The power of nature: Around 5,000 years ago, people already recognized that the flow of water could be harnessed. Since then, water wheels have been used, for example, to grind grain or irrigate fields. Since the end of the 19th century, water has also been used to generate electricity to meet the ever-growing hunger for it. Especially now, when it is groundbreaking to think and act in a way that saves resources and is sustainable, this source of energy continues to boom.
In mountainous regions, where there are naturally many rivers and bodies of water, electricity generation with the help of water is the obvious choice. In Austria, we were allowed to design and equip a river power plant with hydraulic units including cylinders.
Partly it was a bit tricky: Because of the required high cleaning speed, a proportional flow control valve was integrated into the hydraulic circuit in order to be able to decelerate the mass forces of the machine at the end positions and at the same time to ensure a jerk-free acceleration process when starting the machines.
The power plant offers a high energy yield and will generate electricity for decades. With our hydraulics experience, we are thus making a contribution to the expansion of renewable energies.
