Talk:Water turbine

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[edit] Removal

I removed the Quasiturbine additions to this page. Any positive displacement pump or engine can be plumbed up to pressurized water, and the Quasiturbine is not notable for this application. Duk 06:19, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Most positive displacement engine concepts are not quite suitable for hydraulic for 2 reasons : 1) they require the fluid to go through a valve or a check-valve ; 2) the flow has to go forward and then backward (a severe inertial flow restriction). The Quasiturbine accept quasi-continuous flow at intake and at exhaust without any valve or check-valve. Furthermore, the flow is tangential and quasi-unidirectionnal, which make it less sensitive to fluid inertia reversal of direction. In fact, the Quasiturbine can act as a dosimetor valve, where the flow is proportional to the rpm. For water hydo-electric dam, the Quasiturbine offer a high efficiency at variable power level (conventionnal turbine works efficiently only at near fix design power) and because the Quasiturbine is a reversible hydraulic engine, it could be use to pump the water back-up outside peak consumption period ?
Good points. However, I will continue to object to noting Quasiturbine as a water turbine until it is notably used as one; a commercially successful application that is comparable to the other types listed, for example. Duk 20:51, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
The first part of the response contains some good points. The second is pure speculation. This appears to be typical of the promoters of this (and similar) engine developments. Andrewa 19:47, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Head

Some anon editor changed the ranges for the various types. I've just checked Hydro Electric Engineering Practice and figure 1.2 is more consistent with the 17:47, 13 July 2005 edition, so I've reverted it. Anyone revising, please cite sources! --Wtshymanski 14:05, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Environmental Impact

The authors of this article are propagating the myth that hydropower must always kill fish. In a properly designed dam and intake system (for example, one that utilizes wedgewire screening over a coanda effect intake for down-swim protection and fish ladders for up-swim protection) there is absolutely no fish kill required to produce clean power. Using modern technology (which is admittedly quite expensive) a completely wildlife-friendly hydropower system can be built, and such systems require less cleaning which makes them cost-competitive on an ongoing basis with systems that produce slightly more power by being much more environmentally damaging.

Dams are not inherently bad for the environment - many ecosystems, such as that of the fall line of the USA East Coast - are adapted to heavy impoundment by beavers and are not suffering from too many dams but rather from improperly constructed man-made dams. Hydropower, similarly, is not inherently bad for the environment, but rather antique methods and poor planning are bad for the environment.

[edit] Specific Speed

" Specific speed is defined as the speed in revolutions per minute at which a turbine would run at the best efficiency...under a head of one foot, its dimensions being adjusted to produce one horsepower." - the definition from "Hydro Electric Engineering Practice, Vol.II,", 2nd Ed., J. Guthrie Brown, Editor, Blackie and Son Ltd. London, 1970. Not flow, power. --Wtshymanski 23:16, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

The two definitions are almost the same, differing only by the density of the fluid: (one unit volume) (through one unit head) per (unit time) x (density) = (power)
  1. From Layman's (see reference in the article)
    Some manufacturers define the specific speed nq of a turbine as the speed of a unit of the series of such magnitude that it delivers unit discharge at unit head... is not a dimensionless parameter and therefore its value varies with the kind of units employed in its calculation. The dimensionless parameter is the specific speed Ns given by the equation:... P.165
  2. from [1]
    Specific speed is defined as "the speed of an ideal pump geometrically similar to the actual pump, which when running at this speed will raise a unit of volume, in a unit of time through a unit of head".
I think we need to look at the units choose the definition that matches ns in the article --Duk 23:54, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Impulse turbines are not the same thing with water turbines.