Hydro Turbin Paper
Hydro Turbin Paper
Hydro Turbin Paper
Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene
Technical note
Impulse (Turgo and Pelton) turbine performance characteristics and their impact
on pico-hydro installations
Bryan R. Cobb, Kendra V. Sharp*
School of Mechanical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, 204 Rogers Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 17 August 2011
Accepted 7 August 2012
Available online 20 September 2012
Pico-hydropower is a viable technology that can be integrated into a decentralized, off-grid approach to
rural electrication in regions that currently have only limited access to electricity. The Turgo turbine is
classied as an impulse turbine, similar to the Pelton wheel, often used in pico-hydro systems. Both offer
high efciency for a broad range of site conditions, but the primary difference is that the Turgo can
handle signicantly higher water ow rates, allowing for efcient operation in lower head ranges and
thus potentially expanding the geographic viability. Published data on Turgo operating performance are
limited; despite the differences, discussion thereof in design manuals is generally lumped in with the
discussion of Pelton wheels. In this study, a laboratory-scale test xture was constructed to test the
operating performance characteristics of impulse turbines. Tests were carried out to determine the effect
on turbine efciency of variations in speed ratio and jet misalignment on two Turgo turbines. The results
were compared to similar tests in the same xture on a Pelton turbine. Under the best conditions, the
Turgo turbine efciency was observed to be over 80% at a speed ratio of approximately 0.46, which is
quite good for pico-hydro-scale turbines. Peak efciencies for both the Pelton and the Turgo turbines
occurred at lower than theoretical ideal speed ratios based on a momentum balance; the reduction in
speed ratio at which peak efciency occurs is likely caused by inefciencies in the turbine. Tests of jet
misalignment showed that moving the jet to the inside or outside edge of the turbine blades caused
a drop in Turgo efciency of 10e20% and reduced the optimal speed ratio by 0.03 (6.5%). Radial
misalignment had a signicant adverse impact on both Turgo and Pelton turbines, however, angular
misalignment of the jet is more of a concern for the Turgo turbine. The results stress the importance of
proper system design and installation, and increase the knowledge base regarding Turgo turbine
performance that can lead to better practical implementation in pico-hydro systems.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Hydropower
Turgo turbine
Pelton
Rural electrication
Pico-hydro
Micro-hydro
1. Introduction
Across the globe, 1.4e1.6 billion people have no access to electricity at all while another one billion are dependent on unreliable
electrical grids [1]. The United Nations (UN) has underscored the
importance of global access to electricity and other forms of energy
by setting a goal to achieve what it refers to as universal access to
modern energy services by 2030 [2]. Many of those lacking access
to modern energy live in rural areas, thus decentralized, off-grid
energy projects will play a vital role in achieving the UNs energy
goal by 2030 [3].
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 541 737 5246; fax: 1 541 737 2600.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (B.R. Cobb), kendra.sharp@
oregonstate.edu (K.V. Sharp).
0960-1481/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.08.010
1
Hydropower is commonly classied by power output as large (>10 MW), small
(<10 MW), mini (<1 MW), micro (<100 kW), and pico (<5 kW).
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Table 1
Classication of turbines used for pico-hydro based on hydraulic head and type
(adapted from Paish [21]).
Turbine type
Low (<10 m)
Medium (10e50 m)
High (>50 m)
Impulse
Crossow
Turgo
Pelton
Reaction
Francis
Propeller
Kaplan
Crossow
Turgo
Pelton
Francis
conditions, there are differences that are worth noting. Fig. 1 shows
photos of both a Turgo and a Pelton turbine. Currently, pumps-asturbines (PATs), a type of reaction turbine, are commonly used for
medium head schemes; however Turgo turbines are also a viable
solution in this range. A chart showing the applicable head ranges
for different turbine types is provided in Table 1.
Turgo turbines have been in use for hydropower since 1919 [11],
yet published work in typical design manuals [12,13] about their
operating performance is limited. Oftentimes, despite their differences, the discussion of Turgo turbines is lumped in with a discussion of Pelton wheels. The most important difference is that the
Turgo can handle signicantly higher water ow rates, allowing for
efcient operation in lower head ranges (than a Pelton wheel) and
potentially expanding the geographic viability of pico-hydro.
Several off-the-shelf turbine-generator sets are available with
Turgo turbines in North America [14e16] though performance
specications are only provided as water-to-wire efciencies
leaving specic turbine efciency ill-dened. In and of itself, the lack
of access to off-the-shelf turbine-generator sets in developing
countries is not prohibitive for installation; many installations start
with individual components, and manufacturing (e.g. casting and
machining) of a Turgo turbine and Pelton wheel are comparable. A
number of documented installations of Turgo turbines [17] show
low operating efciencies (20e30% rather than 50e60%) [15] suggesting room for improvement on the design and installation of the
systems.
This study aims to demonstrate how parameters such as speed
ratio (ratio of tangential turbine velocity and jet velocity), system
design, and installation impact turbine efciency, thereby
increasing the knowledge base in this area and improving Turgo
turbine implementation.
