UTBM_EE _ER5 4_P14

TP no. 4: Hydropower
ER54 – Spring 2023
Walid EL MALKI, Ludovic BOJDA, Energy 04

Abstract— This document is about a lab experiment on a

hydropower system that generates electricity from a Pelton
turbine. The objective of this study is to analyze what could be the
best configuration to produce energy while interacting with the
water pressure and the volumetric flow. The generator will be
connected to the grid in order to simulate real production
conditions.

Keywords— Pelton, Fluid mechanics, generator, Power grid,

hydropower, pressure

I. INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1)
Hydropower is a renewable source of energy that harnesses
the power of flowing water to generate electricity. The principle
behind hydropower is to convert the kinetic energy that
materializes into pressured water flowing into mechanical
energy, which is then converted into electrical energy.
Figure 1 : Photography of hydropower laboratory bench
Using a peloton turbine, the goal of this experiment is to
determine from a pressured water flow what is the best
configuration to get the maximum from this turbine. Our III. LABORATORY WORK
reasoning will be based on multiple measurements in the The basic principle of a Pelton turbine is to convert potential
experiment. energy accumulated in the water into kinetic energy with the
rotation of the turbine.
II. EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT
The hydraulic bench follows the following process: by a A. Theoretical elements
motor, the water is pumped and put into pressure, then the water Kinetic energy is defined by the following equation: 𝐸𝑐 =
is released as a spurt on the pelting turbine which is connected 1/2. 𝑚. 𝑣 2
to the synchronous motor. The Synchronoscope is used to safely
connect to the electricity grid. And potential energy is characterized by :𝐸𝑝 = 𝑚. 𝑔. ℎ

This equipment enables us to simulate the condition According to a perfect conservation of energy we can
generated inside a dam without the volumetric constraints of the assume that Ec = Ep, then we can demonstrate the following
latter. equation: 𝑚. 𝑔. ℎ = 1/2. 𝑚. 𝑣 2 that we can reformulate by 𝑣 =
√2𝑔ℎ which characterized the velocity.
𝑉
The volumetric flow is 𝑄 =
𝑡

In this experiment, we are going to assume that the water is

considered as incompressible fluid which is close to its real
properties. Therefore, the volumetric flow is maintained in all
the circuits.
𝑉 𝑉1 𝑉2
𝑄= = =
𝑡 𝑡 𝑡
𝑉 𝐴.ℎ
Q is also defined by : 𝑄 = = = 𝐴. 𝑣 ; Ais the section,
𝑡 𝑡
h the difference in height and v the velocity which is a length per
time unit.
The following notations are introduced:
- u: the tangential velocity of the Pelton wheel
Figure 2 : scheme of the system - vi: the velocity of the jet that strikes the turbine

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- vf: the final velocity that the jet has after leaving the Pmax occurs for:
bucket. (𝑑𝑃𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙/𝑑𝑢 ) = 0
These velocities can be considered from two different points 𝑣𝑖=𝑐𝑠𝑡
of
2𝜌𝑄𝑣𝑖 − 4𝜌𝑄𝑢 = 0
view: that of the basket moving at speed u and from an
external So,

point of view. 𝑣𝑖 = 2𝑢
Which means that maximum power is obtained when the
bucket speed is half the speed of the water jet.
From the previous question Pmax is obtained for 𝑢 = 𝑣𝑖/2 .
From question 10:
𝑃𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙 = 2𝜌𝑄(𝑣𝑖 − 𝑢)𝑢
So,
𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2𝜌𝑄 (𝑣𝑖 – 𝑣𝑖/2 ) 𝑣𝑖/2
𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1/2 𝜌𝑄𝑣𝑖²
Figure 3: Water jet velocities from different perspectives From question 1:
If all frictional forces are neglected and all energy in the 𝑣𝑖 = √2𝑔ℎ
incoming jet is transferred to the bucket, then:
So, 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝜌𝑄𝑔ℎ
𝑣𝑓 = 0 ⇒ 2𝑢 = 𝑣𝑖
The theoretical efficiency of a Pelton turbine is:
Which gives us the most efficient gear ratio.
𝜇 = 𝑃𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙/𝑃𝑗𝑒𝑡
The difference in the speed of the water jet as it enters the basket,
With, 𝑃𝑗𝑒𝑡 = 1/2 𝑚̇ 𝑣𝑖² = 1/2 𝜌𝑄𝑣𝑖²
and as it leaves is:
So, 𝜇 = 4(𝑣𝑖 − 𝑢)𝑢/𝑣𝑖²
∆𝑣 = 2𝑣𝑖 − 2𝑢
According to Newton’s Second Law: IV. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
With 𝑚 = 𝜌𝐴𝑑𝑙 and 𝑎 = 𝑑𝑣/𝑑𝑡 For a synchronous motor, the speed of the motor is always
equal to the speed of the magnetic field. So if we want to connect
Moreover 𝑄 = 𝐴𝑣 :
our turbine to the utility grid, then the frequency must be 1500
𝑑𝐹 = 𝜌𝐴 𝑑𝑙/𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑣 = 𝜌𝑄𝑑𝑣 rpm with a number of poles equal to 4.
So, 𝐹 = 𝜌𝑄∆𝑣 = 2𝜌𝑄(𝑣𝑖 − 𝑢) A synchronous motor rotates at the same speed as its supply
voltage. The French utility grid has 400 V of phase to phase
The torque is the distance to the axis multiplied by the force voltage, and 230 V of phase to neutral voltage. The grid
applied, so: frequency is 50 Hz.
𝑇=𝐹 D/2= 𝐷𝜌𝑄(𝑣𝑖 − 𝑢) Determination of the water speed.
The maximum torque occurs when 𝑢 = 0: We need to be able to confirm our thoric results by
finding the speed of the water that is not recorded. We can
𝑇 = 𝜌𝑄𝑣𝑖 deduct from the expression of the flow: Q=A.v . However, this
The minimum torque occurs when 𝑢 = 𝑣𝑖 : is possible by finding the expression of the cross-section area
Aj. The needle progresses at a stroke 23 mm long and the
𝑇=0 diameter Ajmax is 19 mm with the valve fully open. The conic
For a given speed vi, the torque is a linear function of u. The needle will increasingly reduce this surface maximum
depending on the number of turns done on the valve.
results of the previous questions concerning the maximum
and minimum torque are found.
So, we express the radius by:
If the motion is uniform, the following relationship applies:
𝑥 𝛼
𝑢 = 𝜔 ∗ 𝐷/2 ⇒ 𝜔 = 2𝑢/𝐷 𝑟 = 23 ⋅ ⋅ tan ( ) with N the maximum of turn on the
𝑁 2

