Torque Converter Impeller as turbine

[scottylucas]

Hello again, Sorry to anyone who may be getting irritated with my questions, But I was in a mechanic shop the other day and seen a cut away of a large torque converter, The impeller in the center looks like it would make a very nice turbine, kinda reminds me of a francis turbine... Anyway I was just wondering if there was anyone who had any experience with this or has tried it or knows the outcome before i go about tearing apart torque converters looking for a impeller. I searched the forums here, I found a torque converter impeller setup as a pelton type turbine, I was thinking maybe putting it in a pipe machined slightly larger than the impeller and having a output shaft with some sort of stuffing box, Maybe im completly off track here, but i built a banki turbine in my shop, And i think i may have went in the wrong direction with it, Ill take some photos and post for feedback, Feel free to give any knowlege or advice, Im just tinkering around with some ideas!

scott

[zeusmorg]

 well, the fluidics in a torque converter would be difficult to reproduce in a hydroelectric situation, however using jets directed at the wheels is the best application. Just putting an impeller inside a pipe would not give you any advantage over a low head design like a mitchell/banki especially at low head.

 Typically something not specifically designed for hydro has a low efficiency rate when modified for that use.

[scottylucas]

yes, but i want to avoid having to buy alot of pipe to get head, flow is there, so i was thinking with maybe 10 feet of head and a 8 inch pipe on a 6 inch torque converter impeller may yeild decent power?

[txcowdog]

Why not just use a turbocharger out of an old Nissan 280Z? It is already made for spinning a shaft when acted upon by a gas and I assume a liquid acting on the fins would give you the same or more power output to the shaft.

[Flux]

You are not likely to reach the over 90% efficiency of a decent reaction turbine but I don't see any reason why you can't get something to work if you have enough flow.

If you are good at welding and fabrication I don't see any reason why you can't build a satisfactory rotor for about 8" diameter, I thought you were looking at something smaller.

If you have to make do with scrounged parts then it will be pure luck, but building  a basic runner should be reasonably possible. Possibly the radial flow version of Francis ( originally Thompson) may be easier than the partial mixed flow versions.

You would need a bit of ingenuity and a fair bit of facilities to make a true kaplan but a simple propeller rotor is not difficult and if you have to make a few attempts at blade angle to suit your conditions it wouldn't cost the earth.

Attempting any form of volute chamber would tax your skill to the limit, but you could try an open topped concrete scroll with steel guide vanes and if you can keep enough water in there to prevent a vortex drawing in air it should work ok, just use your pipe as a draught tube, keep it under water at the tail race and a conical expansion section would help but may not be worth the trouble.

If you can have a versatile means of matching your alternator to variable speeds it will help a lot to match the turbine runner.

Give it a try.

Flux

[scottylucas]

so maybe a turbo out of a huge diesel engine would work?? no? would i get more efficiency out of a turbo charger turbine than a home built banki?

[joestue]

That all depends on the the home built banki, the turbo is designed to compress/expand a gas, at which it is 70% efficient max, for a large, well built one.

This is water, it will work, but to speculate it's efficiency is not worth the ones and zeros its written in, except by someone who has done it before,

(btw I've never heard of doing that before)