Pelton Wheel

By:

Experiment #
Section:

Lab Instructor:

Submitted towards partial fulfillment of the requirements for

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN THE THERMAL SCIENCES
– Date of Submission

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
Abstract:

Pelton turbine is the type of impulse turbine which is used to convert the pressure energy
of water into the kinetic energy due to which the wheel moves and produce electricity.
The purpose of this lab is to measure the power output of a Pelton wheel turbine due to
which we can calculate the efficiency of the turbine. With the help of results obtained we
can maintain the desired water head to run the turbine and get the required power output.
There is always a difference in experimental and theoretical results because friction plays
a very important role in the experiment.

Introduction:

Energy may exist in various forms. Hydraulic energy is that which may be possessed by a
fluid. It may be in the form of kinetic, pressure, potential, strain or thermal energy. Fluid
machinery is used to convert hydraulic energy into mechanical energy. For this, turbines
are used for the production of mechanical energy from hydraulic energy. Turbines are of
different types according to their specifications. Turbines can be subdivided into two
groups, impulse and reaction turbines. The water turbines convert the energy possessed
by the water to mechanical energy. Pelton turbine (or Pelton wheel), an impulse turbine,
is one of the well-known type of water turbines.

It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in 1870s. Pelton turbine extracts energy from
impulse of moving water. There were many turbines existed before Pelton design, but
they were less efficient than Pelton’s design. In the Pelton turbine, water leaving wheels
typically still had high speed, carrying away a large amount of dynamic energy bought to
wheels. When the rim of Pelton wheel ran at half the speed of water jet, the water left the
wheel with little speed. In this way this design extracted almost all the water’s impulse
energy and made it efficient turbine.
 In the Pelton wheel turbine the buckets are of elliptical shape are attached to the
periphery of a rotating wheel. One or two nozzles project a jet of water tangentially to the
vane pitch circle. The vanes are of double-outlet section, so that the jet is split and leaves
symmetrically on both sides of the vane. When the jet of water hits the bucket, a
momentum is created due to which the bucket rotates. The rotation causes the shaft to
rotate as well so that mechanical energy produces. We measure the discharge, time, force
and gauge pressure and can calculate the input energy, output power and efficiency of the
turbine. Greater the output power, greater the efficiency.

Theoretical Explanation:
Pelton turbine is an impulse turbine. Pelton works best where there is a high head of
water. If the speed of jet of water is high, the turbine wheel rotates fast and produces a
torque.
The turbine input can be determined by measuring the turbine inlet pressure and flow
rate:

Wi=Q ΔP= ρ g H Q

Where Q is the flowrate and Δp is the gage pressure at the turbine inlet. Likewise, when
the jet hits the Pelton Turbine’s bucket, the turbine output can be calculated using the
force, F, measured by a mechanical dynamometer, the dynamometer radius, r, and the
dynamometer angular velocity, ω:
Wo=F r ω
 Where T is torque, T, is defined as T=F x r. Turbines are designed to work at maximum
efficiency at a particular value of pressure and speed.

Turbine efficiency, η, is defined as the ratio of turbine output power, 𝑊𝑜 to the required
input power, Wi:

𝑾𝒐
η= 𝑾𝒊

To determine the effectiveness of a particular turbine, it is often helpful to compare

theoretical turbine efficiency values to values determined experimentally. Theoretical
efficiency can be found by calculating the theoretical output power from the jet:

Woth =Fx U

Where m is the flow mass of water, U is the s peed Woth =Fx U

of the buckets, , V is the absolute fluid inlet velocity, and θ is the angle at which water
exits the bucket (approximately 150°).
Once the theoretical output power has been determined, one may determine the
theoretical efficiency as before:

ηoth = Woth / Wi

Method
 Instrument Used:
1. Stopwatch
2. Stroboscope (or tachometer)
3. Pelton Wheel experimental setup
4. Hydraulic bench
  Experimental Procedure:

Photo and Schematic of the Experimental Apparatus

The experimental procedure is detailed in the below section and will be performed two
different water head.
 Trial 1 at 8m H2O
 Trial 2 at 12m H2O

1. Before starting the experiment you need to record the inside diameter of the Prony
brake (db=0.06 m) and diameter of turbine dt=0.123m.
2. After recording the diametres, Switch on the Hydraulics Bench pump(s) and fully
open the bench regulating valve.
3. Fully open the spear regulator to produce maximum flow rate. Remove all
weights and the weight carrier and unhook the friction band from the Pelton
Wheel shaft. Observe the emerging jet from the Pelton Wheel and if required
make an assessment of the angle between the incident and emergent jets..
4. Record the following data:
a. Turbine inlet pressure, p, from the pressure gauge.
b. Flow rate, Q, by recording a change in Volume, Vol, from the water meter and
time, t, with a stopwatch.
c. Turbine speed, ω (rpm), measured by focusing the stroboscope light (or
tachometer) on the location of the tape mark on the back of the Pelton Turbine.
d. Left and right dynamometer spring forces (N). Note that the net force is
calculated by subtracting the right force from the left.
5. Regulate the applied torque by adjusting the electro-magnetic brake torque
6. Repeat step 5 until the Pelton Wheel stalls. Record the measurements for each
condition including the stalled condition, adjusting the brake by such that the net
force decreases by about 2N from 12 N for each trial until you have 6 or 7 data
points.
 Results and Analysis:
db (m) 0.06
dt (m) 0.123

Raw Data (Trial 1):

The readings which were taken in the lab is given below
Test P(m) Volume Time ω(rpm) Left Right Net(N)=Left-
(L) (s) Spring(N) Spring(N) Right
1 8 20 44.57 442.6 18 6 12
2 8 20 47.05 606.4 16 6 10
3 8 20 47.07 1035.6 11.5 4.5 8
4 8 20 48.25 1165.5 10 4 6
5 8 20 52.32 1356.3 7 3 4
6 8 20 45.57 1356.6 4 2 2

