Though hydroelectric dams accounted for nearly half of our renewable energy production in 2013, these structures have placed public utilities at odds with conservationists who argue that the dams unduly stress migrating fish during spawning season. That’s where a robo-fish comes in
For years, it was widely assumed that most fish met their demise while traversing the plant’s spinning turbine blades, however recent research has illustrated that this is but one of manydangers fish face including enormous pressure differentials within the turbine chamber itself, the rapid acceleration (or deceleration) of water flow, and pounding turbulence. And since dumping real fish into a hydro turbine to see what happens doesn’t actually tell us where the danger areas are, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Lab have developed this robotic stand-in.
via Gizmodo
