Study on the Hydraulic Characteristics of a Current Water Wheel and Conversion Technology from Current Energy.

Accession number;00A0624853
Title;Study on the Hydraulic Characteristics of a Current Water Wheel and Conversion Technology from Current Energy.
Author;GOTO MASAHIRO(Minist. of Agric., For. and Fish., Natl. Res. Inst. of Agric. Eng.)   
Journal Title;Bulletin of the National Research Institute of Agricultural Engineering
Journal Code:S0487A
ISSN:0915-3306
VOL.;NO.39;PAGE.161-196(2000)
Figure&Table&Reference;FIG.60, TBL.5, REF.53
Pub. Country;Japan
Language;Japanese
Abstract;Ways to develop renewable energy that exists in rural areas must be found to solve both the current global environmental problems and the problem of future energy shortage in Japan. Hydraulic power is one of the largest and most stable renewable energy resources. In Japan, hydraulic power has been used for many years for polishing, threshing and milling of rice. Hydraulic power can be harnessed from the currents in irrigation channels that supply paddy fields with water. However, since safety and economic factors, not installation of water wheels, have been given the greatest consideration in irrigation channel design in Japan, and irrigation channels in Japan have therefore never been used for the generation of hydraulic power. The aims of this study were therefore to clarify the hydraulic characteristics of a current water wheel set in an irrigation channel and to develop conversion technology for current energy. If a water wheel is set along the cross section of a rectangular channel, the upstream water level is raised. In this study, hydraulic model tests in which the load on the water wheel, blade height, discharge, and initial water depth were varied were therefore conducted to determine the relationship between raised water level and energy output of a water wheel. 1) Hydraulic characteristics of a current water wheel: The results of the hydraulic model tests showed that fluctuation in the upstream water level caused by the water wheel is related to the load on the water wheel, blade height, and Froude number and that the fluctuation in the upstream water level increases with increases in the values of these related factors. The results also showed that waves are produced downstream of the water wheel by the splashing action of the water wheel blades on the water surface and that the size of the waves depends on the rotational speed of the water wheel.... (author abst.)