Dam and basin river plant - June 24th 2018

Picture shows principle for dam and river basin.  

Kinetic energy from flow goes towards the dam. From the dam it spreads to upwards and downwards. Upward movement raises the surface, and increases potential energy. Downward movement above the inlet goes into generator. 

The movement of the pressure goes upstream. This movement of pressure takes the pressure over the bottom of the basin, away from the inlet. After that downward pressure starts to raise the surface, too. 

Surface is the easiest for the pressure to spread in. Every time basin gets more water the raise in surface begins from the dam. Then the hike starts to move against the flow.

In principle basin always produces as much rotating power as common dam. Big lake and expensive dam is needed for raising the water levels, mostly.

The maximum energy you can get from dam is water height * area. In standard dam tilted inlet reduces the maximum powers a little. Dam must be designed for unbroken flow, before you can get benefit from titled inlet. Besides old paddle wheel, there is double piston plant for collecting kinetic energy from flows. Double piston plant can efficiently collect energy from very slow flows. Like sea current or tidal waves. It does not need height difference, quite a lot easier to construct than big paddle wheel system. 

Sea current plant produces steady amount of energy 24 hours a day. It does not need electromagnetic batteries, you can adjust the power production with the number of active units. Sea current plant suits also to areas, where tidal waves are small. In for example Asia tidal waves are small. Not possible for Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc to build tidal plants. Nothing prevents you from anchoring a big sea current plant in there. You can easily exceed Three Gorges capacity with Sea Current plant. The constructed capacity is available all day and year long. Cheap and simple replacement for nuclear plant suits well also to poorer seaside countries. Double piston plant can be built to vertical or tilted position, too. Sealed piston system can be used for capturing winds and strong up-streams.

- - Add ons - -

Basin dam does not provide protection against flooding. The water reservoir is so small. With special steamer you can evaporate flood waters to air. Required steamers are big, but cheap to build.  You can add flood steamers into river plants. When so, you get the power for evaporation from the plant. And when needed, you can bring more resistors for evaporating the surplus of water.

You can also add water purification steamers into plant. You can lift the water to tower with add-on steamer.

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In 2020 dam plant got a new generators. Crank generator improves the efficiencies of all hydro plants. Crank generator converts over 90% from kinetic or potential push energies to electricity. Crank generator moves linearly in horizontal or vertical direction.

Calculating dam plants

When you calculate dam plants you have two parameters, which creates generator and output powers.

Lets say, that you have 100 meter high waterfall. You build 100 m * 1 m² tube to the water fall. The tubes volume is 100 m3. In easy calculations this means, that tube consumes 100 m³ discharge per second. With 100 m³ discharge you get continuous 100 000 kg/s weight over the generator. This weight converts into continuous 1 Mega Newton  force. 

This means, that your plant produces 1 MWs power with 100 m³ discharge. If river's discharge is 2 000 m³ /s, your plants push power is 1 MWs * 2 000 m³ / 100 m³ = 20 MWs. 

From this 20 MWs push power you convert 90% electricity, and the plants power production capacity is 18 MWs. This converts into 64 GWh production capacity.

Double piston river plant is environmentally friendly plant. Plant doesn't alter the water levels much. The picture like system suits rivers with traffic.

The port on the left for ships is not like channel. It is merely a spoiler, which prevents water from escaping from piston unit.

You can open it, when ship comes. Ship can sail through without a wait. During the time port is open the production falls. That's why it is needed.

On the right there is channel, which is held open all day long for fishes.

You can build bridge over the plant, or alternatively build the plant into an existing bridge.

You can use the plant for powering water purification and flood water evaporator units.

Calculating river plants

When you calculate river plants you have one parameter, which creates generator and output powers.

Lets say, that you have river with 100 m³/s discharge. You lead the discharge into tube, whose area is 1 square meter. In the tube 100 m³/s discharge converts into 100 m/s theoretical speed. This speed is a match to 100 meter high tube.

This means, that your plant produces 1 MWs power with earlier 100 m³ discharge. Since height difference is zero, 1 MWs is also the maximum push power you get from the plant.

If you leave 10% from the discharge to fishes, small boats and ships, the average push power is 0.9 MWs.
From this 0.9 MWs push power you convert 90% electricity, and the plants theoretical power production capacity is 0.81 MWs. And with 2 000 m³/s discharge capacity is 16.2 MWs.

Since the plant doesn't have dam, braking the full power from the flow raises the water levels. The maximum power you can brake from discharge could be around 50%. River plant always creates a wave-like small dam system into river. Water level before the plant raises and level after plant falls. The maximum push power is dependent on the depth of the river and how much you can brake the river. Difference in between river and basin plant's power production capacity is always big. In current dam and diversion plants, dam plant produces around 100 times more electricity than diversion plant. With proper design you can reduce the cap quite a lot.

Typical kinetic plant has around 10 meter height difference in between up and down streams. In river plant the height difference creates whitewater like system into channel for fishes and small boats. 

? Traditional dam plant, always converts vertical push power into horizontal movement before generators. The maximum boost, you can get from dam's height comes with viscosity. It is 50% from the gravitational force. With typical tilted and long inlet tube, you waste quite a lot from the maximum available 50% gravitational boost. In traditional dam plant, you convert kinetic discharge into potential energy. Then you waste the converted potential energy with curve and tube, which leads to generator.

Steamer - June 24th 2018

 Picture shows principle for steamer. 

