CHAPTER-1 HYDRAULIC TURBINES INTRODUCTION Hydraulic (or water) turbines are the machines which use the energy

of water (hydro-power) and convert it into mechanical energy. As such these may be considered as hydraulic motors or prime movers. The mechanical energy developed by a turbine is used in running an electric generator which is directly coupled to the shaft of the turbine. The electric generator thus develops electric power, which is known as hydro-electric power. Since the generation of hydroelectric power is relatively cheaper than the power generated by other sources such as coal, oil, etc., now-a-days a number of hydro-electric and multipurpose projects has- been undertaken in our country in order to harness more and more power from the available water power potential. The idea of utilizing hydraulic energy to develop mechanical energy has been in existence for more than 2000 years. In the earlier days of water-power development, water wheels made of wood, were widely applied which used either the energy of falling water (i.e., potential energy) or the kinetic energy of the flowing stream of water. One of the types of water wheels formerly used was the overshot wheel. I t consisted of a series of buckets attached to the periphery of a wheel,

the diameter of which was equal to the available head. Water was permitted to enter the buckets at the top, and the unbalance created by the weight of the water caused the wheel to rotate. The buckets were designed to empty themselves when they reached the bottom of the wheel. The overshot wheel, when properly designed, had very good efficiency, but it could not be built to handle large quantity of water. Another type of water wheel formerly used was the undershot' whed, which used the kinetic energy of the water. An earlier type of undershot wheel comisted of a series of a straight blades attached to a periphery of a wheel and so placed that a swiftly moving stream of water used to strike the blades on the underside of the wheel. The efficiency of this type of wheel was low. As such an improvement on the straight blade type of undershot wheel. was suggested by Poncelet,. who inatead of straight blades designed curved blades so that water strikes the blades of the wheel, practically without shock. This type of wheels were called Poncelet wheels. However, these water wheels utilized small heads and were capable of producing small powers. Moreover, these wheels had a low efficiency and they used to run very slowly and hence these can. not be directly coupled to the modern fast running electric generators for the purpose of power generation. As such the water wheels have been completely replaced by the modern type of

hydraulic (or water) turbines, which may operate under any head and practically any desired speed thereby enabling the generator to be coupled directly. In general a water turbine consists of a wheel called runner (or rotor) having a number of specially designed vane or blades or buckets. The water possessing a .large amount of hydraulic energy when strikes the runner, it does work on the runner and causes it to rotate. The mechanical energy so developed is shpplied to the generator coupled to the runner, which then generates electrical energy.

CHAPTER -2 ELEMENTS OF' HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT One of the essential requirements for the hydroelectric power generation is the availability of a continuous source of water with a large amount of hydraulic energy. Such a source of water may be made available if a natural lake or a reservoir may be found at a higher elevation or an artificial reservoir to be formed by constructing a dam across a river. Fig. shows a general layout of a hydroelectric power plant, in which an artificial storage reservoir formed by constructing a dam has been shown. The water surface in the storage reservoir is known as head, rau levet or simply head..race. Water from the storage reservoir is carried through penstockes or canals to the power house. Penstocks are the pipes of large diameter, usually made of steel, wood or reinforced concrete, which carry water under pressure from the storage reservoir to the turbine. In some installations smaller reservoirs known as forebays are also provided. A forebay is essentially a storage reservoir at the head of the penstocks. The purpose of a forebay is to temporarily store water when it is not required by the turbine and supply the same when required. Where the power house is located just at the base of the dam no fore bays are required to be provided since the reservoir itself serves the same purpose. However, if the power house is situated

away from the storage reservoir, then a forebay may be provided. In that case water from the reservoir is first led into forebay which in turn distributes it to penstocks through which it is supplied to the turbines. Furthermore, where the power house is located at the end of a canal, a forebay may be provided by enlarging the canal just ahead of the power house.

