Hiscox’s Camden turbine has two different bucket rows: an upper row with inward flow and central discharge, and a lower row with backward-curved buckets and tangential discharge. Explore the exposed-runner schematic and calculate water power, shaft power and torque.
Camden Turbine Interactive Calculator
Vary flow, net head, efficiency and shaft speed. The animation shows the Camden runner’s two bucket rows; the calculation applies an overall water-to-shaft energy balance.
Equation Used
- Steady flow and net head, fresh water, and user-entered overall efficiency.
- The two bucket rows and discharge descriptions follow Hiscox figure 491; blade count and proportions are illustrative.
- Directional paths explain the two discharge types. They are not computed streamlines or a per-row flow split.
- Playback slows the shaft by a factor of 30. No governor, cavitation, stress or operating map is calculated.
Preserved all four inputs, four outputs and hydraulic power/torque formulas. Corrected generic center-fed radial-outflow wheel to the two-row runner identified in Hiscox 491. Removed unsupported site examples, costs, efficiencies and maintenance claims tied to the wrong identity.
Two bucket rows, two discharge arrangements
Hiscox identifies the Camden turbine by its two independent sets of buckets. The upper set directs water inward toward a central discharge. The lower set curves backward and discharges tangentially.
The animation exposes both rows on the same rotating assembly, with supporting rings and a shaft. It deliberately omits the enclosing installation so the bucket shapes remain visible. The blue paths explain the stated directions; they do not model pressure or velocity within the passages.
Reading the historical runner
This page illustrates the Camden runner shown in Hiscox’s collection of hydraulic devices. It should not be confused with the outward-flow Fourneyron arrangement shown separately in that collection.
The calculator provides a general water-power balance for an entered operating point. Identifying or restoring a particular surviving wheel requires its own drawings, dimensions and performance evidence.
From available water power to shaft torque
For steady flow Q through net head H, available hydraulic power is ρgQH. Multiply it by overall efficiency η to estimate shaft power. Subtract shaft power from water power to obtain the corresponding total loss.
Torque is shaft power divided by angular speed, with ω = 2πN/60 for N in rpm. Use watts when calculating torque in N·m. The displayed powers are in kW.
Efficiency is supplied by the user. These equations do not determine blade geometry, a speed-flow curve, or how much water passes through each bucket row.
An illustrative operating point
At 0.50 m³/s and 10 m net head, water power is 49.05 kW. Entering 74% overall efficiency gives 36.30 kW shaft power and 12.75 kW total loss. At 180 rpm the corresponding torque is about 1926 N·m.
This is an arithmetic example, not a reported performance test of a Camden turbine. Doubling flow or net head doubles available power if the other entered quantities remain fixed. Doubling speed halves torque at unchanged shaft power.
What the schematic can establish
The two rows distinguish this historical runner from a generic radial-outflow wheel. The exposed view makes their different blade curvature and discharge descriptions easier to compare.
It cannot establish efficiency, cavitation margin, wear, cost or suitability for a site. Those require evidence for the actual wheel and installation. No such performance claims are inferred from the illustration.
Questions about the Camden model
Is this a center-fed radial-outflow turbine?
That description does not match Hiscox’s Camden figure. He describes inward and central discharge in the upper row, and backward-curved buckets with tangential discharge in the lower row.
Are the two rows separate turbines?
The drawing shows two bucket sets within one runner arrangement. This calculator uses one overall shaft power and efficiency; it does not solve the rows independently.
Why does changing speed alter torque but not power?
Water power comes from the entered flow and head, and shaft power from the entered efficiency. Torque is that shaft power divided by angular speed.
Are the animated blue paths calculated streamlines?
No. They explain the historical discharge directions. The page contains no fluid-flow simulation.
Primary drawing and description
Gardner D. Hiscox, Mechanical Movements, Powers, Devices and Appliances, page 137, figure 491. The Camden entry identifies two bucket sets and describes their different discharge directions. The illustration is used for mechanism identity, not numerical performance.
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