HYDRACLIC TURBINES Viktor Kaplan was an Austrian engineer and the inventor of the Kaplan turbine. Kaplan was born on 27 Nov, 1876 in Murzzuschag, Austria into a railroad worker's family. He graduated from high school in Vienna in 1895, after which he attended the Technical University of Vienna, where he studied civil engineering and specialised in diesel engines. From 1900 to 1901 he was drafted into military service in Pula. After working in Vienna with a specialisation in motors, he moved to the German Technical University in Brno to conduct research at the institute of civil engineering. He spent the next three decades of his life in Brno, and nearly all his inventions and research are connected with his professorship there, - In 1912 he published his most notable work: the Kaplan turbine, a Viktor Kaplan revolutionary water turbine that was especially fitted to produce electricity (27 Nov, 1876— from large streams with only a moderate incline, 23 Aug, 1934) In 1913 he was appointed head of the institute for water turbines. In 1918 Kaplan turbines were first built by the Storek construction company for a textile manufacturer in Lower Austria. In 1926 and 1934 Kaplan received honorary doctorates. He died of a stroke in 1934 at Unterach am Attersee, Austria. 0 intRODUCTION A fluid machine is a device which converts energy stored in a fluid into mechanical energy The energy stored in a fluid mass is potential energy, kinetic energy and intermolecular energy. The mechanical energy is transmitted by a rotating shaft. Machines using water as medium are known as hydraulic machines. The hydraulic machines which converts hydraulic energy into mechanical energy are known as turbines. Hydraulic machines which convert hydraulic energy into mechanical energy are called Hydraulic turbines. The mechanical energy so produced is utilised in running an electric generator which is connected to shaft of the turbine. Thus, mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy. This principle is utilised in the production of hydro-electric power, in which hydraulic energy is converted into electric energy. 288Hydraulic Turbines Hoad loss, hy FIG. 10.1 Layout of a hydro-electric power plant. (9G) TYPES OF TURBINES ‘Turbines are classified as : (@ According to hydraulic action of water (@ Impulse turbine () Reaction turbine (i According to head and quantity of water available (@) High head turbine (6) Medium head turbine (©) Low-head turbine (ii According to the direction of flow of water in the runner (@ Tangential flow turbines (6) Radial flow turbines {© Axial flow turbines (d) Mixed flow turbines (jv) According to the specific speed of turbines (@) Low specific speed turbines (6) Medium specific speed turbines (c) High specific speed turbines [Gi DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IMPULSE TURBINE AND REACTION TURBINE jilable energy of the fluid is | Only a portion of the fluid eneregy is ‘kinetic energy by an efficient } conv: ted into kinetic energy before striking on the runner vanes. ‘The velocity and pressure both change @s ‘water glides along the turbine runner, Flow of fluid cannot be regulated without 1o Unit is kept entirely submerged in fluid below the tail race. ‘The runner must run full. beatae Fontes water # | The liquid is admitted over the whole ewheel circumference. | circumference of ‘he wheel Blades of the turbine have to bs fro atmospheric conditions and casing Hrabsolutely reauired: tube sealed It requires a draftee (fj,) : The mechanical losses are taken into account by r jue to mechanical losses, the power available at the shaft is eat see the power delivered to the runner. It is defined as the ratio of power fe at the turbine shaft to the power delivered to the runner. Power available at the turbine shaft, Power delivered by water to the runner _ _Shaft Power (S.P.) Runner Power (R.P.) The value of mechanical efficiency varies between 0,97 to 0.99. @ Overall Efficiency (n,) : It is defined lo)? th o v1 MRR roe arkndarte it ratio of power available at the turbine Nm or Power available at the turbine shaft Power supplied at the inle _ Shaft power _ Shaft power, Runner power Water power Runner power Water power Shaft power ___P___ Px1000 Water power WQH W@QH 1000 No Again 1% (GGG) imPuLsE TURBINES ‘Aturbine is said to be an impulse turbine if the runner* of the turbine revolves by impact or impulse action of water. To increase the impact of water, the entire available energy of water is converted into kinetic energy by passing it through a nozzle. The nozzle is kept close to the runner. The jet of water smoothly impinges on the buckets, fixed to the outer periphery of the runner. There is no pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of Funner as atmospheric pressure prevails at all point in the runner. The runner is completely enclosed in a casing to avoid a accident and splashing of water. Example of an impulse turbine is Pelton Wheel. (GIB) REACTION TURBINES ae. Mora A turbine is said to be reaction turbine if at the inlet of the turbine water possesses. kinetic energy as well as pressure energy. In reaction turbines, runner rotate due to reaction of pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the runner. As the water flows through the reaction turbine, the pressure energy is transformed into kinetic energy and finally the water leaves the turbine at atmospheric pressure i ma) pressure : fp grater than the atmospheric pyc, 19.y. principle of reaction (wr ; is taken to a hollow dise through & bolle In reaction turbine, water from reservoir Be tk shaft as shown in Fig. 10.2. The hollow disc has four radial es oF blade: uubes whic a is known as runner (nine TT © ‘The rotating element of a machine usually van 2020/5/5 21:31 = ene ; t