Waterwheels are used for many purposes with the generation of electricity as a renewable energy option. Waterwheels are commonly installed in open channels where the flow in the channel creates the force to turn the wheel. The combination of water wheels and open channel flow is commonly used to generate electricity as hydroelectric power. The evolution of waterwheels and the knowledge of channel flow are combined to create as hydroelectricity. The first waterwheel was the Norse wheel.
The Norse wheel started in the Middle East.It was based on a hand wheel, which was also used for grinding grains. It was used by turning a shaft from falling or flowing water. This wheel was built closely to the same way they are built today. They were first used for grinding wheat and pumping water to villages. A wheel with blades all around it connected to a horizontal shaft.
It was believed to have been used in 4000 B. C. In 1000 B. C.
a vertical shaft was introduced. Before the 1900’s water wheels where mainly used for sawmills and textile factories.It wasn’t until the idea of using them for electricity is when they use really boomed. The Romans had the same type of water wheel and they installed it into their aqueducts.
They mostly used overshot waterwheels, which is when the water ran over the top of the water wheel. The water ran down from the aqueduct and over the top of the water wheel and poured down into a storage tank of some kind. Open Channel Water Flow is very common in today’s world. For example, a river or a creek is a type of open channel water flow.There is also an irrigation ditch is a man made type of open channel flow. The ancient Roman aqueducts also are examples of open channel water flow.
Water density is 1g/cc or 62 pounds per cubic foot. The forces that make the channels flow are inertia, viscosity, and most important, gravity. Hydraulics play a big role in open channel water flow. Hydraulics is a topic in applied sciences and engineering. Hydraulics has to do with the mechanical properties of liquids.
Without knowledge of hydraulics it would have been nearly impossible for man-made channels to work properly.Hydro Electricity provided more than 40% of the electricity in the 1920’s. Also it accounted for 88% of the renewable energy sources. Today it provides only 20% of the power in the U. S. A.
Over the years waterwheels and turbines where slowly abandoned. Though in the last couple of years the use is being revived as a renewable resource and it is easy to implement. Hydropower plants are starting be used again. The Hoover Dam is a massive hydro power plant, as is the Three Gorges Dam.
Waterwheels are used for many purposes.Waterwheels are commonly installed in open channels where the water can go under or over it. Although waterwheels are used for other purposes one of the most important uses can be the generation of power. In order to generate power the water wheel needs to be installed in an open channel flow. The principles of flowing water force the waterwheel to turn a shaft, which can generate electricity. The use of waterwheels combined with the knowledge of open channel flow is used to create electricity as hydroelectric power.
