Hydraulic turbine(Prime mover)

• The device which converts hydraulic energy into mechanical energy or

vice versa is known as Hydraulic Machines. The hydraulic machines which
convert hydraulic energy into mechanical energy are known as Turbines
and that convert mechanical energy into hydraulic energy is known as
Pumps.
Fig. shows a general layout of a hydroelectric plant.
Cont’d
Cont’d
 Cont’d
Important Terms:
Gross Head (Hg ): It is the vertical difference between headrace and tailrace.
Net Head (H): Net head or effective head is the actual head available at the inlet of the
to work on the turbine.
H = Hg - hL
Where hL is the total head loss during the transit of water from the headrace to tailrace
which is mainly head loss due to friction, and is given by
 Cont’d

• Where f is the coefficient of friction of penstock depending on the

type of material of penstock

L is the total length of penstock

V is the mean flow velocity of water through the penstock
D is the diameter of penstock and
g is the acceleration due to gravity
 Types of turbines
Turbines can be classified on the basis of:
• Head and quantity of water available

• Hydraulic action of water

• Direction of flow of water in the runner

• Specific speed of turbines

• Disposition of the shaft of the runner

 Cont’d
• Based on head and quantity of water

According to head and quantity of water available, the turbines can be classified into

a) High head turbines

b) Medium head turbines

c) Low head turbines

a) High head turbines

High head turbines are the turbines which work under heads more than 250m. The
quantity of water needed in case of high head turbines is usually small. The Pelton turbines
are the usual choice for high heads.
 Cont’d
b) Medium head turbines
The turbines that work under a head of 45m to 250m are called
medium head turbines. It requires medium flow of water. Francis
turbines are used for medium heads.
c) Low head turbines

Turbines which work under a head of less than 45m are called low
head turbines. Owing to low head, large quantity of water is required.
Kaplan turbines are used for low heads.
 Cont’d

• Based on hydraulic action of water

According to hydraulic action of water, turbines can be

classified into:
a) Impulse turbines
b) Reaction turbines
 Cont’d
a) Impulse turbines
If the runner of a turbine rotates by the impact or impulse action of water,
it is an impulse turbine.
Impulse turbines change the velocity of a water jet. The jet pushes on the
turbine's curved blades which changes the direction of the flow.
The resulting change in momentum (impulse) causes a force on the turbine blades.
Since the turbine is spinning, the force acts through a distance (work) and the diverted
water flow is left with diminished energy.
Prior to hitting the turbine blades, the water's pressure (potential energy) is converted
to kinetic energy by a nozzle and focused on the turbine.
No pressure change occurs at the turbine blades, and the turbine doesn't require a
housing for operation
 Cont’d
b) Reaction turbines
These turbines work due to reaction of the pressure difference between
the inlet and the outlet of the runner.
Reaction turbines are acted on by water, which changes pressure as it
moves through the turbine and gives up its energy.

They must be encased to contain the water pressure (or suction), or

they must be fully submerged in the water flow.

 Cont’d
• Based on direction of flow of water in the runner

Depending upon the direction of flow through the runner, following

types of turbines are there:

a) Tangential flow turbines

b) Radial flow turbines

c) Axial flow turbines

d) Mixed flow turbines

 Cont’d

a) Tangential flow turbines

When the flow is tangential to the wheel circle, it is a tangential flow
turbine. A Pelton turbine is a Tangential flow turbine.

b) Radial flow turbines

In a radial flow, the path of the flow of water remains in the radial
direction and in a plane normal to the runner shaft. No pure radial
flow turbine is in use these days.
 Cont’d

c) Axial flow turbines

When the path of flow water remains parallel to the axis of the shaft,
it is an axial flow turbine. The Kaplan turbine is axial flow turbine.
d) Mixed flow turbines

When there is gradual change of flow from radial to axial in the

runner, the flow is called mixed flow. The Francis turbine is a mixed
flow turbine.
 Cont’d
• Based on specific speed of turbines

Specific speed of a turbine is defined as the speed of a geometrically similar turbine

which produces a unit power when working under a unit head.

The specific speed of Pelton turbine ranges between 8-35, Francis turbines have
specific speed between 60-300, Specific speed of Kaplan turbines lies between 300-
1000.
• Based on disposition of shaft of runner

Usually, Pelton turbines are setup with horizontal shafts, where as other types have
vertical shafts.
 Cont’d
The hydraulic turbines can be classified based on type of energy at the inlet,
direction of flow through the vanes, head available at the inlet, discharge
through the vanes and specific speed. They can be summarized in the
following table:
 Cont’d

Pelton wheel or turbine

• Pelton wheel, named after an eminent engineer, is an impulse turbine
wherein the flow is tangential to the runner and the available energy at
the entrance is completely kinetic energy. Further, it is preferred at a very
high head and low discharges with low specific speeds. The pressure
available at the inlet and the outlet is atmospheric.
Cont’d
 Cont’d
The main components of a Pelton turbine are:

(i) Nozzle and flow regulating arrangement :

