Girard turbine

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Cross-section through a Girard turbine (approx. 1909) P: lower bearing, b: impeller blade, a: stator blade, R: water inflow, T: tube shaft, O: upper bearing, G: gearbox

The Girard turbine is a water turbine developed by the engineer Louis-Dominique Girard in France in 1851 .

Working principle

The Girard turbine is a constant pressure turbine and therefore always had to be located above the underwater level. To regulate their output, the impeller blades were partially covered. In the case of turbines for processing high water pressures, only part of the impeller blades were exposed to pressure. The turbine was built with both radial and axial flow directions, and the impeller could be arranged horizontally or vertically.

history

The Girard turbines were used in the early industrialization to drive machines and to generate electricity. It was easier to build than the Jonval turbine , and its output could be regulated simply and precisely. In places where larger heads had to be processed, the turbine was still in use at the beginning of the 20th century, until it was replaced by the Pelton turbine .

Applications

Examples of applications of the Girard turbine:

Thorenberg power plant, Littau

The first AC power plant in Europe from 1886 had a vertical Girard turbine with an output of 250 hp (184 kW). It powered several generators via a transmission and supplied the city of Lucerne with electrical light via a high-voltage line .

Funiculars in Lausanne

The two funiculars Lausanne – Ouchy and Lausanne – Gare were powered by Girard turbines from Bell Maschinenfabrik . A separate turbine was available for each direction of travel. The systems were in operation until 1933 and 1923 respectively.

Niagara Falls power station

In 1896, the Edward Dean Adams Power Plant , the first power plant with remote transmission of electrical energy, went into operation at Niagara Falls . The ten generators were driven by Girard turbines, which were manufactured by the IP Morris Company in Philadelphia based on drawings by Piccard, Pictet & Co from Geneva . Each turbine had two vertically arranged opposite impellers, which were acted upon from the inside. With this arrangement, the axial forces caused by the water pressure compensated each other and the bearings only had to bear the weight of the impellers and shaft. The speed was 250 revolutions per minute (see Edward Dean Adams Power Plant ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Deutsches Museum: Girard Turbine, 1885. Retrieved September 14, 2009 .
  2. ^ KW Thorenberg. Retrieved September 14, 2009 .
  3. ^ Walter Hefti: Rail cable cars all over the world. Inclined cable levels, funiculars, cable cars. Birkhäuser, Basel 1975, ISBN 3-7643-0726-9 , p. 54.
  4. ^ Edward Butler: Modern Pumping and Hydraulic Machinery , p. 144, [1]

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