Unit-8
Hydro Mechanical and Electro
Mechanical Equipment
Lumbini Engineering College
Pokhara University
Presented By : Er. Roshan Adhikari
Hydropower Engineering -Er. Roshan
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Hydro-Mechanical Equipment
• Hydro-Mechanical equipment are defined as those equipment
that convert either hydraulic energy into mechanical energy or
mechanical energy into hydraulic energy.
• Hydraulic energy to Mechanical Energy :- Turbine
Mechanical Energy to Hydraulic Energy:- Pump
Turbine
Turbines are the hydro mechanical equipment that convert
hydraulic energy into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy
is used in running on electric generate, which is directly coupled
to the shaft of the turbine. Electric generate converts mechanical
energy into electrical energy.
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Types of Turbine
1. Based on head :
a. Low Head Turbine : 15m -60 m head (Kaplan Turbine)
b. Medium Head Turbine : 60-250m head (Francis Turbine)
c. High Head Turbine : >250m head ( Pelton Turbine)
2. Based on flow direction through runner : (Figure)
a. Tangential turbine: Flow in turbine is in tangential direction of
rotation of runner. Pelton Turbine
b. Radial Flow Turbine : Water moves towards the axis of rotation of
the runner or away from it. Francis Turbine
c. Axial Flow Turbine : Water flows parallel to the axis of rotation.
Kaplan Turbine.
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Types of Turbine
3. Based on specific speed:
a. Low Specific Speed Turbine : (8-30) Pelton Turbine
b. Medium Specific Speed Turbine : (50-250) Francis Turbine
c. High Specific Speed Turbine : (250-850) Kaplan Turbine
4. Based on nature of energy head possessed by water at inlet:
a. Impulsive turbine or Velocity Turbine : Turbine in which water
entering the runner posses kinetic energy only. Pressure is
atmospheric at inlet and outlet of turbine. Pelton Turbine.
b. Reaction Turbine or pressure Turbine : Turbine in which water
entering the runner posses pressure as well as kinetic energy. This
type of turbine is always and casing is completely full of water.
Kaplan Turbine, Francis Turbine.
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Difference between impulsive and reaction turbine
S.N Impulsive Turbine Reactive Turbine
1 Available energy of water is converted to Available energy of water is not converted from one to
kinetic energy with the help of nozzle. another.
2 Blade are in action when they are in front of All blades are in action all the time.
the nozzle.
3 The wheels do not run full and air has free The wheel should always run full and kept full of water.
access to the bucket
4 Casing has no hydraulic friction to perform. Water enters the runners under pressure and hence
unit needs to be sealed from atmosphere.
5 Water hits the bucket with kinetic energy. Water glides over the moving vane with pressure
energy.
6 Unit is kept above the tail race. Unit is kept entirely submerged in water below tailrace.
7 Turbine components are easily accessible and Turbine components are not easily accessible and thus
hence repair and maintenance is easy. repair is difficult.
8 Turbine are relatively small in size and run at Turbines are large in size and run at relatively low
high speed. speed.
9 Suitable for high heads Suitable for low heads.
10 Eg. Pelton/turgo Eg. Francis, Keplon
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Pelton Turbine
▪ A Pelton turbine is the type of turbine that comprise of a rotor,
at periphery of which are mounted equally spaced double
hemispherical of double buckets.
▪ Water flows from high head through the penstock and
transferred through the nozzle, which is fitted at the end of the
penstock.
▪ All available water energy (potential energy) is converted into
kinetic energy before the jet strikes buckets of runner.
▪ The pressure all over the runner remains constantly equal to
atmospheric pressure, so that energy transfer occurs due to
purely impulse action.
▪ In Nepal, the Pelton turbine is used in Khimti hydropower
(60MW, H=650m), kulekhani I (60 MW) and kulekhani II
(32MW).
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Components of Pelton Turbine
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Components
i. Nozzle : It is a circular pipe with reduced opening than that of
penstock pipe, which directs the flow in the bucket. It also governs
the quantity of flow with the help of spear valve controlled by
governor.
ii. Runner and buckets: It consist of a circular disc on the periphery
of which a number of buckets evenly spaced are fixed. The space
of the buckets is of double hemispherical cup. Each bucket is
divided into two symmetrical parts by dividing wall which is
known as splitter. The buckets are shaped in such a way that the
jet gets deflected through 1600 to 1700.
iii. Casing : It is provided to prevent splashing of water and lead the
water to the tailrace channel. Casing in Pelton turbine has no
hydraulic function.
iv. Breaking Jet : Even when the flow of water is deflected from the
runner, it keeps on moving due to inertia. So, to bring the runner
to rest on a short time a small jet of water is directed on the block
of buckets through jet.
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Turbine Speed
1. Specific Speed : The speed at which the machine produces 1Horse power (1 Hp) under 1m
head.
𝑁 𝑃
NS = 5
𝐻4
Where, N= Synchronous Speed
P= Power
H= Head
2. Synchronous Speed : If the turbine is directly connected to the generator, the turbine speed N
must be synchronous speed. For the turbine speed n be N to be synchronous, the following
equation must be fulfilled.