• Water is brought to the hydroelectric plant site through large penstocks at
the end of which there will be a nozzle, which converts the pressure
energy completely into kinetic energy. This will convert the liquid flow
into a high-speed jet, which strikes the buckets or vanes mounted on the
runner, which in-turn rotates the runner of the turbine.
 Cont’d

The amount of water striking the vanes is controlled by the forward and
backward motion of the spear. As the water is flowing in the annular area
between the annular area between the nozzle opening and the spear, the flow
gets reduced as the spear moves forward and vice-versa.
 Cont’d
(ii) Runner with buckets:
Runner is a circular disk mounted on a shaft on the periphery of which a number of
buckets are fixed equally spaced as shown in Fig.
 Cont’d
The buckets are made of cast -iron cast -steel, bronze or stainless steel
depending upon the head at the inlet of the turbine. The water jet strikes the
bucket on the splitter of the bucket and gets deflected through ( α) 160 ͦ -170 ͦ .

(iii) Casing:
• It is made of cast -iron or fabricated steel plates. The main function of the
casing is to prevent splashing of water and to discharge the water into tailrace.
 Cont’d
(iv) Breaking jet:

• Even after the amount of water striking the buckets is completely

stopped, the runner goes on rotating for a very long time due to
inertia. To stop the runner in a short time, a small nozzle is
provided which directs the jet of water on the back of bucket with
which the rotation of the runner is reversed. This jet is called as
breaking jet.
 Cont’d

Three - D Picture of a jet striking the splitter and getting split in to two parts
and deviating.
 Cont’d

Velocity triangles for the jet striking the bucket

 Cont’d
From the impulse-momentum theorem, the force with which the
jet strikes the bucket along the direction of vane is given by
Fx = rate of change of momentum of the jet along the direction
of vane motion
Fx = (Mass of water / second) x change in velocity along the x
direction
 Cont’d
• Where V1 is absolute velocity water jet
• Vr1 and Vr2 are the velocities of the jet relative to the bucket at its
inlet and outlet
• U1 absolute linear velocity
• ρ is density water

• a is area of the jet

 Cont’d
Work done per second by the jet on the vane is given by the product of Force
exerted on the vane and the distance moved by the vane in one Second.
Cont’d
Cont’d
 Cont’d

From the above it can be seen that more the value of cos , more will be the
efficiency. Form maximum efficiency, the value of cos  should be 1 and the
value of  should be 0 ͦ . This condition makes the jet to completely deviate
by 180 ͦ and this, forces the jet striking the bucket to strike the successive
bucket on the back of it acting like a breaking jet. Hence to avoid this
situation, at least a small angle of  =5 ͦ should be provided.
 Losses and Efficiencies of Hydraulic Turbines
• Losses
Various types of losses that occur in a power plant are given below:
(a) Head loss in the penstock: This is the friction loss in the pipe of a
penstock.
(b) Head loss in the nozzle: In case of impulse turbines, there is head loss
due to nozzle friction.
(c) Hydraulic losses: In case of impulse turbines, these losses occur due to
blade friction, eddy formation and kinetic energy of the leaving water. In a
reaction turbine, apart from above losses, losses due to friction in the draft
tube and disc friction also occur.
 Cont’d
(d) Leakage losses: In case of impulse turbines, whole of the water may not
be striking the buckets and therefore some of the water power may go
waste. In a reaction turbine, some of the water may be passing through
the clearance between the casing and the runner without striking the
blades and thus not doing any work. These losses are called leakage losses.
(e) Mechanical losses: The power produced by the runner is not available
as useful work of the shaft because some power may be lost in bearing
friction as mechanical losses.
f) Generator losses: Due to generator loss, power produced by the
generator is still lesser than the power obtained at the shaft output.
 Cont’d
• Efficiencies
Various types of efficiencies are defined as under:
(a) Hydraulic efficiency: It is the ratio of the power developed by the
runner to the actual power supplied by water to the runner. It takes into
account the hydraulic losses occurring in the turbine
ηh = Runner output / Actual power supplied to runner
= Runner output / (ρQgH)
Where, Q = Quantity of water actually striking the runner blades
H = Net head available at the turbine inlet
 Cont’d
(b) Volumetric efficiency: It is the ratio of the actual quantity of water
striking the runner blades to the quantity supplied to the turbine. It takes
into account the volumetric losses.
Let ∆Q = Quantity of water leaking or not striking the runner blades
ηv = Q / (Q+ ∆Q)
(c) Mechanical efficiency: The ratio of the shaft output to the runner
output is called the mechanical efficiency and it accounts for the
mechanical losses.
ηm = Shaft output / Runner output
 Cont’d
(d) Overall efficiency: Ratio of shaft output to the net power available at the
turbine inlet gives overall efficiency of the turbine
η0 = Shaft output / Net power available
Shaft.output
o 
 (Q  Q ) gH

Shaft .output Runner .output Q

o   
Runner .output QgH  Q  Q 

 o   m  h  v