US1028554A - Hydro-electric unit. - Google Patents

Description

1.,G28 55- ii,

W. A. DOBLE.

HYDRO ELECTRIC UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1910.

Patented June 4, 1912.

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HYDRO ELECTRIC UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1910 1,928,554, Patented June 4,1912

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Wi l ams; a flit r12 onirnn sTAT s WILLIAM A. DOBLE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 MAY E. DOBLE, OF SAN" FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC UNIT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June a, 1912.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it'known that L'WILLIAM A. Donna, .a citizen of the United States, and resident of San Francisco, county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydro- Electric Units, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hydraulic mo-v tors, and units.

l/Vhen a water wheel is driven by a stream of water directed by a nozzle against it, itisfound that a partial vacuum is created in the housing, wheel pit and the tailrace. This partial vacuum prevents the water from flowing freely out of the tailrace, and in shallow tailraces backs the discharge water up to such an extent that interference of the wheel with the discharge water takes place. In large units, the generator must be mounted so as to extend into a pit. The air in the pit will get hotv and foul, rendering. the same uncomfortable to. the operator. There is also the more serious objection to the generators heating up, due to lack of ventilation in the pit, which not only reduces the efficiency of the generator,.owing to the greater resistance of the windings at the higher temperature, but also materially reduces the life of the generator, as the excess heating gradually destroys the insulating value of the materials used for that purpose, and in. time particularly to hydro-electric causes the generators to break down andburn out, which calls for expensive repairs beside loss of the use of the machine. The same is true of other station apparatus, as transformers, etc., some means must generally be provided for cooling the same especially where they are large.

One of the objects is therefore to provide an air inlet for the motor whereby the vacuunimay be done away with.

I Another object. is'to provide means for ventilating the generator or other station apparatus. A I

Another object" is to so combine the means for obtainingfthe above objects that the generator or other apparatus is ventilated by the motor and in turn supplies heat to the motor.

Further objects will appear from the detail description.

The invention will be described inconnec- -tion with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a section through the wheel pit, tailrace and generator pit, parts of the machine being shown in elevation; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing another form of this invention. 7

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, 10 designates a water wheel and 11 an electric generator, the movable element of which is connected to the water wheel by means of a shaft 12, mounted in bearings 13. The hydraulic motor is inclosed by the usual housing It and the wheel of the motor extends into the nozzle'and wheel pit 15, from which the water is discharged into the tailrace. Generator 11 is mounted on its foundation, and

- partially extends into a generator pit 16. The division wall between the wheel pit and tailrace, and the generator pit is provided with a passage B which connects the generator pit with the wheel pit and the tailrace. This passage is preferably provided with a suitable lining, and the motor terminal has extending over it a hood or protector 17, which prevents the water from being splashed into the passage. The passage walls are also provided with upwardly and downwardly extending ribs or plates 18 and 19, which form bailie plates, and thus pre vent the water from being splashed into the generator pit. The lower ribs are provided with staggered drain holes 20, which allow the-water which does enter the passage to drain back into the tailrace. The generator pit terminal of the passageis provided with a plate or hood 21, so that the passage opens into the lower part of the pit.

In Fig. 3, the air passage is shown as inclined downwardly toward the wheel pit and tailrace so that drainage will be facilitated. It is to be understood that the ribs are pro vided with drain holes 20 similar to'that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The construction is otherwise similar to that shown in Fig. 1,

and further detailed description will therefore be unnecessary.

The direction of the air currents is shown by the arrows. The air will be drawn from ,the generator pit, by the vacuum created in the motor housing, wheel pit, and tailrace,

.and thus the generator pit will be 'thoroughly ventilated. This air passage also reduces the vacuum in the motor casing and the tailrace. It will be noted that the air passage extends to the bottom of the generator pit, thus insuring a free circulation of air therein as the air will enter the pit above and will be discharged from below. The protecting hood and the ribs or bafiles prevent the water from beingsplashed into the pit. I i

In addition to the advantages of ventilat-' ing and cooling the generator by drawing off the hot air, there is a further and very great advantage in this combination. In high altitudes, and in those countries where they have cold winters, there is a great deal of annoyance caused by the freezing of the spray water discharged from the waterwheel. When the .water is broken up into a spray by its action on the wheel,-it freezes rapidly in low temperatures, but the discharge of the warm air from the generator into the nozzle and wheel pit of the waterwheel would entirely prevent this freezing. In some cases, to operate the wheels in the winter time, it is necessary to put steam ,jackets around the water-wheel nozzles. By

the use of the above described combination, the warm air discharged into the wheel and nozzle pit is ample to make steam jackets entirely unnecessary, and eliminates any possible danger of freezing, and the cost of a steam boiler and fuel to furnish steam in the jacket is also done away with. At the same time the generator or other station apparatus is ventilated and cooled.

