ME LABORATORY 3

HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT 7. Draft tube

8. Tailrace

Turbines that use water as the working fluid for

the production of power are known as hydraulic
turbines.

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDRAULIC
TURBINES:
1. Impulse turbines
2. Reaction turbines

●​ This classification is based on the

interaction of fluid with turbine blades.
●​ However, the turbines can further be
classified on the basis of head available
at the inlet, specific speed, and
according to flow direction. there are
three main turbines named after their
inventors, namely, Pelton, Francis, and
Kaplan.

The turbines can be classified under

different headings:
1. Action of water (Impulse or Reaction)
2. Direction of flow
3. Available Head
a. High Head (H>300m)
b. Medium Head (50m<H<300m)
c. Low Head (H<50m)
4. Specific Speed

WATER TURBINES

The major components of a hydroelectric

plant are as follows:
1. Forebay
2. Intake structure
3. Penstock
4. Surge chamber
5. Hydraulic turbines
6. Power house
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4. Generator efficiency (𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑛) - the ratio of the

electrical power produced by the generator to
mechanical power available at turbine–generator
shaft
5. Overall efficiency (𝑒𝑜) - is the efficiency of
whole turbine-generator system which can be
obtained by dividing the power output of
generator to the hydraulic power input to turbine
6. Volumetric efficiency (𝑒𝑣) - is defined as the
ratio of actual discharge to the total discharge

HEADS AND EFFICIENCIES:

Turbine efficiencies
1. Hydraulic efficiency (𝑒ℎ) - is defined as the
ratio of power developed by the turbine runner to
power available at turbine inlet
2. Turbine efficiency (𝑒𝑡) − is defined as the
ratio of turbine power output to the water power
output
3. Mechanical efficiency (𝑒𝑚) - is the ratio of
power available at the shaft to the power
developed by the runner
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PELTON TURBINE - The Pelton turbine or

Pelton wheel is a tangential flow impulse turbine.
The water strikes the bucket along the tangent
of the runner. Pelton turbine is a high head and
low discharge impulse turbine. Pelton turbine
works on the principle conversion of available
hydraulic energy first into kinetic energy of the
jet and then into mechanical energy of the
rotating wheel or runner, also known as Pelton
wheel.

GLOSSARY OF HYDROPOWER TERMS

✓Adverse water conditions - water conditions

that limit the production of hydroelectric power,
either because of low water supply or reduced
gross head or both. Sometimes called critical
water conditions
✓Appraisal study - a preliminary feasibility
study made to determine whether a detailed
feasibility study is warranted. Also called a
reconnaissance study.
✓Armature - that part of an electric rotating
machine that includes the main current carrying
winding in which the electromotive force
produced by magnetic flux
ME LABORATORY 3

rotation is induced; it may be rotating or carried by a given hydroelectric plant.