120𝐹
N=
𝑁𝑃
Where, NP = Number of poles in generator
F = Frequency of generation = 50 Hz for Nepal
3. Runway Speed : Run-way speed is the maximum speed attained by turbine under designed
head, full gate opening (maximum discharge ), the governing system being disconnected and load
is reduced to zero. Following are the appropriate runway speed (Nr ) in terms of Normal Speed.
Pelton Turbine Nr=1.8 to 1.9 N
Francis Turbine Nr=2 to 2.3 N
Kaplan Turbine Nr=2.5 to 2.9 N
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Franchis Turbine
• It is an inward flow reactive turbine, designed and
developed by American Engineer, James B. Franchis.
• In this turbine, water from penstock enters a small casing
with decreasing cross-sectional area. The water under
pressure than moves into the runner, through a series of
guide vanes towards centre in radial direction and
discharges out of the runner axially.
• Franchis turbine is usually mounted on vertical axis and is
operated under medium head and requires medium
quantity of water.
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Components
i. Spiral Casing : It is also known as scroll casing conveys
water from penstock to the turbine. It is designed in
such a way that it’s cross sectional area goes on
reducing uniformly around the circumference with
maximum at entrance and minimum at the tip.
ii. Guide Mechanism: The guide vanes are fixed between
two rings in the form of a wheel. The guide vanes allow
water to enter the runner without shock and allow to
flow over them without forming eddies.
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Components
iii. Runner : The runner is a circular ring on which a radial
curved vanes are fixed . The runner is fixed to the shaft
which may be either vertical or horizontal.
iv. Draft Tube: The pressure at inlet is more than at the
outlet in Francis turbine and water at exit cannot be
discharged directly into tail race. So, water after passing
through the runner is made to flow down through a tube
of gradually increasing area called draft tube. One enter
of draft tube is connected to the outlet of runner and other
is submerged below the water level in tail race.
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Kaplan Turbine
• The general arrangement of Kaplan turbine is similar to
Francis turbine, the scroll casing, ring draft tube and they
perform, similarly and work on the principle of reactive
force. However, Kaplan is on axial flow reaction turbine
i.e. water flows to the axis of rotation of the shaft. The
runner of this turbine resembles a screw or a propeller.
• Components :
a. Scroll casing
b. Guide vane mechanism
c. Runner of turbine
d. Draft tube
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Performance characteristics of turbine
• We have already known that impulsive and reaction
turbine will work under a constant head speed, and
output. But in actual practice, these assumption rarely
prevails. It is essential to review the nature of such
variations, which generally take place through there are
many types of variations, yet the following are important .
i. Keeping the discharge constant, the head of water and
output may vary. In such cases, the speed should be
adjusted , so that there is no appreciable change in
efficiency.
ii. Keeping the head of water and speed constant, the
output may vary. In such cases, the discharge of the
turbine should be adjusted.
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iii. In turbines, working under low heads, the head of water
and speed may vary. Although the speed is allowed to
fluctuate within narrow.
iv. keeping the head of water and discharge constant, the
speed may vary by adjusting the load on the turbine.
Characteristics
1. Unit Power : Pu= P / H3/2
2. Unit Speed : Nu = N/√H
3. Unit Discharge : Qu= Q/√H
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Introduction to Bulb Turbine
• Bulb turbines are derived from Kaplan turbines. The
characteristics features of this turbine is that the generator
along with the turbine is housed in waterproof bulb shaped
casing, right in middle of flow passage.
• The outer surface of bulb is streamlined so that head loss is
minimum. It is axial flow turbine placed horizontally.
• Bulb turbines can be somewhat more difficult to access for
service, and they require special air circulation and cooling
within the bulb.
• Bulb turbine is designed for extremely low head(<10m)
projects and where discharge is high. It is suitable for total
plants.
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Selection of Turbine
• The following points should be considered while selecting
turbine:
1. Specific speed : High specific speed is essential where head
is low and output is large, because otherwise the rotational
speed will be loss which means cost of turbo-generator and
powerhouse will be high.
2. Rotational speed : Rotational speed depends upon specific
speed and also depends on the frequency and no of pairs of
holes.
3. Efficiency : The turbine selected should be such that it gives
the highest overall efficiency for various operating
conditions.
4. Cavitations: The installation of water turbines of reaction
type over the tailrace is effected by cavitations. The critical
value of cavitations indices must be obtained to see that the
turbine works in safe zone.
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Continuous
5. Deposition of turbine shaft : It has shown that the vertical shaft
arrangement is better for large –sized reaction turbines.
6. Water Quality: Quality of water ( i.e. free from impurities such
as sand content, chemical etc) is more critical for the impulsive
turbine than in reaction turbine.
7. Available head :
• For very high head ( >350m)- Pelton Turbine is used
• For high speed ( 150-350m)- Pelton or Francis Turbine is used.
