Fluid flow release regulating device, ERIP {number_sign}624: Final report Page: 6 of 11
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ERIP #624 FINAL REPORT, DECEMBER 1997
Executive Summary
The grantee saw a need for, and patented, a form of self regulating spillway control
device to boost power production at hydro electric sites The Department of Energy presented
grant # 624 under its energy related inventions program to help develop the device. Under
this grant a method was devised to predict numerically the loads impossed on such a device.
Three full scale prototypes were manufactured and tested in a large flume at the Federally
owned Conte Anadromous Fish Laboratory. The test results showed an overall increase of
stiffness was necessary to overcome viscous drag.
A working hydro electric site in southern New Hampshire was chosen for a pilot
instalation. Steel castings for the anchor plates were manufactured as well as a 92 foot long
by 27 inch high 3000 pound slab of rubber to be mounted vertically on the dam crest.
Construction on the dam crest was begun in early December of 1996 and despite bitter cold,
ice and flooding was completed in January of 1997.
Initially the rubber crest gate performed well, although there were some manufactoring
defects resulting in weaker areas in the rubber that had to be reinforced. After long term
exposure to heavy ice loading the gate began to loose rigidity and develop small buckles
running horizontally along the base in the areas of highest loading. Microscopic examination
of the material showed delamination of the internal stiffening fabric due to the high
compressive loads. Wooden boards were placed along the dams crest to retain the ponds
elevation and power generation that may have been lost due to the rubbers failure.
The project is conitnuing with testing of steel and monofilament nylon fabric being used
to replace the polyester fabric that failed. The failed gate will be removed and another
installed during the winter/spring of 1998.
Much interest in the device was generated by the project, most notably the largest owner
of independant hydro electric projects in the country. The delamination problem is currently
being surmounted and should prove to be the last obstacle before full comercialization of the
device.
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Fluid flow release regulating device, ERIP {number_sign}624: Final report, report, December 1, 1997; United States. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc696471/m1/6/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.