stationary. ✓Hydraulic capacity - the maximum flow which
✓Availability - the percentage of time a plant is a hydroelectric plant can utilize for energy.
available for power production. ✓Rated capacity - the electrical load for which
▪ Average availability (also hydrologic a generator, turbine, transformer, transmission
availability) - the ratio of the average capacity circuit, electrical apparatus, powerplant, or
of a hydroelectric plant in the peak demand power system is rated.
months to its rated capacity. This ratio accounts ✓Capacity/Plant factor- the ratio of the energy
for variations in streamflow and head. that a plant produces to the energy that would
▪ Mechanical availability - the ratio of the be produced if it were operated at full capacity
number of days in total period minus days out of throughout a given period, usually a year.
service due to maintenance and forced outages, ✓Cavitation - the formation of voids within a
to the number of days in the total period. body of moving liquid (or around a body moving
in liquid) when the local pressure is lower than
✓Average annual flow - the rate at which the vapor pressure, and the particles of liquid fail
water flows through a conduit or channel, to adhere to the boundaries of the passageway.
determined by averaging daily measurements of These voids fill with vapor and then collapse,
this rate over the course of a year; normally causing pitting of metal on turbine
expressed in cubic feet per second or cubic blades.
meters per second. ✓Cogeneration - the use of waste heat to drive
✓Average load - the hypothetical constant load turbine generators for electricity generation.
over a specified period of time that would Also, the use of low-pressure exhaust steam
produce the same energy as the actual load from an electric generating plant to heat an
would produce for the same period. industrial process or a space.
✓Average water conditions - precipitation and ✓Cold reserve - reserve generating capacity
runoff conditions which provide water for available for service but not in operation.
hydroelectric power development approximating ✓Critical speed - the angular speed at which a
the average amount and distribution available rotating shaft becomes dynamically unstable
over a long time period, usually the period of with large lateral amplitudes, due to resonance
record. with natural frequencies of lateral vibration of the
✓Axial hydraulic thrust - in single-stage and shaft.
multistage pumps, the summation of unbalanced ✓Critical streamflow - the amount of
impeller forces acting in the axial direction. streamflow available for hydroelectric power
✓Backwater - water level controlled by either a generation during the most adverse streamflow
downstream reservoir, a channel restriction, or a period.
stream confluence that affects the tailwater level ✓Crossflow turbine – a hydraulic machine that
of an upstream plant. converts hydraulic energy to mechanical energy
✓Black start - the startup of a powerplant by allowing water to flow in one side, then out
without an external electrical supply. the other side of a cylindrical turbine runner.
✓Block loading - a generating plant is said to ✓Cycling - powerplant operation to meet the
be block loaded when its output is increased or intermediate portion of the load (9 to 14 hours
decreased in definite steps without regard to per day).
following a particular load shape. A generating ✓Dead storage - the portion of a storage basin
plant carries a block load when its output is or reservoir that cannot be used for temporary
maintained at a fixed level for an extended water storage.
period of time. ✓Dependable capacity - the expected
✓Bulb turbine - an axial flow turbine situated in load-carrying ability of a hydropower plant under
a straight-through water passage. specified conditions
✓Bulkhead gate - a gate installed at the ✓Deriaz turbine - a diagonal-flow turbine with a
entrance of a fluid passage and used to dewater propeller runner whose blades are adjustable
the passage for inspection and maintenance. and the axis of the blades is at an angle with the
Almost always opened or closed under balanced axis of the shaft.
pressure. ✓Design head - the head at which the runner of
✓Equivalent thermal capacity - the amount of a turbine is designed to provide the highest
thermal generating capacity that would carry the efficiency. Measured in feet or meters.
same amount of system peak load as could be
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✓Draft - the withdrawal of water from a by turbulent eddies and moves downstream in
reservoir. an irregular path.
✓Encroachment - the reduction in generating ✓Tailrace - a channel for conducting water
head at a hydroelectric project by a rise in away from a powerplant after it has passed
tailwater elevation resulting from the backwater through it. Sometimes called an afterbay.
effects of a downstream reservoir. ✓Tailwater - water surface downstream of the
✓Fuel displacement energy - electric energy powerhouse.
generated at a hydroelectric plant as a substitute ✓Water hammer - pressure changes in a
for energy which would otherwise have been pressure conduit or penstock that are caused by
generated by a thermal-electric plant. the flow variation with time.
✓Firm energy - the energy generating ability of ✓Vortex – a flow with closed streamlines
a hydropower plant in a specified time period
and under adverse hydrologic conditions.
✓Forced vortex - the rotation of a fluid, moving
as a solid, about an axis where every particle of
the fluid has the same angular velocity.
✓Free vortex - rotation of a fluid where each
particle moves in a circular path with a speed
varying inversely as the distance from the
center.
✓Governor - the device which measures and
regulates turbine speed by controlling wicket
gate angle to adjust water flow to the turbine.
✓Hydraulic loss - the loss in energy due to
flow (friction and form loss)
✓Inflow - the rate or volume of water that flows
into a reservoir or forebay during a specified
period.
✓Leaf - the elliptically shaped section of a
wicket gate.
✓Low-head hydropower - hydropower that
operates with a head of 66 feet (20 m) or less.
✓Manifold – a section of steel pipeline that
divides flow from a single penstock into several
smaller penstocks that feed multiple turbine
generator units.
✓Regimen/ Dynamic Equilibrium - he major
dimensions of the river channels remain
relatively constant or stable over an extended
period of time under current flow characteristics.
✓Sequential Streamflow Routing (SSR) - the
chronological routing of stream flows through a
project or system of projects in order to define a
project's firm yield, its energy or peaking power
output, or its performance under specified
operating criteria.
✓Sluice gate - vertical-shaft slide gate often
used for passing water through a dam. Manual
or motor-operated floor stands are used to raise
and lower sluice gates.
✓Small hydropower - hydropower installations
that are 15,000 kW {15 MW) or less in capacity.
✓Suspended load - that part of the sediment
load which is suspended in the water column
and is transported farther above the streambed