Table of Contents

7.1.

Introduction: ............................................................................................................... 1

7.2.

Turbine: ...................................................................................................................... 1

7.3.

Types of turbines:........................................................................................................ 1

7.4.

Reaction Turbine: ........................................................................................................ 1

7.5.

Francis turbine: ........................................................................................................... 2

7.6.

Working of Francis turbine. ......................................................................................... 3

7.7.

Components of a Francis turbine: ................................................................................ 3

7.7.1.

Penstock: .......................................................................................................... 3

7.7.2.

Scroll casing: ..................................................................................................... 3

7.7.3.

Guide Mechanism: ............................................................................................ 4

7.7.4.

Runner: ............................................................................................................. 4

7.7.5.

Draft tube: ........................................................................................................ 5

7.8.

Velocity triangle of Francis turbine. ............................................................................. 6

7.9.

Application.................................................................................................................. 7

STUDY OF FRANCIS TURBINE.

7.1.

Introduction:

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of

electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. The main
component of hydropower plant are turbines and generators and where these are installed called
as the power house.

7.2.

Turbine:

A machine for producing continuous power in which a wheel or rotor, typically fitted with vanes,
is made to revolve by a fast-moving flow of water, steam, gas, air, or other fluid.

7.3.

Types of turbines:

1. Impulse Turbine / Velocity Turbine.

2. Reaction Turbine / Pressure Turbine.

7.4.

Reaction Turbine:

The principal feature of a reaction turbine that distinguishes it from an impulse turbine is
that only a part of the total head available at the inlet to the turbine is converted to velocity head,
before the runner is reached. Also in the reaction turbines the working fluid, instead of engaging
only one or two blades, completely fills the passages in the runner. The pressure or static head
of the fluid changes gradually as it passes through the runner along with the change in its kinetic
energy based on absolute velocity due to the impulse action between the fluid and the runner.
Therefore the cross-sectional area of flow through the passages of the fluid. A reaction turbine is
usually well suited for low heads. A radial flow hydraulic turbine of reaction type was first
developed by an American Engineer, James B. Francis (1815-92) and is named after him as the
Francis turbine. The schematic diagram of a Francis turbine is shown in Fig. 7.1

7.5.

Francis turbine:

A modern Francis turbine, 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 (30meters to
200 meters) and requires medium quantity of water.

Fig 7.1: A Francis Turbine

7.6.

Working of Francis turbine.

The Francis turbine is a type of reaction turbine, a category of turbine in which the working fluid
comes to the turbine under immense pressure and the energy is extracted by the turbine blades
from the working fluid. A part of the energy is given up by the fluid because of pressure changes
occurring in the blades of the turbine, quantified by the expression of Degree of reaction, while
the remaining part of the energy is extracted by the volute casing of the turbine. At the exit,
water acts on the spinning cup-shaped runner features, leaving at low velocity and low swirl with
very little kinetic or potential energy left. The turbine's exit tube is shaped to help decelerate the
water flow and recover the pressure.

7.7.

Components of a Francis turbine:

The main components of a Francis turbine are:

1. Penstock
2. Scroll casing
3. Guide mechanism
4. Runner
5. Draft tube
7.7.1.

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.
7.7.2.

Scroll casing:

To avoid loss of efficiency, the flow of water from the penstock to the runner should be such that
will not eddies produce. 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.

Fig 7.2: Spiral casing

7.7.3.

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 aero foil
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 center 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.
7.7.4.

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 center. 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.

7.7.5.

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.

Fig 7.3: Cross section and Plan view of Francis turbine

7.7.5.1.

Function of the draft tubes:

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.

7.8.

Velocity triangle of Francis turbine.

As in case of Francis turbine, the discharge is radial at outlet, the velocity of whirl at outlet Vw2
will be zero as shown in the fig 7.3.

Fig 7.3: Velocity Triangle of Francis turbine

7.9.

Application.

Francis turbines may be designed for a wide range of heads and flows. This, along with their high
efficiency, has made them the most widely used turbine in the world. Francis type units cover a
head range from 40 to 600 m (130 to 2,000 ft.), and their connected generator output power
varies from just a few kilowatts up to 800 MW. Large Francis turbines are individually designed
for each site to operate with the given water supply and water head at the highest possible
efficiency, typically over 90%.
In addition to electrical production, they may also be used for pumped storage, where a reservoir
is filled by the turbine (acting as a pump) driven by the generator acting as a large electrical motor
during periods of low power demand, and then reversed and used to generate power during peak
demand. These pump storage reservoirs act as large energy storage sources to store "excess"
electrical energy in the form of water in elevated reservoirs. This is one of a few methods that
temporary excess electrical capacity can be stored for later utilization.