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A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous blades or buckets attached to the outer rim forming the drive mechanism. Water wheels were still in commercial ...
A pico hydro system made by the Sustainable Vision project from Baylor University [1]. Pico hydro is a term used for hydroelectric power generation of under 5 kW. These generators have proven to be useful in small, remote communities that require only a small amount of electricity – for example, to power one or two fluorescent light bulbs and a TV or radio in 50 or so homes. [2]
The main difference between early water turbines and water wheels is a swirl component of the water which passes energy to a spinning rotor. This additional component of motion allowed the turbine to be smaller than a water wheel of the same power. They could process more water by spinning faster and could harness much greater heads.
A schematic presentation of a gravitation water vortex power plant, showing the turbine in yellow. The gravitation water vortex power plant is a type of micro hydro vortex turbine system which converts energy in a moving fluid to rotational energy using a low hydraulic head of 0.7–3 metres (2 ft 4 in – 9 ft 10 in). This technology is based ...
Old Pelton wheel from Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station, Germany. The Pelton wheel or Pelton Turbine is an impulse-type water turbine invented by American inventor Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. [1] [2] The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to water's dead weight like the traditional overshot ...
The Archimedes screw generator consists of a rotor in the shape of an Archimedean screw which rotates in a semicircular trough. Water flows into the screw and its weight presses down onto the blades of the turbine, which in turn forces the turbine to turn. Water flows freely off the end of the screw into the river.
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour milling (using a pair of millstones), lumber production, or metal shaping (rolling, grinding or wire drawing). A watermill that generates electricity is usually called a hydroelectric plant.
The turbine's bidirectional rotation operates inline with the free current flow. Both potential and kinetic energy are harvested, providing higher energy extraction efficiency than a kinetic energy only approach. This is the principal difference between traditional water wheels and the water wall turbine design.