Last Rev.

: 19 JUN 08

Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

Page 1

Grading Sheet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MIME 3470Thermal Science Laboratory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laboratory . 11

PELTON WHEEL
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS

Students Names Section

POINTS

PRESENTATIONApplicable to Both MS Word and Mathcad Sections

GENERAL APPEARANCE, ORGANIZATION, ENGLISH, & GRAMMAR

ORDERED DATA, CALCULATIONS & RESULTSMATHCAD

30
25

CALCULATIONS
COMBINED PLOT
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
WHAT ARE TWO FEATURES OBSERVED FROM COMBINED PLOT?
WHY IS THE BUCKET EXIT ANGLE SMALL AND NONZERO?
WHAT IS PURPOSE OF CUTOUT AT BUCKET PERIPHERY?
WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM UTILIZATION FACTOR WHEN 2 = 0?
WHY MUST A TURBINE W/ NONZERO HAVE A ROTOR ENCLOSED?
WHY DOES THE RELATIVE VELOCITY REMAIN UNCHANGED AS
THE FLOW PASSES THROUGH A PELTON BUCKET?
CONCLUSIONS
ORIGINAL DATASHEET
TOTAL
COMMENTS

GRADER

5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
100

SCORE

TOTAL

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

Page 2

Last Rev.: 19 JUN 08

Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

MIME 3470Thermal Science Laboratory

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laboratory . 11

PELTON WHEEL
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LAB PARTNERS: NAME

NAME
NAME
SECTION

EXPERIMENT TIME/DATE:

NAME
NAME
NAME
TIME, DATE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OBJECTIVEof this experiment is to plot the Pelton wheel actual

and theoretical horsepowers vs. U/V1 (explained below) and to
demonstrate that maximum power occurs when U/V1 0.5.
INTRODUCTION
A water turbine1 is a rotary engine2 that takes energy from moving
water. The Pelton wheel is such a device.
The earliest water turbines were water wheels which have been
used for thousands of years for industrial power. Their main shortcoming is size, which limits the flow rate and head that can be used.
The migration from water wheels to modern, more efficient turbines took during the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution.
Efficiency improvements of water turbines allowed them to compete
with steam engines (wherever water was available). These turbines
(using scientific principles, new materials, and, new manufacturing
methods) were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical
grids. Now they are mostly used for electric power generation.
The main difference between early water turbines and water
wheels is a swirl component of the water which passes energy to a
spinning rotor. Swirl is the tangential velocity component induced
by a curved impeller. This additional component of motion allowed
the turbine to be smaller than a water wheel of the same power. They
could process more water by spinning faster and could harness much
greater heads. Later, impulse turbines such as the Pelton wheel
were developed which did not use swirl.
THEORY
Euler Turbine Equation
ALL turbines have a runner or rotor which holds the turbine vanes
or blades. In the case of a water wheel, the vanes are simple
paddles. This runner and attached vanes rotate as flowing water is
directed onto the vanes. Since the runner is spinning, the imparted
water force acting through a distance generates work. In this way,
energy is transferred from the water flow to the turbine.
The basic design relationship for all turbomachines is very simple
and is only a form of Newtons Laws of Motion applied to fluid
traversing a rotor. Imagine water impinging on a turbine runner at
Point 1 at some arbitrary angle and at rotor radius r1. Further, the
fluid exits the runner at Point 2 having some other arbitrary angle
and at rotor radius r2. Also, the flow is assumed to be an
unchanging steady-state at every point in the system. The fluid
velocity vector at any point can be resolved into three mutually
perpendicular components:
Va an axial component directed parallel to the axis of rotation,
Vm a radial component directed radially outward from the axis
of rotation, and
Vu a tangential component directed parallel to the tangential
velocity of the rotor, U.
1

turbine: word coined by the French engineer Claude Bourdin in the early
19th century and is derived from the Latin word for whirling or a vortex.
2
engine: a mechanical device producing some form of output from a given
input.

