Wave Pool Technology
One of the best ways to pass the time is by going to the beach. The beach is a place where you can relax on the sand, play games, and frolic in the waves. The waves are fun because you can ride on them, whether on a surfboard, a boogie board, or even your body. However, not everyone has had the luxury of growing up by the beach. Luckily for these land-locked people, wave pool technology can make artificial waves.
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The Pumps
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Pumps filter in water from the wave pool to the water reservoir. The more horsepower the pumps have, the more water will fill into the water reservoir. These pumps have a motor that controls spinning propellers at the start of the pump in the wave pool. These propellers control water going into the pump from the wave pool. Besides the fact that the propellers push water into the pump, since there is a heavy volume of water in the wave pool, the water flows rapidly through the entrance of the pump. From there, it is pumped with propellers over to the water reservoir.
The Water Reservoirs
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Pumped water sits in the reservoirs, waiting to enter the wave pool. The amount of water that goes into the water reservoir is crucial to the size of the waves; if the water reservoirs have a heavier volume of water, the water will enter the wave pool with more force.
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The Valves
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The valves are plunger-shaped objects that regulate the water that goes from the water reservoirs to the wave pool. Regulated by the hydraulic piston, they open and close to let water in at intermittent times, If the wave pool represents the nightclub all of the people want to get into, and the water reservoir represents the line waiting to get into the nightclub, the valve would be the bouncer. Without the valves, water from the reservoir would just flow into the wave pool at too much of a consistent rate to make waves in the pool.
Making the Wave
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When the valves open and close, water gets let into the wave pool in a sudden manner. Since the holes the valves open and close sit at the bottoms of the water reservoirs, water shoots down past the valves through U-shaped tubes that come up through the wave pool. When the valves shoot water to the wave pool, the sudden onset of water being shot up through the pool makes a wave. To explain, the wave pool is at a status quo before the valve shoots water; in other words, it is flat and not being disturbed because nothing is disturbing it. However, when the valve shoots water up from the bottom of the wave pool, this status quo is disturbed, and the wave is the way for the wave pool to balance out the sudden onset of water.
The Future of Wave Pool Technology
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The thing about wave pools right now is that they only offer mediocre waves to ride. For nearly all of the wave pools across the country, wave pool techonology only offers for beach-break style waves with little shape. However, the onset of the wave cannon can change wave pool techonology forever. Instead of relying on water pressure and water circulation like modern wave pool technology does, the wave cannon uses compressed air to shoot water out from one corner of the wave pool. The result of this is nice, point-break style waves that can reach 5 to 7 feet tall and last for as long as 90 yards.
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References
- Photo Credit wave image by Skeboo from Fotolia.com
