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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 ...
Wood water wheels along riversides may be considered the first examples of "small hydro". [15] Up to the 17th century the efficiency of water wheels neared 70%. However, as the need for power generation increased small hydropower projects were phased out in favor of the large scale dams using newly designed turbines.
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Noria of Hama. On rim of wheel are wooden water-collection boxes with large openings and spouts. In foreground is top edge of the stone aqueduct into which they pour. The wheels are the ‘undershot’ type, driven by water flowing underneath them and pushing the wheel's paddles. In terms of height, the tallest of the norias is 21 metres (69 ...
The water falls from the pipe into the buckets (formed from wooden slats on the circumference) and makes the wheel rotate in what is described as the 'reverse' direction: it is a backshot wheel. The crank has a throw of 4 feet (1.2 m) and connects to a counterweight and to a very long rod.
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Instead, undershot water wheels are used in low head sites, like less than 1.5 m, and they also exploit the potential energy of the flow, with efficiencies of up to 84%. Typical examples are Sagebien and Zuppinger undershot water wheels. Jean Charles de Borda was the first to directly characterize the efficiency of waterwheels by comparing the ...
There is also evidence of water mills for which both sides had a narrower water wheel, similar to an old paddle steamer. The floating platform is anchored at the most intense point in the current, to the bridge piers for easy access to the mill, or to the shore. Floating allows the mill to operate with the same power despite changing water levels.