Page 3

The change in magnitude in axial and radial components

causes forces must be carried by the bearings. These forces,
however, do not affect the angular rotation of the rotor except
through bearing friction.
However, the change in magnitude and of radius of the
tangential velocity components corresponds to a change in angular
momentum of the fluid and by Newtons Laws of Motion is equal
to the summation of all the applied forces on the rotor; i.e., the net
torque on the rotor, . In general terms, this is as follows. If a mass
of fluid M1 enters the rotor at radius r1, with tangential component
of absolute velocity Vu1 during time t; and, if during the same
time t a mass M2 leaves the rotor at radius r2 with tangential
component of absolute velocity Vu 2 ; then

M1
M
r1Vu1 2 r2Vu 2
gct
gct

For a unit mass steady flow, M 1 t M 2 t m 1 this

becomes

r1Vu1 g c r2Vu 2 g c . For a steady rotor

angular velocity of , the rate of energy transferred or utilized Eutil

= . Further, the linear velocity of the rotor is U = r.
Combining all this yields

Eutil

1
U1Vu1 U 2Vu 2
gc

(1)

This is one form of the Euler turbine equation or simply the Euler
equation.3
Degree of Reaction
The relative proportions of energy transfer obtained by change
of both static and dynamic pressures are important factors with
respect to classifying turbomachines, as for a given class of
machine this proportion inevitably leads to a particular type of
design with certain inherent characteristics. The parameter used to
describe this relation is the degree of reaction or more simply the
reaction, R, which is defined as the ratio of the energy transfer by
means of or resulting in a change of static pressure in the rotor to
the total energy transfer to (utilized by) the rotor.

1
U12 U 22 Vr2 Vr2
2
1
2gc
R
1
U1Vu1 U 2Vu 2
g
c

(2)

E util

where, Eutil Total energy transferred to the rotor

U linear velocity of the rotor at radius r, = r

V absolute velocity
Vu tangential component of absolute velocity
Vr velocity relative to the moving rotor
R, can be negative, zero, and values greater than unity.
Reaction Turbines
Water turbines are either reaction turbines or impulse turbines. All
common water turbines until the late 19th century were reaction
turbines. Reaction turbines are acted on by water, which changes
static pressure as it moves through the turbine and gives up its
energy. The flow between the rotating vanes of a reaction turbine can
3

This should not be confused with the Euler flow equation which is simply
the Navier-Stokes equation without viscosity effects.

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

be envisioned as flow through rotating nozzles. The pressures within

the moving nozzle produce work. The flow must be encased to
contain the water pressure (or suction), in order that the fluid cannot
expand freely in all directions. Alternately, the vanes must be fully
submerged in the water flow as with a ships propeller.
Most water turbines in use are reaction turbineseven a
simple spinning lawn sprinkler. They are used in low and medium
head applications. Two popular types of reaction turbines are the
Francis and the Kaplan turbines.
In 1826, Benoit Fourneyron developed a high efficiency (80%)
outward flow water turbine. Water was directed tangentially through
the turbine runner causing it to spin. Jean-Victor Poncelet designed
an inward-flow turbine in about 1820 that used the same principles.
S. B. Howd obtained a U.S. patent in 1838 for a similar design.
In 1848, James B. Francis improved on the inward-flow design to
create a turbine with 90% efficiency. It is also called a radial-flow
turbine He applied scientific principles and testing methods to
produce the most efficient turbine design ever. More importantly, his
mathematical and graphical calculation methods improved the state
of the art of turbine design and engineering. His analytical methods
allowed confident design of high efficiency turbines to exactly
match a sites flow conditions.
Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today.
They operate in a head range of ten meters to several hundred
meters and are primarily used for electrical power production.

Page 4

Knight developed a wheel where the vanes were bucket-like which

captured the energy of a free jet, which had converted a high head
(hundreds of vertical feet in a pipe or penstock) of water to kinetic
energy. This is called an impulse or tangential turbine. The water's
velocity, roughly twice the velocity of the bucket periphery, does a
U-turn in the bucket and drops out of the runner at low velocity.
In 1879, Lester Pelton4, experimenting
with a Knight Wheel, developed a doublesemicylindrical bucket design, which
exhausted the water to the side,
eliminating some energy loss of the
Knight wheel which exhausted some
water back against the center of the wheel.
In about 1895, William Doble improved on
Pelton's half-cylindrical bucket form with
an elliptical bucket that included a cutout
Lester Allen Pelton
in it to allow the jet a cleaner bucket exit by
centrifugal force. This is the modern form of the Pelton turbine
which today achieves up to 92% efficiency. Pelton had been quite an
effective promoter of his design and although Doble took over the
Pelton company he did not change the name because it had brand
name recognition.
So, if R = 0, there is no change of static pressure in the rotor
and such a turbine is an impulse-type. In these machines, prior to
hitting the buckets, the waters head pressure (potential energy) is
entirely converted to kinetic energy by a nozzle and focused on the
turbine (see Figure 3). As the nozzle is stationary, it performs no
work even though force is transferred to it as it accelerates the
flow. As no pressure change occurs at the turbine blades the
turbine doesn't require an enclosing housing.
Utilization Factor
The quality of interest in a turbine is the adiabatic efficiency which
is usually taken to be equal to the overall efficiency, since mechanical
efficiency is nearly unity. However, the adiabatic efficiency is also

Figure 1Francis Turbine: (a) Cross section,

(b) Runner used in Grand Coulee Dam

The Kaplan turbine is an inward-flow, propeller-type water

turbine that has adjustable blades developed in 1913 by the Austrian
professor Viktor Kaplan. It was an evolution of the Francis turbine.

