Tutorial Sheet

Pelton Turbine
1. A double overhung Pelton wheel unit is to operate at 30000 kW generator under an effective
head of 300 m at the base of the nozzle. Find the size of jet, mean diameter of the runner,
synchronous speed and specific speed of each wheel. Jet ratio is given to be 12. Take
generator efficiency to be 92%.
2. Write short notes on : nozzle, by pass nozzle, deflector, Seewar jet diffuser. How do they help to
control the turbine ?
3. A Pelton wheel works under a head of 220 m. The nozzle diameter is 20 cm and the coefficient
of velocity is 0.98. The wheel operates at 250 rev/min and develops 3.75 MW of power.
Assuming that the blade outlet angle is 16 deg. and the jet speed ratio is 0.46, make
calculations for the wheel diameter at the pitch circle of the blade, the hydraulic efficiency and
the turbine efficiency. (ans : 2.26 m, 97.4 %, 85.97 %)
4. A Pelton wheel is required to develop 6 MW when working under a head of 300 m. It rotates
with a speed of 550 rpm. Assuming jet ratio as 10 and overall efficiency as 85 %, calculate :
i)diameter of wheel ii) number of jets. (ans : 1.225 m, 3 nos (approx))
5. It is desired to generate 1 MW of power and survey reveals that 450 m of static head and a
minimum flow of 0.3 m3/s is available. Check if the task can be accomplished by installing a
Pelton wheel that turns 1000 rpm and has an efficiency of 80 %. Design the Pelton wheel by
assuming suitable values for coeff. of velocity, speed ratio and velocity coeff. for the jet.
6. A double overhung Pelton wheel is directly coupled to a 25 MW generator which has an
efficiency of 95 %. Find the power generated by each turbine runner. If each of the above
runner operates under an effective head of 300 m at the base of the nozzle, find : 1)size of the
jet, 2)mean diameter of the runner, 3) synchronous and specific speeds of each wheel. Take
overall efficiency as 86%, coeff of nozzle velocity as 0.97, speed ratio of 0.45 and jet ratio as
12; frequency of generator f= 50 cycles per second and pair of poles p=16.
7. At a particular hydroelectric power plant, water available under a head of 250 m is delivered to
the power house through three pipes each 2500 m long. Through these pipes, friction loss is
estimated to be 20 m. The project is required to produce a total shaft output of 13.2 MW by
installing a number of single jet Pelton wheels whose specific speed is not to exceed 38.5. The
following data maya be used
wheel speed : 650 rpm
ratio of bucket to jet speed = 0.46
overall efficiency = 85 %
for nozzle vel coeff= 0.97, coeff of discharge = 0.94

1. A Pelton wheel 0.9 m in diameter develops 675 kW when operating under a head of 145 m and
running at 500 rpm. The rate of flow of water through the nozzle is 0.55 m3/s and the angle of
deflection of the jet is 165 deg. If the friction and the windage losses amount to 5 % of velocity
head of the jet, make an energy balance of the wheel. Take velocity ceoff. for the nozzle as
0.97.
2.

The three-jet Pelton turbine is required to generate 10 MW under a net head of 400 m. The
blade angle at outlet is 15 deg. and the reduction in the relative velocity while passing over the
blade is 5 %. If the overall efficiency of the wheel is 80%, Cv=0.98 and speed ratio = 0.46, then
find : i) the diameter of the jet ii) total flow in m3/s and iii) the force exerted by a jet on the
buckets. If the jet ratio is not to be less than 10, find the speed of the wheel for a frequency of
50 Hz and the corresponding wheel diameter.

3. Design a pelton turbine for the following site conditions. Gross head = 400 m. Power to be
developed = 30 MW. Penstock length = 2 km.