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Title: Pelton Wheel Turbine

Objective of Experiment
The performance characteristics of a Pelton wheel hydraulic turbine are to be determined under
different range of water flows rates. Specifically, torque and power are to be presented as a
function of turbine speed. Theoretically a Pelton Wheel turbine is most efficient when the speed
of its buckets is half the speed of its water jet. The purpose of this lab is to check this prediction.
Apparatus
The apparatus consists of hydraulics bench pump (figure 1), Pelton wheel turbine (figure 2),
weight loads (figure 3), wattmeter (figure 4), shaft pulley & weight carrier (figure 5), spear
regulator (figure 6), weight spring balance (figure 8) and tachometer (figure 7).

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 1

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 7

Procedures

Figure 6

Figure 8

1) Firstly, the radius of shaft pulley (figure 5) was measured and recorded before switching
on the hydraulics bench pump (figure 1).
2) The hydraulic bench pump was switched on from the main power supply and the bench
regulating valve was fully opened to produce maximum flow rate using a pair of pliers
(figure 6).
3) All weights and the weights carrier was removed and the friction band was unhooked
from the Pelton wheel shaft. Then, the free unloaded rotational speed of Pelton wheel
was measured using optical tachometer.
4) Then, the friction band was replaced around the shaft pulley and the weight carrier was
attached. The speed, the net load in the brake band (weights spring balance reading)
and the hydraulic power input (wattmeter reading) were recorded in Table 1.
5) Then, an additional weight was added to the weight carrier and after allowing time for the
speed to stabilise, the measurements of speed, net load and hydraulic power input were
recorded respectively in Table 1. The weights were kept added until the Pelton wheel
stopped rotating.
6) Steps 2 to 5 were repeated for medium flow rate and low flow rate and the data were
recorded in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively.

Results

Table 1
Spear regulator setting No. 1
Radius of shaft pulley, r = 0.0325m
Brake load weight, W (g)
Speed, N (rev/min)
Spring balance, s (g)
Brake torque,

= (W

s)gr
Mechanical power output,

0
2530
0
0

350
2200
110
0.077

550
2000
180
0.118

850
1640
300
0.175

1150
1205
420
0.233

1350
900
510
0.268

1550
600
590
0.306

17.74

24.71

30.05

29.40

25.26

19.23

193

193

192

194

194

195

195

0.09

0.13

0.15

0.13

0.13

0.10

P0= N(2 )/60 (W)


Hydraulic

power

input,

Pi (W)
Efficiency, =

P0

Pi

1850
240
770
0.344
8.65
195
0.04

1950
150
860
0.348
5.47
194
0.03

2050
0
0
0.654
0
194
0

Table 2
Spear regulator setting No. 2
Radius of shaft pulley, r = 0.0325m
Brake load weight, W (g)

350

550

750

850

950

1150

Speed, N (rev/min)
Spring balance, s (g)

3060
0
0

2720
120
0.073

2440
190
0.115

2140
270
0.153

1940
310
0.172

1730
340
0.194

1340
430
0.230

20.79

29.38

34.29

34.94

35.15

32.27

181

182

182

181

182

182

181

0.11

0.16

0.19

0.19

0.19

0.18

Brake torque,

= (W

s)gr
Mechanical power output,

P0= N(2 )/60 (W)


Hydraulic

power

input,

Pi (W)
Efficiency, =

P0

Pi

1350
950
520
0.265
26.36
181
0.15

1850
240
840
0.322
8.09
179
0.05

2050
0
0
0.654
0
180
0

Table 3
Spear regulator setting No. 3
Radius of shaft pulley, r = 0.0325m

Brake load weight, W (g)


Speed, N (rev/min)
Spring balance, s (g)
Brake torque,

= (W

s)gr
Mechanical power output,

0
3080
0
0

350
2720
120
0.073

550
2450
180
0.118

650
2270
220
0.137

850
1870
300
0.175

1050
1450
370
0.217

1350
870
510
0.268

20.79

30.27

32.57

34.27

32.95

24.42

184

184

183

183

183

181

181

0.11

0.17

0.18

0.19

0.18

0.13

P0= N(2 )/60 (W)