In the specific embodiment shown, the

hydraulic motor is of the impact type. This invention is, however, not necessarily lim ted to this specific type of hydraulic motor, since it may be applied to other types. It may in certain cases then be necessary to provide any a blower todraw the" heat away from the generator or other station apparatus, and

discharge it around the motor, its entrance pipe and draft tube. The heat from the station apparatus may be utilized to heat artof the motor so as to prevent the.

freezing, for instance, it may be used to heat the stand pipe which is connected to the pressure pipe line.

In the specific embodiment shown, the air is drawn from the pit of the generator.

Where, however, the generator is small and does not extend into a pit, then the *air-maybe drawn through the base plate upon which the generator is mountedor a housing forthe generator. The base plater'nay in such cases be hollow, so as to. facilitate cooling.

A hydro-electric station" is" generally provided with different kinds of energy "trans-' forining apparatus, for instance, generators,

transformers, ".rotary converters, etc. In

some cases, where the flow of the stream varies, it is also the practice to provide auxiliary apparatus for taking the peak Such auxiliary apparatus may be steam driven unlts or may conslst of internal combustion engines. Thelatter type of engines must necessarily be cooled, and this cooling may in certain cases be accomplished by air. All of this station apparatus especially where the apparatus is of large size must necessarily be provided with some means for cooling the same. In accordance with this invent1on,the station apparatus may be cooled and the heat may be utilized to heat the motor so as to facilitate proper operation. It will therefore be seen that the above combination accomplishes simultaneously two important results, namely, the cooling of the station apparatus, and the utilization of the heat'in the motor.

I load when the flow of the stream is low.

It is obviousthat various changes may be made in the details, of construction without departing from this invention, and it is therefore, to be understood that this invention is not to"'be limited to the specific construction shown and described.

, Having thusdescribed the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The combination motor, of a generator driven thereby, a pit with a hydraulicfor said generator, a housing for said motor,

and an air passage connecting said pit With said housing.

2. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator driven thereby, a pit.

for said generator, a discharge conduit for said motor, and an air passage connecting the bottom of said pit with said conduit.

4 5. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator driven thereby, a

for said generator, a discharge conduit said motor, .an an passage connecting said plt withsaid conduit, and an extension for sa d passage extending to the bottom of said plt.

. 6. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator driven thereby, a pit for said generator, a discharge conduit for said motor, an air passage connecting said pit with said conduit, and bafiles in said passage. a

. 7. The combination with a hydraulic motor, of a generator-driven thereby, a pit for said generator, a discharge conduit for said motor, an air passage connecting said pit with said conduit and having anexten til sion to the-bottom of said pit, and a hood over the opening for said passage into said conduit.'

8. The combination with a hydraulic motor and a discharge conduit therefor, of an air inlet for said conduit, said inlet inclining downwardly toward said conduit, and ribs extendin from the lower wall of said inlet, said ribs being provided with drain holes.

9. In a hydroelectric station, the combination with a hydraulic motor and other station apparatus, of a casing for said motor, and a conduit leading from said casing to said apparatus for conveying air from said apparatus to the'interior of the casing.

10. In a hydroelectric station, the combination with a hydraulic motor and other apparatus, of a casing inclosing said motor, means inclosing said apparatus, and a conduit connecting said casing and said inclosing means whereby air may be conducted from the inclosing means to the interior of the casing, for the purpose described.

11. In a hydroelectric station, the combination with a hydraulic motor and other energy transforming apparatus, of a casing for said motor, means inclosing said apparatus, and means connecting the in,- terior of said inclosing means with the interior of said casing whereby the vacuum in said casing will induce air to flow from said inclosing means to said casing, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. DOBLE, Witnesses:

FREDERICK GFELLER, LEOPOLD M. KARNAsoH.

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