Turbine Runner

Removed in 1989 from the Bureau of Reclamation's Crystal Dam Powerplant in Montrose, Colorado, this stainless steel turbine runner weighs about 8½ metric tons and is the rotating part of a Francis-type reaction turbine, named after its inventor James B. Francis, the type most widely used by Reclamation. Although five times smaller than the runners inside the Glen Canyon Powerplant, it operates in the same way: Glen Canyon Dam creates a head, or height, from which water flows through a penstock from the reservoir to the turbine, where fast-moving water pushes against the blades and causes the runner to rotate like a pinwheel in the wind. A large vertical shaft connects the runner to the rotating assembly of the generator, transmitting the turbine's mechanical energy from falling water to the generator for conversion to electrical energy, and after moving through the turbine, the water flows downriver unchanged to serve other needs.

Arizona · United States