Trash Rack System

A trash rack is cheap insurance: it keeps logs, branches, leaves, stones and plastic out of the intake, penstock and turbine — debris that would choke a Pelton nozzle, jam a guide vane, damage runner blades or force a shutdown — without stealing head or demanding constant attention.

The rack is a panel of evenly spaced parallel steel bars, set in grooves in the intake or forebay concrete so it can be lifted out for repair. Two numbers govern the design. The bar spacing is set by what the turbine can safely pass — typically in the order of 20–30 mm for a Pelton, finer than the nozzle opening, and wider for crossflow and other runner types. And the rack area is sized so the water approaches slowly — guidance values are around 0.75 m/s for small intakes — because a fast approach pulls debris hard against the bars and a rack finer than necessary clogs quickly and costs head. Racks are inclined where they are raked by hand; larger or critical intakes can use mechanical cleaners, and a coarse upstream rack combined with a fine rack at the forebay is a common two-stage arrangement.

• Coarse and / or fine rack matched to the turbine type
• Bar spacing set by nozzle and runner clearances
• Area sized for low approach velocity and low head loss
• Inclined, removable panels for hand or mechanical raking
• Rake or cleaner, spares and a cleaning routine

What you receive: fabricated rack panels with frames sized to the intake or forebay opening, spacing matched to the turbine's maximum passable particle, a rake (and cleaner where specified), installation details and cleaning instructions.

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