Fig. General layout of a hydroelectric power plant

The water after passing through the turbines is discharged to the tail race. The tail race is the channel which carries water (known as tail water) away from the power house after it has passed through the turbine. It may be a natural stream channel or a specially excavated channel entering the natural stream at some point

downstream from the power house. The water surface in the tail race channel is known as tail race level or simply tail race. CHAPTER-3 HEADS AND EFFICIENNCIES OF HYDRAULIC TURBINES (a) Heads. The head acting on a turbine may be defined in two ways as follows: Gross head is defined as the difference between the head race-1evel and the tail race level when no water is flowing. As such the gross head is often termed as static head or total head and it may be represented by H 1 as shown in Fig. Net or effective head is the head available at the entrance to the turbine. It is obtained by subtracting from gross head all the losses of head that may occur as water flows from the head race to the entrance of the turbine. The losses of head are mainly due to friction occurring in penstocks, canals etc. Thus if H represents the net head and h, is the total loss of head between the head race and entrance of the turbine then.

For an impulse turbine as shown in Fig :- the net head is equal the difference between (1) the pressure head at the entrance to the nozzle plus the velocity head in

the penstock at this point plus the elevation of this point above the assumed datum and (2) the elevation of the tail water. Thus

Hydro-electric power plants are usually classified according to the heads under which they work as high head, medium head and low head plants. High head plants are those which are working under heads more than about 250 m; while low head plants are those which are working under heads less than about 60 m, and medium head plants are those which are working under heads ranging from 60 m to 250 m.

(b) Efficiencies. The various energy (or head) losses that' may occur in a hydroelectric power plant with reaction and impulse turbine units are shown in Fig. Accordingly the various efficiencies of the turbines may be expressed as follows:

(i)

Hydrailic Efficiency. The hydraulic efficiency of the turbine is the ratio of the power developed by the runner horse power, '.W.H.P.) to the net power supplied by the water at the .entrance to the turbine. These two powers differ by the amount of .the hydraulic losses. That is

where Q is the quantity of water actually striking the runner and

Q is

the quantity of water' that is discharged directly to the tail race without striking the turbine runner. However, if becomes Q is negligibly small, equation

(ii)

Mechanical efficiency The mechanical efficiency of the turbine is the ratio of the power obtained from the shaft of the turbine (i.e., shaft or bralce horse power, S.H.P. or B H.P.) to the power developed by the runner (i.e., W.H.P.). These two powers differ by the amount of the mechanical losses viz., bearing friction .etc. That is

(iii)

Volumetric efficiency The volumetric efficiency is "the ratio of the quantity of water actually striking the runner and the quantity of water supplied to the turbine. These two quantities .differ by the amount of water slips directly to the tail race without striking the runner. That is .

(iv) Overall efficiency The overall efficiency of the .turbine is the ratio of the power available at the turbine shaft to the :power supplied by the water at entrance to the turbine. That is

CHAPTER-4 CLASSIFICATION OF TURBINES Hydraulic turbines may be classified according to several considerations as indicated below. According to their hydraulic action the turbines may be classified as impulse turbines and reaction turbines. In an impulse turbine, all the available energy of water is converted into kinetic energy or velocity head by passing it through a contracting nozzle provided at the end of the penstock. The water coming out of the nozzle is. formed. into a free jet which impinges on a series of buckets of the runner thus causing it to revolve. The runner revolves freely in air. The. water is in contact with only a part of the runner at a time, and throughout its action on the runner and in its subsequent flow to the tail race, the water is at atmospheric pressure. A casing is however provided on the runner to prevent splashing and to guide the water discharged from the buckets to the tail race. Some of the impulse. turbines are Pelton wheel, Turgo-impulse wheel, Girard turbine; Banki turbine, Jonval turbine etc. Out of these turbines only Pelton. wheel is predominantly used at present, which has been described' latter.

In a Tangential flow turbine the water flows along the tangent to the path of rotation of the runner. Pelton wheel is a tangential flow turbine.

In a radial flow turbine the water flows along the radial direction and remains wholly or mainly in the plane normal to the axis of" rotation, as it passes through the runner. A radial flow turbine may be either inward radial flow type or outward radial flow type. In an inward radial flow turbine the water enters at the outer circumference and flows radially inwards towards the centre of the runner. Old Francis turbine, Thomson turbine, Girard radial flow turbine Etc., are some of the examples of inward radial flow turbine. In an ont.; ward radial flow turbine water enters at the centre and flows radially outwards towards the outer periphery of the runner. Fourneyron turbine is an example of outward radial flow turbine. In an axial flow turbine the flow of water through the runner is wholly or mainly along the direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the runner. Jonval turbine, Girard axial flow turbine, Pro. pener turbine, Kaplan turbine etc., are some of the examples of axial flow turbine. In mixed flow turbine, water enters tile runner at the outer periphery in the radial direction and leaves it at the centre in the direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the runner. Modern Francis turbine is an example of the mixed flow type turbine.

