Patents Assigned to Hydro West Group, Inc.
  • Patent number: 5441384
    Abstract: Wicket gates and axial flow or mixed flow runner blades for a hydraulic turbine with the wicket gates arranged in a generally circular array around a central axis and with the gates pivotal about pivot axes parallel to the central axis. Each of the wicket gates is provided with a trailing edge shaped to present a discharge angle which varies from a small discharge angle at the bottom of the gate to a large discharge angle at the top of the gate. The discharge angle at any point along the length of the trailing edge is preselected such that water flow having a known radial velocity vector at the trailing edge will have a constant circumferential velocity vector along the length of the trailing edge. The shape of the runner blades is related to the shape of the wicket gates such that the whirl value for the fluid flow exiting the runner blades is between about zero and a value that is less than the change in whirl from the inlet to the exit of the runner apparatus formed by the runner blades.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 15, 1995
    Assignee: Hydro West Group, Inc.
    Inventor: Alexander Gokhman