1.2. Objectives
This study seeks to experimentally validate the following
hypotheses: 1) Turgo turbine efciency has a dependence on speed
ratio similar to the dependence observed with Pelton turbines; and
2) jet misalignment must be minimized in order to maximize
energy transfer from the water jet to an impulse turbine. Several
potential pitfalls of poorly-managed pico-hydro installations are
also investigated. While Turgo turbine use is emphasized herein,
based on our concurrent Pelton wheel testing [18], the ndings are
broadly applicable to both turbine types.
2. Materials & methods
H z
961
p
v2
:
rg 2g
(1)
where r is the density of the uid and g is gravity. In this experiment, the ow meter and pressure transducer were used to directly
determine net head, Hn, located upstream of the nozzle. Jet head Hj
and jet velocity vj, the head and velocity downstream of the nozzle,
are related to Hn via the nozzles velocity coefcient Cv as follows:
Hj Cv2 Hn
vj Cv
(2)
p
2gHn :
(3)
_ rgQH :
W
j
j
(4)
_ s 2pT u :
W
60
(5)
_
W
elec IV;
(6)
where I is the current through the circuit and V is the voltage across
the alternator terminals.
The efciencies of the turbine and generator are calculated
based on the ratio of power at the various points within the system
respectively:
_
W
ht _ s ;
Wj
In the case of Turgo and Pelton Turbines, speed ratio, x, the ratio
of the turbine speed to jet velocity, is important to identifying the
best operating point and is dened as
N pPCD
;
60vj
(9)
Hn
5
4
1
2
(10)
=
Ns
_ t
N W
1
2
3. Calculations
As in a typical pico-hydro scheme, hydraulic head H can be
calculated at any location where elevation z, pressure p, and
velocity v are known using
(8)
_
W
hgen _ e :
Ws
Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of laboratory-scaled test xture and (b) photo of the text xture.
(7)
5
4
962
the cups (e.g. losses introduced by ow inside the cups that reduce
the velocity of the stream leaving the turbine). Peak efciency for
the 169-mm Turgo turbine was measured at over 85% while the
best efciency for the 133-mm model was just over 81%. Compared
to Pelton turbines tested in the same power range, the Turgo
turbines performed quite well. Typical Pelton turbines in picohydro tend to operate in the 75e85% peak turbine efciency
range [12] while other Turgo turbine designs have been found to
operate at over 70% efciency [8]. (The highest efciency measured
for a Pelton turbine using this test xture was 73%.) Gilkes [19],
a hydropower company in the UK, reports peak turbine efciencies
around 85% for their Turgo turbines used in applications with
power outputs ranging from 20 kW to 10 MW.
Another noteworthy nding from these tests is the sensitivity of
the turbine efciency to changes in speed ratio. As Fig. 3 shows,
from a speed ratio of about 0.40e0.55, efciency only changes by
about 3 percentage points but outside that range turbine
efciency drops off signicantly. Similar trends in terms of
efciency drop-off were observed with the tested Pelton turbine
[18].
A number of tests were conducted to determine the signicance of the effects of poor jet alignment. Radial misalignment of
the incoming jet with the tested Pelton turbine by half a cup
width caused a drop of 15e20 percentage points in efciency.
Like the Pelton turbine, the Turgo turbines can be heavily
impacted by improper radial jet alignment. The drop in peak
turbine efciency can be as much as 15 percentage points for the
outside misalignment with a smaller reduction for the inside
misalignment (Fig. 4). Fig. 4 also clearly shows a reduction in the
speed ratio at peak turbine efciency for the outside case and an
increase for the inside case. The shift in speed ratio, nearly 20% for
the outside misalignment, is due to the effective change in pitch
circle diameter (PCD) of the turbine caused by a change in location at which the jet hits the turbine blades. There may also be
added energy losses in the turbine from the altered ow pattern
in the blades. For misalignment to the outside, it may be more
likely that water from the jet will miss the turbine altogether;
whereas on the inside, all the water should still hit the turbine.
The most important point to take is that a modest radial
misalignment can have a noticeable negative impact on turbine
performance by reducing the peak efciency by over 20% and
Fig. 3. Turbine efciency vs. speed ratio for a 169-mm Turgo turbine with a 9.53-mm
nozzle and three different jet velocities.
Fig. 4. Turbine efciency vs. speed ratio for a 169-mm Turgo turbine with an 11.11-mm nozzle for three radial jet positions. Error bars are shown for speed ratio (horizontal) and
turbine efciency (vertical).
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generation system for sustainable microgrid development in rural electrication of Africa. In: IEEE power energy society general meeting; July 20-24,
2009. p. 1e8. Calgary, Canada.
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countries. Available from: http://www.esha.be/leadmin/esha_les/documen
ts/publications/publications/Brochure_SHP_for_Developing_Countries.pdf; 2005
[accessed 08.02.11].
[8] Williams A, Simpson R. Pico hydro-reducing technical risks for rural electrication. J Renew Energy 2009;34:1986e91.
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through microscale hydropower. M.S. Water Resource Science, Oregon State
University. Available from: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/
1957/20796; 2011 [accessed 07.11.12].
[10] Alexander K, Giddens E. Microhydro: cost-effective, modular systems for low
heads. J Renew Energy 2008;33:1379e91.
[11] Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd, Available from: www.gilkes.com [accessed
07.20.11].
[12] Thake J. The micro-hydro pelton turbine manual: design, manufacture and
installation for small-scale hydro-power. ITDG Publishing; 2000.