With steamer it is possible to almost double the power creation of the coal, oil and gas plants. Increase in efficiency comes from the efficiency of the hydro turbine. Gas turbine's efficiency ratio is around 30%, hydro turbine's ratio is over 80%.

Steamer divides power production to heat generation and transmission. Heat is brought to kettle with copper heart. Heat boils the water and raises it to steam pipe. At the end of steam pipe the liquidizer.

Liquidizer cools the steam so much that it converts back to liquid / water. Water  is led to water reservoir.

At the bottom of the reservoir there is turbine-generator unit.

When you use water in the system, operating temperature varies around 100 C.

When used as water pump, the water reservoir is big and the system does not circle. You take new water to kettle all the time, and lift it to the reservoir.

With upgraded traditional dam plant it is possible to efficiently control flooding. It is also possible secure water services and power production throughout the year. Upgraded dam plant can be used as primary plant, it doesn't need back up plants for the time power production falls.

Fully built crank-generator dam plant is much more powerful than traditional dam plant. Plant overloads the surrounding power grids, the grid sets the limit maximum plant powers. When so, you can never build new generator unit into full capacity.

If you have 150 meter dam, you keep the dam. You build new generator unit, whose operating height is only 10 to 20 meters. You build tube system, which leads water from dam reservoir into new generator unit. This sample system gives your dam's reservoir 130 meter range to water levels.

When lack of water is the problem, you fill the reservoir to maximum levels right before the hot and dry season begins. During the dry season you use the collected reservoir water for energy production and water services. If reservoir is big enough, the system keeps the downstream fully watered throughout the year. You can also have public beaches and river side cottages after the controller dam. 

When you struggle with flooding, you empty the reservoir right before the flood-season begins. You use the reservoir for keeping the outgoing discharge in tolerable levels. Since the surrounding power grid limits the capacity, you can build additional mobile or mounted generator systems into new generator unit. You can use the additional generators to empower water pumps and evaporators at the plant and the neighboring areas. With pumps and evaporators you can improve plant's flood control efficiency.

Usage of flood gates - September 9th 2020

With flood gates you can control flooding. In principle, you operate flood gates so, that you avoid massive flooding as long as possible. You hope, that the excessive discharge ends before the reservoir is full. When incoming discharge grows, you keep flood gates closed as long as possible. You wait time, when discharge falls and you can safely release flood waters to downstream.

During the time you wait smaller discharge, you overload the downstream ( with flood gates ) as much as you can, without causing destructive flooding. You continue overloading of downstream until reservoir reaches minimum or decided level.

After the reservoir starts to get near maximum levels you start to increase the discharge in downstream. Let more and more water go through the basin. After reservoir reaches maximum level, you keep the water levels at the maximum. And let all of the incoming discharge go to downstream. You continue the flood controlling procedure in the next plant. Or in the plants, whose reservoirs are not yet full.

Typical flood needs only one neutralization. It is the same water burst in the river, which causes all floods in downstream.

These principles are valid to both old and new dam plants.

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During the summer 2020 Asia had been suffering from heavy flooding, especially China and southern Japan. Checked that Three Gorges dam is very poor flood controller. After one week - in late June 2020 - Three Gorges opened flood gates and lost control from two month summertime discharge, which caused around 30% increase to average flow. In upgraded dam plant such seasonal bursts belong to everyday life. Three Gorgers reservoir has currently 40 meter range for minimum and maximum water levels. Upgraded plant can be easily made to around 130 meter range.

Great deal from 2020 Yangtse river flooding was created by Three Gorges operator. Was it Chinese Communist Party ? Anyway, you should not operate flood gates like Three Gorges gates were operated. 

During summer 2020, Three Gorges reservoir was never filled to maximum water levels. At the highest water levels were 7 meters below maximum ( 17.5% from range ). Volumes at last meters are much more bigger than at lower levels. Reservoirs width grows with height. Area for volume grows also with height. When you let the water raise to last meter, the last meter has still busloads of volume left.

On the left you see raising wave. Wave takes matching volumes from both sides. If the volume would fall back to both sides with input volumes, wave would simply raise and fall in upright direction. In order to follow visual observations, about the waves, water must move with wave. In second picture you see one segment from wave's chain reaction. Wind unbalances the volume system, so that volume, which goes against wind is always slightly smaller than volume, which follows winds direction. This unbalanced volume system, gives speed to the waves.

Thing, which floats in the water is pushed backwards, when wave raises. When wave falls, thing is pushed forwards. When wave moves, forward push is slightly bigger than backward push. Surfer uses gravity and wave's moving downhill for the ride with waves.

When you throw a stone into water, rock captures volume from the water. Capture raises water levels around the rock. The initial wave gives force to the slowly fading wave system. Waves from small rock seems to stay at their place. The force at both sides are so near to each other, that wave tops and waters movement is at marginal levels.

Boat's front wave angle comes from water's viscosity. Moving boat raises water from the front all the time. Previous front waves pushes latest front wave forwards and away from boat all the time.

Wave plant operates with crank generator. Plant has a piston, which moves with waves. When wave raises, you break power with generator. By default maximum power is around 40% from the mass of wave height. This upright system is independent from wave's direction. System captures both wind and tidal waves.

System is very efficient wave breaker. When you break the power, the raising wave starts to spread into surrounding falling waves. Typically you have only one row of generators, second rows power production possibilities are small.

When you have the plant in oil platform like vessel, you typically turn the vessel so, that all generators breaks the power at the same time. When you turn the generator row against waves, you can have back plates behind pistons. They reduce water escape to the back of the generator row.