Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The runner of the small water turbine. A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work. Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now, they are mostly used for electric power generation.
The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. [1] The process of arriving at the modern Francis runner design took from 1848 to approximately 1920. [1]
John Buchanan McCormick (November 4, 1834 – August 21, 1924) [2] was an American mechanical engineer who invented the first modern mixed flow water turbine, the "Hercules", as well variants including the Holyoke-McCormick, and Achilles turbines. [3]
The impulse energy of the water jet exerts torque on the bucket-and-wheel system, spinning the wheel; the water jet does a "u-turn" and exits at the outer sides of the bucket, decelerated to a low velocity. In the process, the water jet's momentum is transferred to the wheel and hence to a turbine. Thus, "impulse" energy does work on the turbine.
The screw pump is the oldest positive displacement pump. [1] The first records of a water screw, or screw pump, date back to Hellenistic Egypt before the 3rd century BC. [1] [3] The Egyptian screw, used to lift water from the Nile, was composed of tubes wound round a cylinder; as the entire unit rotates, water is lifted within the spiral tube to the higher elevation.
A Bonneville Dam Kaplan turbine after 61 years of service. The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, [1] who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and water level.
Segner-wheel: A – water inlet, B – vertical tube with rotor, C – rotor with nozzles (side view), D – rotor with nozzles ("top" view), E – hole in the ground, F – belt-pulley transmission, G – powered device. The Segner wheel or Segner turbine is a type of water turbine invented by Johann Andreas Segner in the 18th century. [1]
In the late 1870s, he invented the Pelton water wheel, at that time the most efficient design of the impulse water turbine. Recognized as one of the fathers of hydroelectric power, he was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal during his lifetime and is an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. [1]