Other

Northern Research & Engineering Corp.

Alden Research Laboratory, Inc.

George E Hecker

Willem Jansen

Neal A Brown

Philip S Stacy

Michael W Haberland

An hydraulic turbine includes a rotatable turbine runner. The turbine runner has a circumferential inlet for receiving a fluid and an axial outlet for discharging the fluid. The turbine runner also includes a conical-shaped hub rotatable about a central axis, the hub having a diameter that decreases in size from the inlet to the outlet, the conical-shaped hub including a base having a circumference adjacent the inlet and a surface sloping inwardly toward the central axis, the surface including a concave section facing the inlet when viewed in the meridional cross-section. The turbine runner also includes at least two helical turbine blades connected to the conical-shaped hub, each turbine blade having a leading edge adjacent to the inlet, a trailing edge adjacent to the outlet, a blade running length therebetween having a pitch, each turbine blade further including an outer edge, wherein each turbine blade winds at least halfway around the conical-shaped hub. The turbine runner also includes a shroud surface surrounding the rotatable hub, the shroud surface being defined by the outer edges of the turbine blades, the shroud surface and the hub defining a flow channel for the fluid between the inlet and the outlet. The circumferential inlet completely surrounds the base of the hub and is adapted for receiving a fluid flow around the circumference of the inlet that is uniform in quantity, direction and pressure, the fluid flow including a component perpendicular to the central axis when viewed in the meridional cross-section. The hub surface and the shroud surface are both non-parallel to the central axis at the inlet and parallel to the central axis at the outlet for changing the direction of the fluid passing through the turbine runner. The fluid is discharged from the turbine runner outlet in a direction that is substantially parallel to the central axis.

Hydraulic turbine

A deterrent system is provided for repelling selected species of aquatic animals from an underwater deterrence zone, for example, from the opening of a municipal or industrial water intake. A conduit for fluid, generally water, has an outlet at the deterrence zone. Intermittent flow means cause one-way fluid flow through the conduit, visiting at the outlet as pulses of fluid alternating with periods of insubstantial fluid flow. The pulses have a volume and flow rate sufficiently in excess of the insubstantial fluid flow to repel the selected aquatic animals from the deterrence zone. The conduit outlet does not serve also as a substantial fluid inlet to the conduit and, rather, the system provides substantial net positive outflow from the conduit outlet over one or more full cycles of the aforesaid pulsed fluid flows alternating with periods of insubstantial fluid flow. Volumetric displacement of water from the deterrence zone can be accomplished without generating a current through the use of an optional inflatable boot or bladder to capture the fluid pulses from the outlet for subsequent recirculation or remote discharge.

Underwater deterrent system

Growing community of inventors

Worcester, MA, United States of America

George E Hecker