My invention is a fish friendly hydro power system. Traditional hydro power use dams and rotating turbines to produce power. Both of these can have negative environmental impacts. My invention uses no blades or other rotating machinery. Instead the system takes advantage of the Venturi effect. The same principle that generates lift in aircraft wings. The system uses a Venturi tube to create a vacuum which can be applied to alternating ends of a tube that contains a piston. By alternating the vacuum between the two ends, a piston is driven back and forth to generating power. No moving parts are exposed to the environment and no dam is required, making the system more environmentally friendly than traditional hydro power systems.

One of the main advantages this system has is its reduced environmental impact. Many hydro projects suffer long delays or never get built due to the damage they will cause to the environment. With no spinning blades to harm or kill aquatic life and no dam required approval to implement the system should be easier and reduce overall project costs.

Since the system has no rotating parts exposed to the environment maintenance cost will be reduced as well as down time, maximizing revenue for the operator.

Alternate Configuration:
While designing this, it occurred to me that the same principles could be employed in a type of wind turbine. A series of concentric circles could be mounted on top of a tower with each of the rings forming a Venturi tube creating a vacuum. The vacuum could pull are air in from the ground and funnel it toward a small wind turbine. This configuration would eliminate the hazard to birds that traditional turbines pose and the generator could be mounted at ground level.