0% found this document useful (0 votes)
39 views12 pages

Kaplan

The document describes conducting an experiment on a virtual lab to draw characteristic curves of a Kaplan turbine. It provides background information on Kaplan turbines, which are axial flow reaction turbines designed for low heads of water. The key components of a Kaplan turbine are described including the penstock, scroll casing, guide vanes, hub, adjustable blade runner, and draft tube. Cavitation damage is discussed as an issue for Kaplan turbines. Formulas are provided for calculating discharge, torque, input power, output power, and unit speed of a Kaplan turbine. The student will submit photos and conduct the virtual experiment to analyze the turbine.

Uploaded by

Rohit soni
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
39 views12 pages

Kaplan

The document describes conducting an experiment on a virtual lab to draw characteristic curves of a Kaplan turbine. It provides background information on Kaplan turbines, which are axial flow reaction turbines designed for low heads of water. The key components of a Kaplan turbine are described including the penstock, scroll casing, guide vanes, hub, adjustable blade runner, and draft tube. Cavitation damage is discussed as an issue for Kaplan turbines. Formulas are provided for calculating discharge, torque, input power, output power, and unit speed of a Kaplan turbine. The student will submit photos and conduct the virtual experiment to analyze the turbine.

Uploaded by

Rohit soni
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 12

Name – Mukesh Choudhary

RTU Roll Number – 21ESKME017

Subject – Fluid Machines Lab


Aim – Conducting experiments and drawing characteristic curves of Kaplan Turbine (on
VIRTUAL LAB).

Date –

Semester – 4th

Year – 2nd

Submitted To – Assistant Prof. Arun Beniwal

Theory :

INTRODUCTION
Turbines are the turbo machines transferring fluid energy into mechanical
energy. Victor Kaplan designed a turbine similar to the propellers of ships for
generating hydropower in locations where large quantities of water are available
under a relatively low head. The Kaplan Turbine is also called as Propeller Turbine.
It has a propeller like blades, here Instead of displacing the water axially using shaft
power and creating axial thrust, the axial force of water acts on the blades of Kaplan
Turbine and generates shaft power. To generate substantial amount of power from
small heads of water using Kaplan Turbine it is necessary to have large flow rates
through the turbine. Kaplan Turbine is designed to accommodate the required large
flow rates. Consequently the specific speed of these turbines is high, viz., 300 to
1000.
Kaplan Turbine is an Axial Flow Reaction Turbine, which means that the flow
direction does not change as it crosses the rotor. For Axial Flow Turbines, the water
flows through the runner along the direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the
runner. Reaction Turbine means that the water at the inlet of the Turbine possesses
kinetic energy as well as pressure energy.

Kaplan Turbine

Components of Kaplan Turbine:


Except the alignment of the blades the construction of the Kaplan Turbine is
very much similar to that of the Francis Turbine.

Sectional View of Kaplan Turbine

1. Penstock: It is a waterway used to carry the water from reservoir to turbine. At


the inlet of the penstock trash cracks are used to prevent the debris going into
the turbine.
2. Scroll Casing: The annular channel surrounding the turbine runners to which
water is fed spiral in its layout and also called as spiral casing. Casing
constitutes a closed passage whose cross sectional area gradually decreases
along the flow direction, area is maximum at the inlet and nearly zero at the
outlet.
3. Guide Vane Mechanism: A series of aerofoil shaped vanes arranged inside
the casing to form a number of flow passages between the casing and the
runner blades. The water from the penstocks enters the scroll casing and then
moves to the guide vanes. From the guide vanes, the water turns through 90°
and flows axially through the runner.
4. Hub: For Kaplan Turbine, the shaft of the turbine is vertical. The lower end of
the shaft is made larger and is called ‘Hub’ or ‘Boss’. The vanes are fixed on
the hub and hence Hub acts as runner for axial flow turbine.
5. Runner: The runner of a Kaplan Turbine has four to six or even eight blades
and it closely resembles a shape of a ships propeller. The blades are attached
to the hub, the runner blades are fixed but the angle of inclination may be
adjusted while the turbine is in motion.

Kaplan Turbine Rotor Blade Positions

6. Draft Tube: The draft tube is a pipe or passage of gradually increasing cross
sectional area which connects the runner exit to the tail race. It may be made
of cast or plate steel or concrete. It permits the negative or suction head to be
established at the runner exit and also converts large proportion of velocity
energy rejected from the runner into useful pressure energy.

Specifications:

1. Type – Reaction turbine


2. Type of flow – Axial
3. Head – Low (below 40 m)
4. Number of blades on runner – 3 or 4 (max. 6)
5. Specific speed – High - 250 to 850
6. Discharge – High
Operations & Maintenance:
It is commonly accepted that turbines normally suffer from a progressive
deterioration in performance over time. Usual causes include cavitation damage,
abrasive erosion wear, galvanic corrosion, striking damage from debris passing
through, and errors in welding repairs to original blade profiles and surface finish. A
certain amount of cavitation is inherent in a Kaplan runner, primarily due to gaps
between the blade inner periphery and hub, and between the blade outer periphery
and throat rings. Kaplan runner blades are designed with stress relief grooves at the
leading and trailing sides of the blade intersection. These grooves, located to
minimize the possibility of cracking in the high stress areas of the blade create
cavities in the flow profile which cause downstream disturbances in the form of low
pressure vertices and can result in cavitation erosion on the hub and nose cone.
Cavitation is unavoidable in Kaplan turbine because there is huge pressure drop
associated with energy extraction from fluid. Cladding with 309L stainless steel
welding electrode provides some cavitation resistance. Turbine shaft areas near the
shaft seal that are exposed to water should be sealed with a robust coating such as
an epoxy paint to prevent corrosion of the shaft. Adequate coating of the turbine
wetted components not only prevents corrosion but has added benefits of improved
performance. The typical areas of cavitation damage are shown in the figure.

Deterioration in Kaplan Turbine

Source: (HAP project 2012)

Working proportions of a Kaplan Turbine:


Consider a Kaplan turbine with H= Net head on the turbine, N= Rotational
speed in rpm, P= Power developed by it, Do = Outer diameter of the runner, Db =
Outer diameter of the hub, q= Discharge through turbine under head of H.

Area of flow at inlet

Velocity of flow at inlet and outlet in Kaplan turbine is same.


Velocity of inlet = velocity of outlet

Peripheral velocity at inlet and outlet are equal,

Discharge through the runner is

Discharge through a rectangular notch is

Torque,

Where, -applied load in kg, - spring reading in kg, -radius of brake drum
in m
Input power

Where, -Density of water, -Acceleration due to gravity, -Discharge in


m /sec, -Total head in m
3
Output power

Where, -speed in rpm, -torque in N-m


Unit speed is the speed of a given turbine when running under a unit head.

When =1 m, then = unit speed


Unit discharge is the discharge of the turbine under a head of one meter.
= area × discharge
But area = constant

When =1 m, then

Where is constant of proportionality,


When =1m, then

Then substituting
Simulation:
Passport Size Photograph (Vikas Sharma):

Photograph while performing experiment on Virtual Lab :

You might also like