Energy Systems II Lab

(ME401A)

Instructor - Prof. Aditya Saurabh

Experiment 1
Evaluation of Performance
Characteristics for a Pelton Turbine
Group- 26
Group Members:
Abhishek Bansal (180020)
Samyak Fulzele (180663)
Shekhar Mondal (180707)
Shivam Rajoriya (180720)
Submission Date- 11/11/2021

Introduction
A Pelton wheel is an impulse-type water turbine invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870. The Pelton
wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to water's dead weight like the traditional
overshot water wheel. It is an efficient machine particularly suited to high heads. The rotor consists of a large
circular disc on which a no. of spoons shaped buckets are spaced uniformly round in the periphery as shown in
figure below.
Pelton's paddle geometry was designed so that when the rim ran at half the speed of the water jet, the water
left the wheel with very little speed. Thus his design extracted almost all of the water's impulse energy - which
allowed for a very efficient turbine. The nozzles are mounted so that each directs a jet along the tangent down
to centre of each bucket

Objective
1. To study the performance characteristics of pelton wheel turbine for different loads.
2. To analyze change in hydraulic efficiency by changing load at constant head and discharge.
3. To check the effect of frictional losses on power output.
4. To understand the variation of power with ω for 3 sets of discharge under constant head.

Theory
1. Nozzle with spear:
 ● Nozzle is used to increase the kinetic energy of the water that is going to strike the buckets or vanes
attached to the runner.
● Spear is a conical needle, located inside in the nozzle that controls the flow rate of water. It can be
operated manually through a hand wheel or automatically in an axial direction. When the spear is
moved backward the flow rate of water increases and when it is pushed forward the flow rate of water
decreases.
2. Runner and bucket:
● Runner is a rotating part of the turbine. It is a circular disc on the periphery of which a number of
buckets evenly spaced are fixed.
● The buckets are made by two hemispherical bowls joined together. Each bucket has a wall in between
two hemispherical bowls called a splitter.
● The splitter splits the jet of water striking the buckets into two equal parts and the jet of water comes out
at the outer edge of the bucket.
● The buckets are designed in such a way that the jet of water strikes the buckets, deflected through 160
degree to 170 degrees.
3. Casing: Casing is to prevent the splashing of the water and to discharge water to tail stock.
4. Breaking jet: In order to stop the runner in the shortest possible time a small nozzle is provided
which directs the jet of water at the back of the vanes. This jet of water used to stop the runner of
the turbine is called a breaking jet.

Experimental Setup
The experimental unit consists of an impeller, a needle nozzle used as a control device, and a band brake for
loading the turbine. The impeller is housed in a transparent front panel so as to see the water flow through the
impeller and the nozzle during operation. The diameter of the nozzle is 10mm. The cross-section of the nozzle
and the flow rate are modified by adjusting the needle. The
blades have the shape of a double cup.
Required Formulae
● Load(N):
Load (F) = T1 – T2

● Head(H) (in m):

● Input Hydraulic power (Phyd):

where p is inlet pressure in bar and Q is volumetric flow rate in l/sec

● Torque at the Shaft (M):

Torque (M) = Force (F) * Lever arm radius

M = F ∗ r [Nm]

where F is load and r is Lever arm radius (= 0.025 m).

● Power at the Turbine shaft (Pav):

Power = Torque * angular velocity

where N is the angular speed in rpm ● Efficiency (η):

Observation Table
Observation 1:
Nozzle Position: 0 Pressure = 0.3bar, V=20L,
t=38.18s, d/2 = 0.025m, Pin= 15.71 W
T1 T2 Speed(rpm) F= (T2-T1) Torque Power Power η
(N) (Nm) Output input
(W) (W)

0.0 0 964.2 0 0 0 15.715 0

 0.2 0.9 883.5 0.7 0.0175 1.619 15.715 0.103

0.4 1.4 860.3 1 0.025 2.252 15.715 0.143

0.6 2 829.1 1.4 0.035 3.039 15.715 0.193

0.8 2.7 778.7 1.9 0.0475 3.873 15.715 0.246

1.0 3.4 737.6 2.4 0.06 4.634 15.715 0.295

1.2 4.1 699.9 2.9 0.0725 5.314 15.715 0.338

1.4 5 650.4 3.6 0.09 6.13 15.715 0.39

1.6 5.8 599.4 4.2 0.105 6.591 15.715 0.419

1.8 6.7 528.2 4.9 0.1225 6.776 15.715 0.431

2.0 7.7 436.2 5.7 0.1425 6.509 15.715 0.414

2.1 8.5 348 6.4 0.16 5.831 15.715 0.371

2.2 9.3 240 7.1 0.1775 4.461 15.715 0.284

Observation 2:
Nozzle Position-1 Pressure = 0.3bar, V=20L
t=41.14s, d/2 = 0.025m, Pin= 14.584 W
T1 T2 Speed(rpm) F= (T2-T1) Torque Power Power η
(N) (Nm) Output input
(W) (W)

0 0 957.8 0 0 0 14.584 0

0.2 1.1 861.2 0.9 0.0225 2.029 14.584 0.139

0.4 2 797.6 1.6 0.04 3.341 14.584 0.229

0.6 2.7 757.4 2.1 0.0525 4.164 14.584 0.286

 0.8 4 676.4 3.2 0.08 5.667 14.584 0.389

1 5.2 594 4.2 0.105 6.531 14.584 0.448

1.2 6.6 484.7 5.4 0.135 6.852 14.584 0.47

1.4 7.8 351.2 6.4 0.16 5.884 14.584 0.403

1.5 8.7 208.8 7.2 0.18 3.936 14.584 0.27

1.6 9.3 113.6 7.7 0.1925 2.290 14.584 0.157

Observation 3:
Nozzle Position-2 Pressure = 0.3bar, V=20L
t=63.26s, d/2 = 0.025m, Pin= 9.485 W
T1 T2 Speed(rpm) F= (T2-T1) Torque Power Power η
(N) (Nm) Output input
(W) (W)

0 0 882.5 0 0 0 9.485 0

0.2 1.3 726.3 1.1 0.0275 2.092 9.485 0.221

0.4 2.6 610.5 2.2 0.0550 3.516 9.485 0.371

0.6 4.2 405.7 3.6 0.0900 3.824 9.485 0.403

0.7 4.8 280.4 4.1 0.1025 3.010 9.485 0.317

0.8 5.5 128.2 4.7 0.1175 1.577 9.485 0.166

Comparisons

1. Efficiency vs Rotational Speed( ω)

a) Nozzle Position 0
 b) Nozzle Position 1

c) Nozzle Position 2
2. Power(Pout) vs Rotational Speed( ω)
a) Nozzle Position 0

b) Nozzle Position 1
 c) Nozzle Position 2

3. Torque vs Rotational Speed( ω)

a) Nozzle Position 0
b) Nozzle position 1

c) Nozzle Position 2
Results
1. From the graph of Torque vs ω it is clear as Torque due to brake force increases, ω decreases.
2. Graph of power vs ω is parabola which means it reaches a maximum then decreases.
3. Efficiency first rises on rising speed, then becomes maximum at a certain speed, then decreases on
further increasing the speed.

Sources of Error
∙ Zero error while taking reading time while fixing volume.
∙ Parallax error while fixing volume to 20 L.
∙ Pressure Gauge error due to friction losses.
∙ Errors due to friction force.
∙ Measurement errors during rpm observation