Pelton Turbine

Pelton turbines/wheels are suitable for power extraction, when water energy is available at high head and low flow rate. In this video we will go through working principle and design aspects of Pelton turbine.There are two types of turbines, reaction and the impulse, the difference being the manner of h ad conversion. In the reaction turbine, the fluid fills the blade passages, and the head change or pressure drop occurs within the runner. An impulse turbine first converts the water head through a nozzle into a high-velocity jet, which then strikes the buckets at one position as they pass by. The runner passages are not fully filled, and the jet flow past the buckets is essentially at constant pressure. Impulse turbines are ideally suited for high head and relatively low power. The Pelton turbine used in this experiment is an impulse turbine. The Pelton turbine consists of three basic components as shown in Figure 1: a stationary inlet nozzle, a runner and a casing. The runner consists of multiple buckets mounted on a rotating wheel. The jet strikes the buckets and imparts momentum. The buckets are shaped in a manner to divide the flow in half and turn its relative velocity vector nearly 180. The primary feature of the impulse turbine is the power production as the jet is deflected by the moving buckets. Assuming that the speed of the exiting jet is zero (all of the kinetic energy of the jet is expended in driving the buckets), negligible head loss at the nozzle and at the impact with the buckets (assuming that the entire available head is converted into jet velocity Pelton Turbine Basic Working Principle Working of Pelton turbine is simple. When high speed water jet injected through a nozzle hits buckets of Pelton wheel; it induces an impulsive force. This force makes the turbine rotate. The rotating shaft runs a generator and produces electricity.

In short, Pelton turbine transforms kinetic energy of water jet to rotational energy. Governing in Pelton Wheel Demand of power may fluctuate over time. A governing mechanism, which controls position of spear head meets this requirement. With lowering power demand, spear head at water inlet nozzle is moved in, so that water flow rate is reduced. If power demand increases, spear head is moved out this will increase flow rate. Following figure illustrates this mechanism. First position of spear head produces low flow rate, while second position produces high flow rate.

So in Pelton turbine synchronization between power demand and power supply is met by controlling the water flow rate. The same technique is used in other types hydroelectric turbines. Such governing in turn will make sure that, turbine rotates at a constant specified RPM, which conforms to the power supply frequency. So this mechanism acts as a speed governing mechanism of Pelton wheel. Number of Buckets in Pelton Wheel One of the most important parameter of Pelton turbine design is number of buckets on the disk. If number of buckets is inadequate, this will result in loss in water jet. With lowering number of buckets at some point of operation, complete water jet might be lost. This will decrease efficiency of Pelton turbine drastically. So there should be an appropriate number of buckets, which will make sure that no water is lost.

bucket interaction Pelton Bucket - Design & Features Most vital component of Pelton wheel is its bucket. Buckets are casted as single solid piece, in order to avoid fatigue failure.

Water jet is split into 2 equal components with help of a splitter. The special shape of bucket makes the jet turn almost 180 degree. This produces an impulsive force on bucket. Force so

produced can easily be derived from Newtons 2nd law of motion. Blade outlet angle close to 180 degree is usually used in order to maximize impulsive force. A cut is provided on bottom portion of buckets. This makes sure that water jet will not get interfered by other incoming buckets. Pelton An Impulse Turbine Since the water jet is always open to atmosphere, inlet and exit pressure of water jet will be same and will be same as atmospheric pressure. However absolute velocity of fluid will have huge drop from inlet to exit of bucket. This kinetic energy drop is the maximum energy the bucket can absorb. So it is clear that Pelton turbine gains mechanical energy purely due to change in kinetic energy of jet, not due to pressure energy change. Which means Pelton turbine is a pure impulse machine.

Impulse force produced by water jet is high when jet is having high velocity. Water stored at high altitude can easily produce high jet velocity. This is the reason why Pelton turbine is most suitable for operation, when water is stored at high altitude. You can easily understand why there is a nozzle fitted at water jet injection portion. Nozzle will increase velocity of jet further, thus will aid in effective production of impulse force. Extracting Maximum Power from Water Jet Pelton turbine design is always aimed at extracting maximum power from water jet, or maximizing efficiency. Power extracted by the bucket, P is product of jet impulse force and bucket velocity.

So power extraction is maximum when product of impulsive force and bucket velocity is maximum. Let's consider 2 different

operating conditions.

Buckets are Held Stationary If Pelton wheel buckets are held stationary, there will be a huge impulse force produced. But power extraction will be zero since buckets are not moving.

Bucket Speed Same as Jest Speed If buckets are moving with same speed of jet, water jet won't be able to hit the bucket. This will lead to zero impulse force. Again power extraction will be zero.

velocity is important in power extraction from fluid In short, power extraction is zero both at zero bucket speed and when bucket speed is same as jet speed. So with respect to jet to bucket speed ratio, power extraction will vary with as shown below.

It is clear from above graph that optimum power extraction happens in between. It can be shown using Euler's turbo machinery equation that maximum power extraction happens when bucket speed is half the jet velocity. So it is always desirable to operate Pelton wheel at this condition. Pelton turbines can give efficiency as high as 90 %, at optimum working conditions.