Pelton Hydro-electric power generator

A simple turbine you can build that is eest at exploiting a large head and a small discharge flow (i.e., a narrow pipe producing a jet of high-pressure water) is the Pleton turbine, which consists of a ring of cups fixed around the rim of a hub. The key is for the jet of water not to stop in each cup, but tobe smartly turned around and splash out the front again. Each cup of designed like a smoothly curved bucket with two halves and a cup-like ridge running through the middle, so that the jet of water striking the cup head-on is neatly parted by the central ridge, swirls around the curve of both halves, and streams out the front again. . . . .

Both the Pelton and cross-flow types of turbine are easy to construct with a rudimentary metalworking tools, and today are recommended as appropriate technologies for local manufacture in the developing world. . . . Page 182/182