Figure 2Kaplan Propeller Turbine

Its invention allowed efficient power production in low head

applications that was not possible with Francis turbines. Kaplan
turbines are now widely used throughout the world in high-flow,
low-head power production. Their efficiencies are typically over
90%, but may be lower in very low head applications. Again, most
water turbines in use are reaction turbines. They are used in low
and medium head applications.
Impulse Turbines
Zero reaction (R = 0) is an important value and characterizes a
particular design of many types of turbomachine. The Knight and
Pelton bucket wheels are examples of zero reaction turbines.
In 1866, California millwright Samuel Knight invented a
machine that worked from a different concept. Inspired by the high
pressure jet systems used in hydraulic mining in the gold fields,

LESTER ALLAN PELTON: FATHER OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER

September 5, 1829 March 14, 1908

Lester Pelton was born in Vermilion Township (Erie County), Ohio. In the
spring of 1850, Lester and some other youths headed for gold country in
California. Arriving there Pelton left his friends and went to Sacramento
where he peddled fish to miners. After hearing that digging gold in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains was more profitable he moved some ninety miles north to
Camptonville along the Yuba River in 1860. All types of mining were going on
there; placer, hard rock, and hydrologic. Although Lester was not terribly
interested in mining he was an avid reader and he enjoyed watching the mining
efforts. A very introspective person, he was also a skilled tinsmith, carpenter,
and millwright. At the time steam engines powered most of the mining works.
According to a 1939 article by W. F. Durand of Stanford University in
Mechanical Engineering: Pelton's invention started from an accidental
observation, some time in the 1870s. Pelton was watching a spinning water
turbine when the key holding its wheel onto its shaft slipped, causing it to
become misaligned. Instead of the jet hitting the cups in their middle, the
slippage made it hit near the edge; rather than the water flow being
stopped, it was now deflected into a half-circle, coming out again with
reversed direction. Surprisingly, the turbine now moved faster. That was
Pelton's great discovery. In other turbines the jet hit the middle of the cup
and the splash of the impacting water wasted energy.
Peltons wheel was first used at the Mayflower Mine in Nevada City,
California in 1878. By 1879 he had tested a prototype Pelton wheel at the
University of California. In 1887 a miner attached Pelton's wheel to a dynamo
and produced the first hydroelectric power in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
With Peltons wheel, low-cost hydroelectric power could replace expensive
steam engines in mining operations in the western states, where streams
rarely flowed at high enough volumes to turn traditional water wheels.
A patent was granted in 1889 to Pelton. To keep up with tremendous
demand, Pelton and a San Francisco machine shop owner organized the
Pelton Water Wheel Company. Today, Peltons wheel still generates
electricity in small hydroelectric power plants in the western United States.

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

the product of two factors, the first factor being referred to as the
utilization factor or diagram efficiency is the ratio of the ideal
work output to the energy available for conversion into work. The
value of the utilization factor may be found from the ideal velocity
diagrams and the energy equations. Under ideal conditions, it
should be possible to use all of the available kinetic energy of the
liquid at the turbine inlet and also the energy obtained in the rotor
due to pressure drop (i.e., reaction effort). Since the former
quantity is

