§ 169. Water Motors with Artificial Sources of Energy.—The
great convenience and simplicity of water motors has led to their
adoption in certain cases, where no natural source of water
power is available. In these cases, an artificial source of water
power is created by using a steam-engine to pump water to a
reservoir at a great elevation, or to pump water into a closed
reservoir in which there is great pressure. The water flowing
from the reservoir through hydraulic engines gives back the
energy expended, less so much as has been wasted by friction.
Such arrangements are most useful where a continuously acting
steam engine stores up energy by pumping the water, while the
work done by the hydraulic engines is done intermittently.
§ 170. Energy of a Water-fall.—Let Ht be the total fall of level from the point where the water is taken from a natural stream to the point where it is discharged into it again. Of this total fall a portion, which can be estimated independently, is expended in overcoming the resistances of the head and tail races or the supply and discharge pipes. Let this portion of head wasted be ɧr. Then the available head to work the motor is H = Ht − ɧr. It is this available head which should be used in all calculations of the proportions of the motor. Let Q be the supply of water per second. Then GQH foot-pounds per second is the gross available work of the fall. The power of the fall may be utilized in three ways. (a) The GQ pounds of water may be placed on a machine at the highest level, and descending in contact with it a distance of H ft., the work done will be (neglecting losses from friction or leakage) GQH foot-pounds per second. (b) Or the water may descend in a closed pipe from the higher to the lower level, in which case, with the same reservation as before, the pressure at the foot of the pipe will be p = GH pounds per square foot. If the water with this pressure acts on a movable piston like that of a steam engine, it will drive the piston so that the volume described is Q cubic feet per second. Then the work done will be pQ = GHQ foot-pounds per second as before. (c) Or lastly, the water may be allowed to acquire the velocity v = √2gH by its descent. The kinetic energy of Q cubic feet will then be 12GQv2/g = GQH, and if the water is allowed to impinge on surfaces suitably curved which bring it finally to rest, it will impart to these the same energy as in the previous cases. Motors which receive energy mainly in the three ways described in (a), (b), (c) may be termed gravity, pressure and inertia motors respectively. Generally, if Q ft. per second of water act by weight through a distance h1, at a pressure p due to h2 ft. of fall, and with a velocity v due to h3 ft. of fall, so that h1 + h2 + h3 = H, then, apart from energy wasted by friction or leakage or imperfection of the machine, the work done will be
the same as if the water acted simply by its weight while descending H ft.
§ 171. Site for Water Motor.—Wherever a stream flows from a higher to a lower level it is possible to erect a water motor. The amount of power obtainable depends on the available head and the supply of water. In choosing a site the engineer will select a portion of the stream where there is an abrupt natural fall, or at least a considerable slope of the bed. He will have regard to the facility of constructing the channels which are to convey the water, and will take advantage of any bend in the river which enables him to shorten them. He will have accurate measurements made of the quantity of water flowing in the stream, and he will endeavour to ascertain the average quantity available throughout the year, the minimum quantity in dry seasons, and the maximum for which bye-wash channels must be provided. In many cases the natural fall can be increased by a dam or weir thrown across the stream. The engineer will also examine to what extent the head will vary in different seasons, and whether it is necessary to sacrifice part of the fall and give a steep slope to the tail race to prevent the motor being drowned by backwater in floods. Streams fed from lakes which form natural reservoirs or fed from glaciers are less variable than streams depending directly on rainfall, and are therefore advantageous for water-power purposes.
§ 172. Water Power at Holyoke, U.S.A.—About 85 m. from the mouth of the Connecticut river there was a fall of about 60 ft. in a short distance, forming what were called the Grand Rapids, below which the river turned sharply, forming a kind of peninsula on which the city of Holyoke is built. In 1845 the magnitude of the water-power available attracted attention, and it was decided to build a dam across the river. The ordinary flow of the river is 6000 cub. ft. per sec., giving a gross power of 30,000 h.p. In dry seasons the power is 20,000 h.p., or occasionally less. From above the dam a system of canals takes the water to mills on three levels. The first canal starts with a width of 140 ft. and depth of 22 ft., and supplies the highest range of mills. A second canal takes the water which has driven turbines in the highest mills and supplies it to a second series of mills. There is a third canal on a still lower level supplying the lowest mills. The water then finds its way back to the river. With the grant of a mill site is also leased the right to use the water-power. A mill-power is defined as 38 cub. ft. of water per sec. during 16 hours per day on a fall of 20 ft. This gives about 60 h.p. effective. The charge for the power water is at the rate of 20s. per h.p. per annum.
§ 173. Action of Water in a Water Motor.—Water motors may be divided into water-pressure engines, water-wheels and turbines.
Water-pressure engines are machines with a cylinder and piston or ram, in principle identical with the corresponding part of a steam-engine. The water is alternately admitted to and discharged from the cylinder, causing a reciprocating action of the piston or plunger. It is admitted at a high pressure and discharged at a low one, and consequently work is done on the piston. The water in these machines never acquires a high velocity, and for the most part the kinetic energy of the water is wasted. The useful work is due to the difference of the pressure of admission and discharge, whether that pressure is due to the weight of a column of water of more or less considerable height, or is artificially produced in ways to be described presently.
Water-wheels are large vertical wheels driven by water falling from a higher to a lower level. In most water-wheels, the water acts directly by its weight loading one side of the wheel and so causing rotation. But in all water-wheels a portion, and in some a considerable portion, of the work due to gravity is first employed to generate kinetic energy in the water; during its action on the water-wheel the velocity of the water diminishes, and the wheel is therefore in part driven by the impulse due to the change of the water’s momentum. Water-wheels are therefore motors on which the water acts, partly by weight, partly by impulse.
Turbines are wheels, generally of small size compared with water wheels, driven chiefly by the impulse of the water. Before entering the moving part of the turbine, the water is allowed to acquire a considerable velocity; during its action on the turbine this velocity is diminished, and the impulse due to the change of momentum drives the turbine.
In designing or selecting a water motor it is not sufficient to consider only its efficiency in normal conditions of working. It is generally quite as important to know how it will act with a scanty water supply or a diminished head. The greatest difference in water motors is in their adaptability to varying conditions of working.
Water-pressure Engines.
§ 174. In these the water acts by pressure either due to the height of the column in a supply pipe descending from a high-level reservoir, or created by pumping. Pressure engines were first used in mine-pumping on waterfalls of greater height than could at that time be utilized by water wheels. Usually they were single acting, the water-pressure lifting the heavy pump rods which then made the return or pumping stroke by their own weight. To avoid losses by fluid friction and shock the velocity of the water in the pipes and passages was restricted to from 3 to 10 ft. per second, and the mean speed of plunger to 1 ft. per second. The stroke was long and the number of strokes 3 to 6 per minute. The pumping lift being constant, such engines worked practically always at full load, and the efficiency was high, about 84%. But they were cumbrous machines. They are described in Weisbach’s Mechanics of Engineering.
The convenience of distributing energy from a central station to scattered working-points by pressure water conveyed in pipes—a system invented by Lord Armstrong—has already been mentioned. This system has led to the development of a great variety of hydraulic pressure engines of very various types. The cost of pumping the pressure water to some extent restricts its use to intermittent operations, such as working lifts and cranes, punching, shearing and riveting machines, forging and flanging presses. To keep down the cost of the distributing
