FARWESTERN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
University Central Campus
Civil Engineering Department
Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur

A Practical Report on
Study of Different Types of Turbines

Submitted By: Submitted tto:

Name: Nabin Prasad Joshi Asst. Prof. Janardan Joshi
Semester – VII Civil Engineering Department
Symbol No. : 7970026 School of Engineering, FWU

Submitted On: 2079/10/22

1. Introduction to Turbine
Turbines are the devices that are used to convert hydraulic energy i.e potential or kinetic
or pressure or combination of any two or more energies into mechanical energy. Flowing
water is used to rotate the runner of turbine, giving it angular rotation. Then it is connected
to generator to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy.

2. Types of Turbines
Turbines are classified in different basis, some of them are as follows:
A. According to the type of energy at inlet:
i) Impulse turbine or velocity turbine
 They convert kinetic energy of flowing water to mechanical energy.
 The water jet strikes the buckets of the turbine runner and produce mechanical
energy as a result the runner rotate in angular speed.
 No pressure drop (difference) across the turbine.
 Only the buckets in front of jet are in action.
 Such turbines are better for high head hydro-electric plants.
 Pelton and Turgo turbine are impulse turbine.

B. According to the direction of flow through the runner:

i) Tangential flow turbine:- The flow is tangential after it rotate the runner. It is generally
in Pelton and Turgo turbines. The flow of water after the runner is tangential through the
circumference.
ii) Radial flow turbine: The flow through radial direction is radial flow turbine . It is
generally in Francis turbine.
iii) Axial flow turbine: When the flow enters through radial direction and exits through
axis of rotation such turbine is axial flow turbine. It is generally in Propeller or Kaplan
turbines.
iv) Mixed flow turbine: When the water enters from radial and comes out through axial
direction such are mixed flow turbine. In Francis turbine such flow may be adjusted.

C. According to head at inlet of turbine:

i) Low head turbine (Head less than 30 m). e.g Kaplan, Bulb turbine
ii) Medium head (30 to 150 m). e.g. Francis
iii) High head (Head greater than 150m ) e.g. Pelton.

D. According to specific speed of turbine : Specific speed (Ns) is that rotational speed of
turbine at which it produce one horse power energy under 1 m head for given rate of flow.
i) Low specific speed turbine (Ns < 50rpm), Pelton
ii) Medium specific speed turbine ( 50<Ns250), Kaplan
iii)High Specific speed turbine (Ns>250rpm)

Among these types we observed Francis and Pelton turbine in laboratory and also operated
them. Special features of these turbines are described below:

2.1 Pelton Turbine

Pelton turbines are the impulse turbine that converts the hydraulic energy (kinetic energy)
into mechanical energy of turbine runner. The flow of water is in tangential direction. The
circular disk of runner has large number of buckets on its surface, water jet strike in
tangential direction to give the runner angular speed. Pelton turbines are suitable for high

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head and low discharge plants. Generally for head more than 150m it is preferred to use
pelton turbine.
Main components of a Pelton turbine are:
a) Nozzle.
b) Runner and buckets.
c) Casing
d) Breaking jet

Fig 2.1.1: Hz Axis Pelton Turbine seen in laboratory

Fig 2.1.2: Parts of Pelton Turbine

Source: (https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org)
a.Nozzle
The water from source is transferred through penstock to which end a nozzle is provided.
Using this nozzle the high speed water jet can be formed. To control the water jet from
nozzle, a movable needle spear is arranged inside the nozzle. The main function of nozzle is
to direct the jet on buckets.

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 Fig 2.1.3: Nozzle and flow arrangement
Source: (https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org)

The spear will move backward and forward in axial direction. When it is moved forward
the flow will reduce or stopped and when it is moved backward the flow will increase.

b. Runner with Bucket

Runner consists of a circular disc. On its periphery a numbers of buckets are evenly
spaced and fixed. Each bucket has two hemispherical cups, symmetrically divided by the
splitter. The buckets are shaped such that the jet gets deflected at angle of 100-170
degrees. The buckets are made of cast iron, bronze or stainless steel.

Fig 2.1.4: Runner and Buckets of Pelton Wheel

Source: (https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org)

c. Casing
It is closed box around the runner to prevent the splashing of water after hitting the bucket.
It does not have any hydraulic function. After casing the water falls freely to tail water
without any pressure. The inside pressure of casing is atmospheric pressure.

