2M views · Apr 7, 2020 · 10:37 · 2 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2023–2024
Practical Engineering explains how canal locks work, including the water-saving basins of the new Panama Canal locks.
Why Hacker News points people here: Linked in Panama Canal threads as a clear diagrammatic explanation of how locks save water.
“this old Practical Engineering video explains with diagrams”HN comment, 2023
“this old Practical Engineering video explains with diagrams”
Diagrams explaining how new locks reuse water without pumps.
For anyone interested in how the new (bigger) locks use less water than the old locks (reclaiming 60% of the water - without pumps!), this old Practical Engineering video explains with diagrams: this video They store the water in a series of basins at different levels, and use those basins to fill the portion of the lock below. It's more obvious with diagrams.
“explaining how reservoirs can be used to trade-off water consumption for land requirements using side ponds”
Side ponds trade water consumption for land.
I enjoyed this well made video illustrating how it works: link And this one explaining how reservoirs can be used to trade-off water consumption for land requirements using side ponds: this video
“here is a video on how one can construct a “water saving lock” from Practical Engineering”
How to construct a water-saving lock.
> without saying anything about which one is used how and where I agree that it is strangely edited. But to help you out with the info: both are used on the Panama canal. There are two paralel sets of locks, the older ones and a more modern ones. The more modern ones can fit a bit bigger ships and they are more efficient with water. This is a wikipedia page about the expansion project (the one which also constructed these more modern locks): link And here is a video on how one can construct a “water saving lock” from Practical Engineering: this video
Supports the point about storage basins in locks.
They do pump water out and back into the locks from neighboring storage. There is a limit to the minimum amount of water that you can use, though, since the potential energy to raise the ship comes from the loss of water. this video
