Electrified Fish Guidance Bars for Hydropower Turbine Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern hydropower facilities cause mechanical injuries to fish due to high-velocity collisions with turbine blades, leading to mortality, and existing solutions fail to effectively direct fish towards safer paths without harming them.
Innovation Solution
A guidance device with electrified anode cathode pairs of bars forming a frustoconical or linear array is used to direct fish towards the hub region of hydraulic turbines, minimizing collisions with blade tips and grinding risks, while allowing for increased gap spacing and self-cleaning capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fish are directed through the hub region with lower blade velocities, then fish mortality is reduced, but the device complexity increases due to the need for guidance structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical guidance structures with an electric field-based guidance system. Electrified bars create electric fields that interact with fish electroreceptors to guide fish behaviorally toward safer paths, eliminating the need for complex physical barriers or mechanical steering mechanisms while maintaining effective fish direction control
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an electric field as an intermediary between the guidance device and fish. The electrified bars generate electric fields that serve as a mediator to influence fish behavior through their electroreceptors, allowing indirect guidance without direct mechanical contact or complex structural interventions
2Ease of operation
If electrified bars are used to guide fish, then fish can be directed through water passageways, but harmful factors are introduced through electrical energy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully controls electrical parameters including voltage levels, current density, and field distribution to ensure fish guidance effectiveness while maintaining safety. The electric fields are designed to stimulate electroreceptors for guidance without causing harm, using parameter optimization to balance functionality with safety
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies electric fields locally around the guidance bars rather than throughout the entire water passage. The electrified bars create localized electric field zones that guide fish behaviorally in specific areas, minimizing overall electrical energy exposure while maintaining effective guidance capability where needed
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The guidance device significantly reduces fish mortality by directing them through the hub region with lower blade velocities, maintaining turbine performance and environmental sustainability criteria, and is scalable for various turbine sizes.
Implementation Method 1
The plurality of spaced bars are electrified in anode cathode pairs
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a device for directing fish toward a preferred path in a water passageway. The device includes a base and a plurality of spaced bars coupled to the base and cantilevered from the base. The plurality of spaced bars are electrified in anode cathode pairs. The plurality of spaced bars can extend from the base to form a frustoconical shape such that the spaced bars direct fish toward a hydraulic turbine blade hub and away from a hydraulic turbine blade tip. Alternatively, the plurality of spaced bars can extend from the base to form a linear array.