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Experiment no: Experiment: Study of a Francis Turbine and to draw its characteristics curves under constant head condition.

Equipment: Francis turbine, centrifugal pump, venturimeter, pressure gauge, tachometer, rope brake dynamometer, weights. Theory: In reaction turbines water enters the wheel under pressure and flows over the curved blades. When the water flows over the curved blades.

Description of Equipment: The figure shows the outline plan and elevation of a modern francis turbine, which is a mixed flow inward reaction turbine. In these turbines water under pressure enters the runner through the guide blades radially in the inward direction and leaves axially i.e. parallel to the axis of the shaft. The turbine works under medium head (30 meters to 200 meters) and requires medium quantity of water. The main components of a Francis turbine are: 1. Penstock 2. Scroll casing 3. Guide mechanism 4. Runner 5. Draft tube

Penstock: Penstock is a water way to carry water from the reservoir to the turbine casing. Trash racks are provided at the inlet of the penstock in order to obstruct to debris entering it. The welding seams are inspected by x-ray and penstock is tested at twice the working pressure.

Scroll casing: To avoid loss of efficiency, the flow of water from the penstock to the runner should be such that it will not eddies. In order to distribute the water around the guide ways evenly, the scroll casing is designed with a cross sectional area reducing uniformly around the circumference, maximum at the entrance and nearly zero at tip. This gives a spiral shape and hence the casing is also named as spiral casing. The position of the inlet to the spiral casing depends on the direction of water flowing out of the penstock which may vary according to the site. Guide Mechanism: The guide vanes or wicked gates, as they are sometimes called are fixed between two rings in the form of a wheel, known as guide wheel. The guide wheel has a cross section known as aerofoil section. This particular cross section allows water to pass over them without forming eddies and with minimum friction losses. Each guide vane can rotate about its pivot centre which is connected to regulating shaft by means of rods, generally two in number by rotating the regulating shaft the guide vanes can be closed or open thus allowing a variable quantity of water according to the needs. The regulating shaft is operated by means of a governor whose function is to keep the speed of the turbine constant at variable load. Runner: The flow in the runner of modern Francis turbine is not purely radial but a combination of radial and axial. The flow is inward i.e. from the periphery towards the centre. The width of the runner depends upon the specific speed. The runner may be classified as slow, normal and a fast runner depending on the specific speed at which it is to be run. The runner can be made of cast iron for small outputs, cast steel for large outputs and stainless steel or some non-ferrous material like bronze when the water to be handled is chemically active. The runner blades should be carefully finished. Draft tube: The water after doing work on the runner passes on to the tail race through a draft tube which is a welded steel plate pipe over a concrete tunnel, its cross section gradually increasing towards the outlet. The draft tube is a conduit which connects the runner exit to the tail race. The tube should be drowned approximately one meter below the lowest tail race level.

The function of the draft tubes are as follow: 1. If the water is discharged freely from the runner, turbine will work under a head equal to the height of the head race water level above the runner outlet. If an air tight draft tube connects the runner to the tail race, workable head is increased by an amount equal to the height of the runner outlet above tail race. 2. The water leaving the runner still possesses a high velocity and kinetic energy would be lost if it is discharged freely. By employing a draft tube of increasing cross section, the enclosed conduit is extended up to the outlet end of the tube and the discharge takes place at a much reduced velocity thus resulting in a gain of pressure head which improves the efficiency of the turbine. Procedure 1. Check that the centrifugal pump connected with the francis turbine is fully primed and the controlling valve on the delivery pipe is closed. 2. Switch on the motor and run the pump. 3. Water under pressure will flow through the venturimeter fitted between the centrifugal pump and the turbine under no load condition. 4. Note down the reading in the pressure gauge fitted near turbine head H. 5. Note down the speed of the runner under no load condition with a tachometer. This reading is N. 6. Also note down the readings in the pressure gauges fitted at the inlet end at the throat of the venturimeter in terms of meters of water. Let these be and .

7. Note the reading of the spring scale S fitted with the brake drum under no load condition. 8. Load the brake drum by putting some weights W in the hanger. 9. Wait for some time to stabilise the system. 10. Check that the reading in the pressure gauge fitted near the turbine has not changed as the experiment is to be performed under constant head conditions. 11. At this stage note down N, W, S, and .

12. Add some more weights and repeat the procedure.

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