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 Fig 2.1.5: Pelton Turbine Model with Casing
Source: (https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org)

d. Breaking Jet
Braking jet is used to stop the running wheel when it is not working. This situation arises
when the nozzle inlet is closed with the help of spear then the water jet is stopped on the
buckets. But Due to inertia, the runner will not stop revolving even after complete closure
of inlet nozzle. To stop this, a brake nozzle is provided as shown in figure 2. The brake
nozzle directs the jet of water on the back of buckets to stop the wheel. The jet directed by
brake nozzle is called braking jet.

The working of Pelton turbine is as follows:

 The water is transferred from the high head source through a long conduit called
Penstock.
 Nozzle arrangement at the end of penstock helps the water to accelerate and it
flows out as a high speed jet with high velocity and discharge at atmospheric
pressure.
 The jet will hit the splitter of the buckets which will distribute the jet into two
halves of bucket and the wheel starts revolving.
 The kinetic energy of the jet is reduced when it hits the bucket and also due to
spherical shape of buckets the directed jet will change its direction and takes U-
turn and falls into tail race.
 In general, the inlet angle of jet is in between 1o to 3o, after hitting the buckets the
deflected jet angle is in between 165o to 170o.
 The water collected in tail race should not submerge the Pelton wheel in any case.
 To generate more power, two Pelton wheels can be arranged to a single shaft or two
water jets can be directed at a time to a single Pelton wheel.

Pelton turbine is of horizontal axis and vertical axis pelton turbine. In horizontal axis
runner is mounted about horizontal axis and in vertical axis turbine runner is mounted
about vertical axis. Horizontal Pelton turbine can be designed with either one runner or
two runners mounted on the same shaft, with water supplied to each runner by one up to
three nozzles. Vertical Pelton turbine can be equipped with four to six jet nozzles and can

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successfully substitute a specifically slower Francis turbine. Among them horizontal axis
pelton turbine is observed in laboratory.

2.2 Francis Turbine

They are reaction turbines. They convert the mostly the pressure energy and a little part of
kinetic energy of flowing water into mechanical energy. Generally Francis turbine are
mixed flow type, the water enters the runner of turbine in radial direction through guide
vanes and exit from turbine in axial direction. They are appropriate for medium head and
medium discharge.
The main components of a Francis turbine are:
a) Casing
b) Guide mechanism
c) Runner
d) Draft tube

Fig 2.2.1: Hz and Vertical axis Francis Turbine

Fig 2.2.2: Parts of Francis Turbine

Source: (https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org)

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a. Casing Pipe
It is closed spiral pipe connected to penstock, convey water and supply to guide vanes
from where it rotates the runner. The cross-sectional area of spiral casing varies along its
flow direction so that velocity of flow remains same throughout the guiding vanes. It is
also called scroll casing.

b. Guiding Mechanism
It consists of stationary circular wheel all around the runner. The flowing water strikes on
its surface and enters the runner. These guide vanes allow water to flow smoothly toward
the vane of runner.

Fig 2.2.4: Stay Vanes and Guide Vanes of Francis Turbine.

Source:( https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org)

c. Runner
It is a circular wheel on which a series of radial curved vanes are fixed. A runner consists
numbers of curved vanes depending runners diameter. Generally their numbers is kept 12-
22 depending upon its specific speed. The performance and efficiency of the turbine is
dependent on the design of the runner blades. In a Francis turbine, runner blades are
divided into 2 parts. The lower half is made in the shape of small bucket so that it uses the
impulse action of water to rotate the turbine. The upper part of the blades uses the reaction
force of water flowing through it. These two forces together make the runner to rotate .

d. Draft Tube
In Francis turbine, the flow of water from penstock to the runner flow occurs through
closed conduit i.e pressure flow. The pressure at inlet is more than the pressure at outlet.
The pressure at outlet is generally less than atmospheric pressure. So it cannot be directly
discharged to tail race of the plant. A tube or pipe of gradually increasing area is attached
to exit from turbine whose one end connected to turbine and other to tail race is called
Draft Tube. The end of draft tube should always submerged in tail race water level. Its
adjustment in Francis turbine is known as setting of turbine.

In laboratory we have observed both horizontal as well as vertical axis Francis turbine as
shown in figure 2.2.1 above.

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Applications of Francis Turbine:

 Francis turbine is the most widely used turbine in hydro-power plants to generate
electricity.
 Mixed flow turbine is also used in irrigation water pumping sets to pump water from
ground for irrigation.
 It is efficient over a wide range of water head and flow rate.
 It is most efficient hydro-turbine we have till date.

3. Conclusion and Result: In laboratory both pelton and Francis turbine were observed
and their components, selection criteria and working were studied.