• For medium head (60-150m)- Fracis Turbine is used.
• For low head (< 60m)- Kaplan Turbine is used.
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Scroll case, draft Tube and tail race
Scroll Case :
1. Scroll case surrounds the turbine runner and the guide
mechanisms and conveys water from penstock to the turbine.
2. It is a spiral shaped to avoid the formation of eddies and to
distribute water evenly around the ground vines.
3. When water enters the spiral casing , the water starts
distributing itself into the guide vanes, so as the water moves
around the casing, discharge decreases continually.
4. In order to maintain constant velocity along the path, scroll
case is designed in such that its x-sectional areas goes on
reducing uniformly around the circumference. The area is
maximum at entrance and minimum at the exit.
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Draft Tube
• Draft tubes are final components of the water passages of
hydropower plants and are necessary in carrying the water
away from the turbine runner tailrace, where the water
rejoins the stream channel or receiving body of water .
• Function:
1. It permits the velocity head at the exit of the runner to
the useful pressure head.
2. It helps in keeping the turbine dry condition during
seepage and maintenance.
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Tailrace
• Tail race canal is the canal in which water is discharged
after passing through the turbine, which carries it back to
the river.
• If the power house is close to the stream, the outflow may
be discharged directly into the stream.
• The tailrace should be designed in such a way that it is
non-silting, non-scouring and head loss is minimum.
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Generator
• A generator is a device which converts mechanical energy
into electrical energy for use in an electric circuit.
Although early hydrostatic systems were of DC variety to
match early commercial electrical system, nowadays only
three phase AC current generators are used in normal
practice.
• Generators are broadly divided into two pars:
a. Synchronous generator
b. Asynchronous Generator
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a. Synchronous Generator
• Synchronous generators are alternating current,
generators which converts mechanical power into AC
electrical power. These supply the electric power used by
all sectors of modern societies, industrial, commercial,
agricultural and domestic. It usually operates together ( or
in parallel), forming a large power system supplying
electrical energy to the loads or consumers. They are built
in large units, their rating ranging from tens to hundreds
of MW.
• According to the arrangement of the field and armature
windings, synchronous machines may be classified as:
i. Rotating- armature type
ii. Rotating – field type
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b. Asynchronous Generators
• An industrial generator or asynchronous generator is a
type of alternating current (AC) electrical generator that
uses the principles of induction motors to produce power.
• Induction generator operate by mechanically turning their
rotors faster than synchronous speed. A regular AC
synchronous motor using can be used as generator,
without any internal modifications.
• Induction generators are useful in applications such as
mini-hydro power plants, wind turbines or in reducing
high –pressure gas streams to lower pressure because they
can recover energy with relatively simple controls.
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Working principle of governors in Pelton
and Francis turbines
• The governing of the turbine is defined as the operation by
which the speed of the turbine is kept constant under all
working condition. It is done automatically by means of
governor, which regulates the rate of flow through turbine,
according to the changing load condition of the turbine.
• Governing of a turbine is necessary as turbine is directly
coupled to an electric generator which is required to run at
constant speed under load fluctuation. The frequency of power
generation by a generator of a constant number of poles under
varying load condition should be same.
• When the load on the generator decreases, the speed of the
generator increases beyond the normal speed. If the turbine or
generator is to run at constant speed, the rate of flow to the
turbine should be decreased till speed becomes normal.
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Introduction to centrifugal and
reciprocating pumps
• The hydraulic machine which converts the mechanical
energy into hydraulic energy are called pumps.
• If the hydraulic energy is converted into mechanical
energy by means of centrifugal force acting on the fluid,
the pump is called centrifugal pump
• If mechanical energy is converted into hydraulic energy (
or pressure energy) by shucking the liquid into cylinder in
which a piston is reciprocating ( moving backward and
forward), which exerts the thrust on the liquid and
increase its hydraulic energy (pressure energy) , the pump
is known as reciprocating pump.
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Centrifugal Pump
• The hydraulic energy is in the form of pressure energy. If
the mechanical energy is converted into pressure energy
by means of centrifugal force acting on the fluid, the
hydraulic machine energy is called centrifugal pump.
• The centrifugal pump works on the principle of forced
vortex flow, which means that when an external torque
rotates a certain mass of liquid, the rise in pressure head
of the rotating liquid takes place.
• The rise in pressure head at any point is proportional to
the square of tangential velocity of the liquid at that point.
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Continuous
• The main parts of centrifugal pumps are :
a. Impeller
b. Casing
c. Sunction pipe with foot – valve stainer
d. Delivery Pipe
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Reciprocating Pump
• If the mechanical energy is converted into hydraulic
energy by sucking the liquid into cylinder in which a
piston is reciprocating, which exerts the thrust on the
liquid and increase its hydraulic energy, the pump is
known as reciprocating pump.
• Main parts of reciprocating pump are :
a. A cylinder with piston rod connecting rod and a crank.
b. Sunction pipe
c. Delivery pipe
d. Sunction valve
e. Delivery valve.
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