Hydraulic turbine
AssigneeNatel Energy, Inc.
InventorsAbraham D. Schneider, Sterling Marina Watson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A runner for a hydraulic turbine configured to reduce fish mortality. The runner includes a hub and a plurality of blades extending from the hub. Each blade includes a root connected to the hub and a tip opposite the root. Each blade further includes a leading edge opposite a trailing edge, and a ratio of a thickness of the leading edge to a diameter of the runner can range from about 0.06 to about 0.35. Further, each blade has a leading edge that is curved relative to a radial axis of the runner.
Claims19
A runner for a restoration hydraulic turbine, comprising:
- a hub;
- and
- a plurality of blades extending from the hub,
- wherein each blade of the plurality of blades comprises a root located at the hub, a tip opposite the root, a leading edge, and a trailing edge opposite the leading edge,
- wherein a ratio of a thickness of the leading edge to a diameter of the runner, tLE/Dt, is greater than 0.06, and
- wherein for at least one of the plurality of blades, the leading edge at the root is positioned along a radial axis of the runner and the leading edge at the tip is cantilevered beyond the radial axis in a circumferential direction of the runner.
A method of designing a fish-safe runner comprising:
- estimating a probability of a fish strike at a section of a runner blade;
- estimating the probability of strike survival at the section;
- computing a fish passage rate at the section;
- and
- based on the computed fish passage rate, adjusting one of:
- a ratio of a maximum leading edge thickness of the blade at the section to a diameter of the runner,
- a slant angle of the leading edge of the blade at the section,
- a ratio of the maximum leading edge thickness of the blade at the section to a length of a chord of the blade, or
- a shape of a cross section of the leading edge of the blade at the section, or a number of blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.