Something is building up: Durlachboden water storage tank for the Gerlos power plant in the Zillertal
Image: Verbund AG
Using water to optimally power a wheel can keep engineers awake. And move the energy transition forward a little.
Sstanding or lying upright. Both positions have their advantages, although the assessment of the respective advantages and disadvantages can change. This is exactly what happens with water wheels, not with the leisurely rotating wheels on old water mills. But with Pelton turbines, which, with their cups closely spaced around the circumference, bear a great resemblance to historical mill wheels. They are used wherever comparatively small amounts of water fall from great heights into the valley. For example, in the Kaprun storage and pumped hydroelectric power station. In the so-called main stage of the power plant, up to 30 cubic meters of water per second thunder from a height of around 860 meters onto four of these very special mill wheels. The electrical output of the generators powered by the four Pelton turbines is 240 megawatts, available within seconds.
When the failed gold digger Lester A. Pelton was looking for an efficient drive for washing and sorting machines at the end of the 17th century, he quickly realized that there was little that could be achieved with conventional water wheels and the often only small volume of water in Alaska's mountain streams. He started experimenting. Coincidence came to his aid. Because when one of its wheels, which was equipped with curved blades, slipped slightly to the side on the shaft and the air flow was only applied to the blades at their edge, the turbine wheel suddenly turned faster than before.
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