rifani, prior hydroelectric power plants (PLTA) have several deficiencies such as the large size, impractical, difficulty in maintenance, the power generated is not optimal, and requires heavy water flow. "Some of machine and size of turbines have been changed but the power generated is less than optimal and the maintenance is complicated," he explained.
The hydro coil turbine, designed by the UNY students, can operate with non-heavy water flow which can be applied to sewers and irrigation networks that are widely built-in rural areas. The design of turbines is more portable, practical, easy to use and maintain, and more efficient. Abdul Rosyid Hidayatullah added that this turbine will work by converting the potential energy of water into kinetic energy in the form of spin. Water's potential energy includes the pressure and speed of water flow "Hydro Coil Turbine that has a spoon geometry in the form of coils (coils) with the principle of Archimedes pumps,".
Khakam Ma'ruf explained that the design has covered coil turbines, generators, axial bearings and stepper motors. "These coil turbines work on the principle of converting water potential energy into kinetic energy to spin generators," he said.
"It's easy to operate, cost-less, easy to move, and can be used anywhere," he added. Hydro Coil Turbine is equipped with automatic control aimed to effectively adjust the water level in the irrigation channel, to optimize the energy produced.