On the basis of the head and the quantity of water required, the turbines may be classified as (i) high head turbine, (ii) medium head turbine, and (iii) low head turbine. High head turbines are those which are capable of working under very high heads ranging from several hundred metres to few thousand metres. These turbines thus require relatively less quantity of water. In general impulse turbines are high head turbines. In particular Pelton wheel has so far been used under a highest head or about 1770 m (5800 ft.) Medium head turbines are those which are capable of working under medium heads ranging from about 60 m to 250 m. These turbines require relatively large quantity of water. Modern Francis turbines may be classified as medium head turbine. Low head turbines are those which are capable of working under the heads less than 60 m. These turbines thus require a large quantity of water. Kaplan and other propener turbines may be classified as low head turbines. The turbines may also be classified according to their specific' speed. The specific speed of a turbine is the speed of a geometrical1y similar turbine that would develop one horse power (metric) when working under a head of one metre. On the basis of the specific speed the various turbines may be considered in the following three groups:

(i) Specific speed varying from 10 to 35-Pelton wheels with single jet and upto 50 for double jet. (ii) Specific speed varying from 60 to 400-Francis turbines (iii) Specific speed varying from 300 to 1000-Kaplan and other propeller turbines. The different types of turbines noted above may be disposed With e. her vertical or horizontal shafts.

CHAPTER-5 PELTON WHEEL

This is the only impulse type of hydraulic turbine now in common use. It is named after Lester A. Pelton (1829-1908), the American engineer who contributed much to its development in about 1330. It is well suited for operating under high heads. Fig. shows the elements of a typical Pelton wheel installation. The runner consists of a circular disc with a number of buckets evenly spaced round its periphery. The buckets have a shape of a double semi-ellipsoidal cups. Each bucket is divided into two symmetrical parts by a sharp edged .ridge known as splitter. One or more nozzles are mounted so that each directs a jet along a tangent to the circle through the centers of the buckets called the pitch circle. The jet of water impinges on the splitter, which divides the jet into two equal portions, each of which after flowing round the smooth inner surface of the bucket leaves it at its outer edge. The buckets are so shaped that the angle at the outlet tip varies from 10 to 20 (usualy kept as 15) so that the jet of water gets deflected through 1600

to 170. The advantage of having a double cup shaped buckets is that the axial thrusts neutralise each other, being Equal and opposite, and hence the bearings Supporting the wheel shaft are not subjected to any axial or end thrust. The back of the bucket is so shaped that as it swings downward into the jet no water is wasted by splashing. Further at the lower lip of the bucket a notch is cut which prevents the jet striking the preceding bucket being intercepted by the next bucket very soon, and it also avoids the deflection of water towards the centre of the wheel as the bucket first meets the jet. For low heads the buckets are made of cast iron, but for higher heads they are made of cast steel, bronze or stainless steel. In order to control the quantity of water striking the runner, the nozzle fitted at the end of the penstock is provided with a spear or needle having a streamlined head which is fixed to the end of a rod as shown in Fig.. The spar may be operated either by a hand wheel (Fig, in case of very small units 01' automatically by a governor (described later) in case of almost all the bigger unitso 'When the shaft of the Pelton wheel is horizontal then not more than two jets are etc. But if the wheel is mounted on a vertical shaft a larger number of jets (upto six) is possible.

A casing made of cast iron or fabricated steel plates is usually provided for a Pelton wheel as shown in Fig. 21'3. It has no hydraulic function to perform, It is provided only to prevent splashing of water, to lead water to the tail race and also to act as a safe guard against accidents. Larger Pelton wheels are usually equipped with a small brake ,nozzle which when opened directs a jet of water on the back of the buckets, thereby bringing the wheel quickly to rest after it is shut ,down, (as otherwise it would go on revolving by inertia for a .considerable timer.