Hydraulic

power

input,

Pi (W)
Efficiency, =

P0

Pi

1550
540
590
0.306
17.30
183
0.09

Graph 1

1750
270
700
0.335
9.47
183
0.05

1950
0
0
0.622
0
184
0

Graph of Mechanical Power vs Speed


40
35
30
25

Mechanical Power, P0 (W)

20
15
10
5
0
0

250

750
500

1250
1750
2250
2750
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000

Speed, N (rpm)

Graph 2

Graph of Efficiency vs Speed


0.2
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12

Efficiency,

0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0

250

500

750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000

Speed, N (rpm)

Discussion

The working principle of any Pelton wheel turbine is that water flows at tangent to the path of the
runner. Nozzles direct forceful streams of water against a series of spoon-shaped buckets
mounted around the edge of a wheel. As water flows into the bucket, the direction of the water
velocity changes to follow the contour of the bucket. When the water-jet contacts the bucket, the
water exerts pressure on the bucket and the water is decelerated as it does a "u-turn" and flows
out the other side of the bucket at low velocity. In the process, the water's momentum is
transferred to the turbine. This "impulse" does work on the turbine. For maximum power and
efficiency, the turbine system is designed such that the water-jet velocity is twice the velocity of
the bucket.i A very small percentage of the water's original kinetic energy will still remain in the
water; however, this allows the bucket to be emptied at the same rate it is filled, thus allowing
the water flow to continue uninterrupted.
From graph 1, we can observe that while the wheel speed increasing, the measured power
output is increasing until it reaches certain point where the power will start dropping again
making a inverse parabola shape on the graph. For the graph 2, we can experience the same
result like the first graph. The wheel speed also increases while the efficiency is increasing until
it reaches the maximum point before it starts decreasing again. It is concluded that both
mechanical power output and efficiency changes as the wheel speed changes. From graph 1,
the optimum water flow rate is low to medium and optimum angular speed of the wheel is 1750
rpm to 2000 rpm for the highest mechanical work output. From graph 2, the optimum water flow
rate is low to medium also and optimum angular speed of the wheel is 1750rpm to 2250 rpm for

Po
the highest working efficiency ( P i ).
From the results obtained, it is obvious how Pelton Wheel reacts to different kind of input.
Different flow rates give different value of work input. Theoretically, Pelton wheels work best at
high water heads with low flow rate. This experiment validates that claim as spear regulator
setting No. 1 (the highest water flow rate) has the lowest mechanical power output and
efficiency among the three spear regulator settings.ii
Pelton wheel can be used to produce 1000 Watts of electricity. The Pelton wheel should be big
enough and the incoming water jet should have a slow flow with a high head. Pelton wheel
shave been historically used in hydroelectric power plants such as the Walchensee
Hydroelectric Power Station in Germany to produce electricity.iii

Conclusion
As a conclusion from the experiment that has been performed, it is learned that different range
of flow rates and rotational speeds influences the performance of Pelton wheel turbine. In order
to get the maximum output from the turbine, a bucket that will reflect the exit water at 180
degrees must be designed. However, in practice there is no such ideal bucket. There is always
an axial component of velocity of water leaving the bucket. The combination of flow rate and jet
velocity manipulates the power or work input. The bigger the diameter nozzle the faster the flow
rates but lower in velocity jet. Therefore we need the perfect combination of both. In general,
impulse turbine is high head, low flow rate device which is close to spear regulator setting No. 3.
For this Pelton wheel experiment, the best settings are 1750rpm to 2250 rpm of wheel speed at
spear regulator setting No. 2 or 3.

References

i Klapp, J., Medina, A., Cros, A. & Vargas, C. A., (2012). Fluid Dynamics in Physics, Engineering and
Environmental Application. Berlin, MA: Springer.
ii Acheson, D. J., (1990). Elementary Fluid Dynamics. New York, MA: Oxford University Press.
iii Agar, D. & Rasi, M., (2008, July). On the use of a laboratory-scale Pelton wheel water turbine in renewable
energy education. Renewable Energy, 33(7). Retrieved from Science Direct. Retrieved from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.ums.edu.my/science/article/pii/S0960148107002789?np=y.

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