V12

Thus the utilization factor for a Pelton wheel turbine becomes

/ 2 g c , while the latter quantity is

2
1

U 22 / 2 g c Vr2 Vr2 / 2 g c
2

1
V12 U12 U 22 Vr2 Vr2
2
1
2gc

E
util
E avail

V12

U12

U 22

Vr2
2

V12

U U
21 cos 2

V1 V1

U
0 21 cos 2 1 2
V1
U

V1
d

Vr2
1

Pelton Wheel
The Pelton wheel is composed of a nozzle which converts the
whole available head to kinetic energy and a rotor made up of a
series of double hemispherical buckets fastened on the periphery
of the rotor. The rotor is not enclosed, and the water leaving the
buckets goes immediately to the tailrace.
The Pelton wheel falls in a large class of these machines known
as the axial-flow type5 where the nozzle angle relative to the runner is
zero. However, the bucket cannot have a 180 camber angle, since
the water must have a finite radial velocity component away from
the wheel in order to avoid interference.
The Pelton wheel shown in Figure 3 is a pure impulse (R = 0)
turbine. It is used in very high head installations and develops efficiencies very close to the Francis and Kaplan reaction turbines.
The utilization factor described in Equation 3 can be further
simplified as follows: For these machines there is no change of
rotor radius, so U1 = U2. Further, since the energy transfer is entirely
at atmospheric pressure (see Figure 3) the absolute flow velocity
remains unchanged; i.e., an impulse machine of the axial-flow type
has Vr1 Vr2 . Thus the energy transfer is wholly derived from a
change in the velocitys direction. This resulting change in
momentum (impulse) causes a force on the turbine buckets. The
denominator of Equation 3 representing energy available then
becomes simply V12.
The Vu terms in the numerator of Equation 3 can be simplified
by referring to the vector diagram of Figure 3.

or

U
1

V1
2

U
0 21 cos 2 1 2
V1
U

V1

U
1

V1
2

or

(5)

i.e., when the linear velocity of the bucket is half that of the
absolute velocity of the impinging jet.

(3)

Vu1 V1 U Vr1

2UVr 1 cos 2
V12

2U V1 U 1 cos 2

1
V12 U12 U 22 Vr2 Vr2
2
1
2gc
2 U1Vu1 U 2Vu 2

V12

The theoretical maximum value of utilization factor should

occur when

On the other hand, the work output (energy utilized) from the
system is given by the Euler turbine equation (see Equation 1).
The ideal utilization factor, , is the ratio of Eutil to Eavail, i.e.,

1
U1Vu1 U 2Vu 2
gc

2U U Vr1 U Vr2 cos 2

(4)

the ideal energy available for conversion into work in the turbine is:

E avail

Page 5

V1

1 = 0
Vr1

U
2

WATER
JET

U
Vr2

V2

VARIABLE
AREAS
NOZZLE

SPEAR

CUTOUT
SIDE OF BUCKET

TAIL RACE

Figure 3Pelton Wheel Impulse Turbine

PROCEDURE
Given the apparatus of Figure 4, do the following:
1. In Figure 4, is a box labeled Pump Motor Controller. With this,
one dials in a nominal percent of maximum pump motor rpm.
For 60%, 50%, and 40% settings, perform the following steps.
2. For each of these settings determine the following:
a. Determine the flow rate using the Volumetric Measuring
Tank and a stopwatch. The lab instructor will demonstrate
how to fill the tank.
b. Measure the pump discharge pressure and note the pump
discharge inner diameter. From these, one can determine the
absolute velocity of the jet from the Pelton nozzle, V1, from
Bernoullis equation.
c. Note the diameters of the Pelton wheel (to the center of the
cups) and of the Prony brake.
d. The Prony brake6, shown in Figure 4 and at the right, is used
to both apply a torque to the Pelton wheel and to measure

Vu 2 U Vr2 cos 2
where 2 is described in Figure 3.
5

Also known as zero-angle type.

prony brake: a simple device invented by Gaspard de Prony to measure the

torque produced by an engine. The term brake horsepower is one measurement of torque obviously derived from this method of measurement.
Prony Brake

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

the torque generated. For a Prony brake radius of Rbrake , that

torque is
Rbrake F1 F2

The forces F1 and F2 are determined from spring-loaded scales

(see Figure 4).
e. For a given flow rate, one wants to first determine the Pelton
wheel rpm with no Prony brake load, rpmmax, and that Prony
brake load (F1 and F2) that just stops the Pelton wheel, rpm =
0. Rpm is measured using a laser tachometer.
The Pelton-wheel bucket velocity, U, with no Prony brake
load can be considered a good approximation to the actual jet
velocity, V1. Since the torque, , is zero for this condition,
horsepower is also zero (HP = ).
With the wheel just stopped with the Prony brake, the
horsepower should also be zero.
There is space on the data sheet for 10 rpms for each flow
condition. In the procedure just above, the first and last rpms
are defined. Now, divide the maximum rpm by 10 to determine
the rpm interval such that the remaining 8 data points can be
determined. Measure the Prony brake loads for each rpm.