So, valve (N=15) and x the number on turn done (<14) and

𝑃𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙 = 𝑇𝜔 = 2𝜌𝑄(𝑣𝑖 − 𝑢)𝑢

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alpha=45° maximum. As for the reduction of power, the principle is the

same, a more important flow is required to get the max
output of smaller pressure. Power peaks are reached on close
to 15 m/s water speed.
Now, we are going to calculate the tangential speed u of
the turbine.
2𝜋
𝑢 = 𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑛 ⋅ 𝑟𝑃𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙 = 1500 ⋅ 0.055 ⋅
60
Figure 4 : drawing of the needle moving
𝑢 = 8.64 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑠 −1
From it we have the expression of 𝐴𝑗 : According to the graph above the maximum power is
𝐴𝑗 = 𝜋 ⋅ (𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 )2 − 𝜋 ⋅ 𝑟 2 approximately at 15 m/s, especially for pressure from 1.25 to
𝑥 𝛼 2 1.75 bar. Therefore, we rediscover roughly the equation
𝐴𝑗 = 𝜋 ⋅ (𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 )2 − 𝜋 ⋅ (23 ⋅ ⋅ tan ( )) found in theoretical part:
𝑁 2
This expression enables us to link the power from the speed of 1
the water in the following results. 𝑢= ⋅𝑣
2 𝑖
Yield depending on the water speed
with different pomp pressure
1,2
1
1 bar
0,8
yield 0,6 1,25 bar
0,4 1.5 bar
0,2
1.75 bar
0
0 20 40 2 bar

Water speed (m/s)

Figure 5: Power Depending on closure of Pelton noodle with Figure 7: efficiency depending on the water speed
different pressure On this graph has been represented the different efficient
of all our measurements. For each different pressure the best
efficient is recorded on the speed the closest of 15 m/s.
Consequentially, to have the best set up for this precisely
Pelton wheel the water speed must be close to 15 m/s to limit
the losses of the system. We have verified that the efficiency
of the turbine remains the same despite different pressure as
determined in the theoretical part.

V. LABORATORY WORK
In this part, we've taken some measurements to study the
Pelton turbine. We're going to record for different values of
pressure and for different positions of the needle the power
generated by the turbine.
To deduce its efficiency and observe what are the ideal
conditions to produce energy with this turbine and when we
can connect it to the utility grid.
Figure 6: Power Depending on water speed with different pressure First of all, we familiarized ourselves with the equipment
in particular the interface that allowed us to take these
On these graphs, we observe that from 8 to 10 turns, the measurements and configuration panel that allowed us to
power output is reduced, because despite an increase in the change pressure values. Then we started programing system.
speed the water, the flow is too small to carry on an important
rotation. The power output is best when the pressure is at 2 Once the system was up and running, we could start
bar, it is normal because the pressure simulates the potential taking readings of the generated power values without
energy of the water in a classic dam. With the speed of 20 changing the pressure but by changing the position of the
m/s, the power output is maximum at 250 W. For different needle. We moved the needle in number of revolutions and
pressures the speed is progressively slower to reach the did not exceed 11 revolutions. As a result, y is defined as the
number of rounds completed. Now we would like to know

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how much air from the water surface comes out after each equipment and performing tests by adjusting either the
round is completed. injector position or the pressure. This aided in confirming the
theoretical model and revealing that the relationship between
The injector position was altered for different fixed power produced and rotation speed is not linear. Future
pressure values. The power was then recorded for each of research could investigate and compare the performance and
these positions, and the results were plotted on a graph. effectiveness of other turbine models such as the propeller
turbine, the crossflow turbine.
VII. CONCLUSION
References
In conclusion, the theoretical analysis helped to [1] D. PAIRE, “ER54 Laboratories booklet”.
comprehend the functionality of the Pelton turbine and to [2] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbine_Pelton
emphasize the connections between flow, power, and [3] D. PAIRE, “ER54 Lecture”.
velocity. The experimental phase began with handling the