off topic question?

has nothing to do with boats ,but you folks seem to be real smart about this type of thing ,,we have 2 rivers flowing by our powerplant ,,not to mention the ohio river ,,but forget the ohio river too much traffic,,but the miami river is a little smaller ,it has small dams to slow the water down, no boat traffic! these small dams are 5 or 6 ft tall, the river is about 100 meters wide and 20 ft at its deepest,I would like to propose to the power co, a mill to generate electricity,,,could a tourbon be placed underwater or at the surface,,running the entire width of the river ,below the dams ,or could the dams be modifide to channel the flow to generate power, this is a curiosity of mine ,,any input is greatly apriciated,,,,longliner

 

Absolutely possible. People have been doing hydro-electric for years.

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Turbines--All of the commercial micro hydro generators available today use a small turbine connected to an electrical generator or alternator. Water is collected in an intake pipe upstream, travels down to the turbine in plastic pipe, and is forced through one or more nozzles by its own gravity pressure. No dam is needed; systems without a dam are called "run of river" systems. Power is generated by a generator or alternator directly connected to the turbine wheel (no gears or pulleys needed). All of the factors below must be calculated correctly for your micro-hydro equipment to make power most efficiently. All commercial micro-hydro setups are custom-made by the manufacturer for your specific application. For proper operation, you must supply the manufacturer with specific data about your site, most importantly the vertical drop in feet (called "head"), the amount of water flow available during different seasons in gallons per minute, and the length of pipeline required to get a sufficient head.

There are two main types of turbines, impulse and reaction. With impulse turbines, a jet of water is created by the nozzle and squirted onto the wheel. Reaction turbines are more akin to propellor that spins INSIDE the pipe, generating power.

The 3 primary impulse turbine wheel types are Pelton, Turgo, and Cross-flow. Pelton wheels are used in low flow, high head conditions, and Cross-flow wheels are for high flow, low head installations. Turgo wheels are somewhere in the middle. Francis and propellor turbines are the most common reaction type; the Francis design is very similar to the innards of a centrifugal pump. A Kaplan turbine is also similar to this design.
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Link

 

RHough just said it! Why the local power company hasn't switched (pun) on to this system God Only knows! OK initially it's expensive to set up but after that apart from a small amount of maintenance it's cheap to run! Maybe that's said it! Big utility companies don't like spending ANY money until they have too (normally by then it's too late!!)

 

There are smaller types in use now that provide for small farms & homes. You are correct in your thinking, weirs are fashioned to provide enough flow to turn the blades.
The downside may be the payback -tlme-maintainence-replacement costs. The ACTUALL gain of such a project is too marginal for the big boys.

 

thanks guys ,,we have 6 gas fired peeking units for heavy load days,,like hot summer days when everyone is using the airconditioners,,but now the units are 350 million dollar boat anchors,due to natural gas cost,I think units on the great miami river would help out during these times and be enviornmentally sound , if always in constant use 24/7 thats that much less coal burned at the bigger power plants.Ill talk to some engineers at work to see how feesable this is ,,it always helps to have most of it figured out before you present an idea,thanks again,longliner

 

It's all about the drop or head. Power companies need a good bit of drop before hydro plants are really commercially viable, what with the high initial cost. They look for at least 100' feet of drop, with 150-300' being more common. Does your river have that kind of drop?

Jimbo

 

no not at all; but what about currant?mass and gears,?

 

That probably explains why there is no power plant on it now. Now this does not mean that an individual could not put a very small generaing setup on a small drop river. But the power company is not going to do it; it just won't pay off.

Jimbo