Scribd
Upload
36 views4 pages

Practical 10

Uploaded by

Sudhir Dhiman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
36 views4 pages

Practical 10

Uploaded by

Sudhir Dhiman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Aim: To check the performance of Pelton wheel in a micro hydro power plant.

THEORY: In the impulse turbines, the total head available is first converted into the kinetic
energy. This is usually accomplished in one or more nozzles. The jets issuing from the nozzles
strike vanes attached to the periphery of a rotating wheel. Because of the rate of change of
angular momentum and the motion of the vanes, work is done on the runner (impeller) by the
fluid and, thus, energy is transferred. Since the fluid energy which is reduced on passing
through the runner is entirely kinetic, it follows that the absolute velocity at outlet is smaller
than the absolute velocity at inlet (jet velocity). Furthermore, the fluid pressure is atmospheric
throughout and the relative velocity is constant except for a slight reduction due to friction.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a Pelton Turbine

The Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine in which vanes, sometimes called buckets, of elliptical
shape are attached to the periphery of a rotating wheel, as shown in fig. 1. One or two nozzles
project a jet of water tangentially to the vane pitch circle. The vanes are of double-outlet
section, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the jet is split and leaves symmetrically on both sides of the
vane. This type of turbine is used for high head and low flow rates. It is named after the
American engineer Lester Pelton.

Components of the Pelton turbine:

Runner with bucket: Runner (also named impeller) of Pelton turbine consists of a circular
disc on the periphery of which a number of buckets are fixed.

Nozzle: The water coming from the reservoir through penstock is accelerated to a certain
velocity by means of a nozzle.

Spear: The spear is a conical needle which is operated either by a hand wheel or automatically
in an axial direction depending upon the size of the unit. The amount of water striking the
buckets of the runner is controlled the spear in the nozzle.
Figure 2: Configuration of water flow in buckets

Casing: Casing is used to prevent the splashing of the water and to discharge water to tail
race. It is made up of cast iron or steel plate.

Breaking jet: When the nozzle is completely closed by moving the spear in the forward
direction the amount of water striking the runner reduce to zero. However, the runner due to
inertia goes on revolving for a long time. To stop the runner in a short time, a small nozzle is
used which directs the jet of water on the back of buckets. This jet of water is called breaking
jet.

Governing mechanism: The speed of turbine runner is required to be maintained constant so


that electric generator can be coupled directly to turbine. Therefore, a device called governor
is used to measure and regulate the speed of turbine runner.

Power, Efficiency and Specific Speed Expressions: From Newton’s second law applied to
angular motion,

Angular momentum = (Mass) (Tangential velocity) (Radius),

Torque = Rate of change of angular momentum

Power = (Torque) (Angular velocity),


Considering the water jet striking the runner generates a torque of and rotates the runner with
(rev/m).
Then power obtained from the runner can be expressed as:
Considering the water jet striking the runner generates a torque of 𝑇and rotates the runner
with 𝑁(rev/m), then power obtained from the runner can be expressed as:
The total head available at the nozzle is equal to gross head less losses in the pipeline
leading to thenozzle (in the penstock) and denoted by 𝐻. Then available power input to the
turbine becomes:Where:

𝑃i𝑛 → Power input to turbine

𝐻 → Total available head [m]

𝜌 → density of water [kg/m3]


𝑄 → volume flow rate of water [m3/s]

𝑔 → gravitational acceleration [m/s2]


During conversion of energy (hydraulic energy to mechanic energy or vice versa) there
occur somelosses. They can be in many form and main causes of them are friction,
seperation and leakage.

For a turbine:
Fluid Input Power = (Mechanical loss) + (Hydraulic losses) + (Useful shaft power output)
Where:
Hydraulic Losses = (Impeller loss) + (Casing loss) + (Leakage loss)

Considering all losses as one term:

𝑃i𝑛 = 𝑃𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 + 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡


Then, overall efficiency of turbine becomes

Pelton wheel is directly coupled to a generator to produce electricity. Therefore, another


efficiency term, namely generator efficiency is used to show how efficiently the mechanical
energy is converted to electricity.

𝑉 → Generator voltage [V]

𝐼 → Generator current [A]


The performance or operating conditions for a turbine handling a particular fluid are usually
expressed by the values of N, P and H. It is important to know the range of these operating
parameters covered by a machine of a particular shape at high efficiency. Such information
enables us to select the type of machine best suited to a particular application, and thus serves
as a starting point in its design.
Therefore, a parameter independent of the size of the machine (D-rotor or impeller diameter)
is required which will be the characteristic of all the machines of a homologous series. A
parameter involving N, P and H but not D is obtained and this parameter is called as specific
speed. It is expressed by the equation:

Sometimes it is also expressed with a dimensional form of the above equation:

You might also like