Calculation of Trial 1:
Test P(m) Flowrate Torqu ω Wi Wo η V U Woth ηth %age
(m3/s) e (rad/s) (Nm/s (m/s) (m/s) Error
(Nm) )
1 8 4.301x10- 0.738 7.37 33.75 5.439 16.1% 12.53 0.45 4.30 12.7% 21.1%
4
1
2 8 4.301x10- 0.615 10.10 33.75 6.215 18.4% 12.53 0.62 5.92 17.5% 4.8%
4
6 2
3 8 4.301x10- 0.492 17.26 33.75 8.491 25.2% 12.53 1.06 9.75 28.8% 12.5%
4
9
4 8 4.301x10- 0.369 19.42 33.75 7.169 21.2% 12.53 1.19 10.83 32.1% 33.9%
4
8
5 8 4.301x10- 0.246 22.60 33.75 5.560 16.5% 12.53 1.39 12.42 36.8% 55.1%
4
5 9
6 8 4.301x10- 0.123 22.60 33.75 2.780 8.2% 12.53 1.39 12.42 36.8% 77.7%
4
5 4
Graph showing experimental T, η and ηth vs. angular velocity, ω of the turbine (Trial 1)

0.8

0.6

0.4 Torque

0.2 η
ηth
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Angular Velociy

Raw Data (Trial 2):

The readings which were taken in the lab is given below
Test P(m) Volume Time ω(rpm) Left Right Net(N)=Left-
(L) (s) Spring(N) Spring(N) Right
1 12 20 37.7 1143.7 18 6 12
2 12 20 36.28 1378.9 15 5 10
3 12 20 37.55 1546.1 12 4 8
4 12 20 36.51 1692.4 9.5 3.5 6
5 12 20 37.30 1853.4 6.5 2.5 4
6 12 20 36.48 1997.2 4 2 2
 Calculation of Trial 2:
Test P(m) Flowrate Torqu ω Wi Wo η V U Woth ηth %age
(m3/s) e (rad/s) (Nm/s) (m/s) (m/s) Error
(Nm)
1 12 5.41x10-4 0.738 19.06 63.68 14.06 22.1% 15.34 1.17 16.73 26.3% 15.9%

2 12 5.41x10-4 0.615 22.98 63.68 14.13 22.1% 15.34 1.41 19.82 31.1% 28.9%

3 12 5.41x10-4 0.492 25.76 63.68 12.67 19.8% 15.34 1.58 21.94 34.5% 42.6%

4 12 5.41x10-4 0.369 28.206 63.68 10.40 16.3% 15.34 1.73 23.76 26.7% 38.9%

5 12 5.41x10-4 0.246 30.89 63.68 7.59 11.9% 15.34 1.89 25.66 40.3% 70.4%

6 12 5.41x10-4 0.123 33.28 63.68 4.09 6.4% 15.34 2.04 27.39 43.0% 85.1%

Graph showing experimental T, η and ηth vs. angular velocity, ω of the turbine (Trial 2)

0.8

0.6

0.4 Torque
η
0.2
ηth
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Angular Velocity
Discussion:
Pelton turbine is used in the area of high water head. If the head of water is low then the
force required to move the turbine wheel is not enough to rotate its wheels. The turbine
works best when the head of water is high. In the experiment, we provided a very low
head that is, 8m and 12m due to which the efficiency of the turbine is reduced. So if we
want to install a Pelton turbine, we need to make sure that there must be a high head of
water. Otherwise the turbine doesn’t give you desired efficiency. As you can see in the
graphs, that torque plays a very important part in the efficiency of the turbine. Greater the
torque, greater will be the efficiency of the turbine. Torque mainly depends upon the
force. If we increase the effect of the Pony brake, the torque value reduces due to
frictional effects and the efficiency of the turbine also reduced.

In the experiment torque and angular velocity seems to be inversely proportional to each
other. As we are reducing the pony brake value due to which force reduces and the
angular velocity of the bucket increase, same in the cause of velocity and efficiency. The
efficiency of turbine reduces as angular velocity increases. Because efficiency doesn’t
depend on angular velocity, it mainly depends on the torque. Efficiency is reducing
because of the rotational effect i.e. torque is reducing. Torque is the backbone for the
efficiency of the Pelton turbine

There is a difference between the theoretical efficiency and the experimental efficiency.
The main difference in efficiencies is frictional effect. In theoretical calculation, we
neglect the effect of friction but in experiment friction plays a major in determining the
efficiency. Also there are some human errors like handing of equipment, taking reading
and calculation of results. These factors also diversify the difference in efficiencies of
actual and theoretical values. So in order to reduce the difference in efficiencies we need
to consider frictional losses and human error in our calculation.

Conclusion:
Pelton turbine design is one the best in getting high efficiency. The Pelton turbine works
best when we provide high head to the turbine. Due to which a great amount of torque
produced which rotates the shaft connected with the turbine and electrical energy is
produced. We can calculate the output power and efficiency of turbine in the lab and
compare it with the theoretical efficiency and with some modification we can make the
actual Pelton turbine for a Dam.
References:
 The Genesis of Fluid Mechanics, 1640–1780 pp 453-492
 https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Fluid_Mechanics_Applications/B14:_Fluid_flow_i
n_turbine
 International Energy Agency (IEA). Key world energy statistics; 2012.
 http://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/www.fao.org/ContentPages/93784319.p
df (21-01-2015)
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel
 https://people.rit.edu/rfaite/courses/tflab/Cussons/pelton/pelton.htm