Page 6

Pump and Motor Characteristics

Impeller OD:
5
of Impeller Blades: 6
Type of Impeller:
Open Type of Blades:
Backward Curving
Torque Arm Length: 5
Motor Speed Range: 0-3000 rpm

SpringLoaded
Loaded
Scale
Prony Brake
Pump
Pump
Motor
Motor
Controller
Controller

Pelton Wheel
Buckets

Motor

Pump
(see below)

Volumetric
Measuring
Tank

Torque Arm

Sump Tank

Weight Hanger

Figure 4Pump Performance Test Rig and Pelton Wheel

CALCULATIONS
A Mathcad is supplied below.
Use the variable names already
supplied in the object. At the
bottom of this object is in the
required format the student is to
supply a summary of the 60%rpm condition. This along with
the required plot should be more
than sufficient to evaluate the
students work. One should be
able to put all their Mathcad
calculations on one sheet as
Figure 5Example Oneshown in Figure 5.
Page Calculation Sheet
The required plot is as shown
in Figure 6. The data used to generate this plot is questionable so
the actual shape of the curves is subject to change.

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

Page 7

Figure 6 Sample Plot of Calculations

Note: The data used for this plot is questionable

Also answer the questions found in the Discussion of Results and

supply a Conclusion(s).
REFERENCES
1. Principles of Turbomachinery, D.G. Shepherd, MacMillian
Publishing Co., Inc, New York, 1956.
2. Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_turbine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_turbine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaplan_turbine
3. Engineering Fluid Mechanics, J.A. Roberson and C.T. Crowe,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 6th Edition, 1997.
4. Turbines, J.B. Calvert, University of Denver
http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/fluids/turbine.htm
5. National Inventors Hall of Fame
http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/293.html
6. An Introduction to Energy Conversion: Turbo Machinery, Vol. 3,
V.Kadambi and Manohar Prasad, Wiley Eastern, New Delhi, 1977
Google Books Result

ORDERED DATA, CALCULATIONS, and RESULTS (Mathcad object is reduced to 80%)

Last Rev.: 19 JUN 08

DATA: TRIAL INDEX:

Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

i 1 3

RUN INDEX:

j 1 10

Page 8

PUMP DISCHARGE ID:

ID 1.5 in

PELTON WHEEL RADIUS: R 5.25 in

PRONY BRAKE RADIUS: RBrake 3 in
WAT ER DENSITY: 62.24 lb ft
TRIAL 1 (i = 1)
TRIAL 2 (i= 2)
TRIAL 3 (i = 3)
|
NOMINAL 60% OF MAX PUMP RPM
NOMINAL 50% OF MAX PUMP RPM
NOMINAL 40% OF MAX PUMP RPM
|
|
| F1
F1
F2
NP

F2
NP

| F1 3 j F2 3 j NP3 j
1j
1j
1j
2j
2j
2j
|
|
|
Vol
Vol
|
1
3
Vol
|
2
|
|
|
t
t
t
|
1
2
3
|
|
|
|
H
H
H
|
1
2
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

SUMMARY OF T RIAL 1 (60%): m_dotAct kg

1
V 1.Ac t ft
1
T Ac t

1j
ft lbf

V1.Th ft
1
HPAct

1j
ft hp

1j
ft

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
What two features can be observed from the plot of the results?
Answer:
Why are the buckets designed so that 2 (see Figure 3) is a small,
nonzero angle?
Answer:
What is the purpose of the cutout or notch at the periphery of the
Pelton wheel buckets?
Answer:
What is the maximum ideal utilization factor for a Pelton wheel
when 2 = 0?
Answer:
Why must a turbine with nonzero degree of reaction have a rotor
enclosed?
Answer:
Why does the relative velocity remain unchanged as the flow
passes through a Pelton bucket?
Answer:

CONCLUSIONS

Page 9

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Pelton Wheel: MIME 3470

Page 10

APPENDIXDATA SHEET
Time/Date:

___________________

Lab Partners:

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

Particulars of the Apparatus: Pelton Wheel Radius, R:

_________ (
) Prony Brake Radius, RBrake: _________ (
Pump Discharge Diam, ID: _____1.5 in___

Trial 1
(i= 1)
Nominal
60% of
Max
Motor
RPM

Volume, Vol

Time, t

Pump Discharge Gage Pressure,

H

Pump
Flow Rate

Trial 2
(i= 2)
Nominal
50% of
Max
Motor
RPM

Prony Brake
Forces
Run, j

Pelton Wheel rpm

F2
)

Volume, Vol

Time, t

Pump Discharge Gage Pressure, H

Prony Brake
Forces

F1
(

Pump
Flow Rate

Run, j

F1
(

10

10

Trial 3
(i= 3)
Nominal
40% of
Max
Motor
RPM

Pump
Flow Rate

Time, t

Prony Brake
Forces
Run, j

F1
(

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Pelton Wheel rpm

F2
)

Volume, Vol

Pump Discharge Gage Pressure,

H

Pelton Wheel rpm

F2
)