Lec 1 (Remaining)

Components of MHP
Major Components – Weir and Intake
• Functions
• A weir can be used to raise the water level
and ensure a constant supply to the intake.
• The intake of a hydro scheme is designed to
divert a certain part of the river flow into
the downstream water conveyance system.
• A trashrack is installed at its inlet to restrict
the boulder and floating debris into the
headrace canal or pipe.
• Problems
• Sediment deposition by flood
• Suspended Trashes at Intake Trashrack
• Deformation and crack in civil structures
• Water leakage from weir and gate
Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
09/04/2021 2
Major Components – Desilting Tank
•Functions
•The water drawn from the river and fed to the
turbine will usually carry a suspension of small
particles.
•This sediment will be composed of hard abrasive
materials such as sand which can cause expensive
damage and rapid wear to turbine runners.
•To remove this material the water flow must be
slowed down in settling basins so that the silt
particles will settle on the basin floor.

• Problems
• Desilting tank choking due to excessive sand
deposition
• Cracks on the structure
• Leakage from the structure
Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
• Landslides and soil erosion
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 Major Components – Headrace
• Functions
• The headrace conducts the water from the intake to
the Forebay tank.
• Headrace may be of:
• Headrace Pipe
• Headrace Canal
• The length of the headrace depends on local
conditions.
• To reduce friction and prevent leakages channels
are often sealed with cement, clay or polyethene
sheet.

• Problems
• Suspended materials along canal
• Sand sedimentation
• Leakage, deformation and crack in structure
• Land slide along the headrace Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
• Erosion due to high velocity
09/04/2021 4
 Major Components – Forebay Tank

• Functions
• The Forebay tank forms the connection
between the headrace and the penstock.
• The main purpose is to allow the last
particles to settle down before the water
enters the penstock.
• Depending on its size it can also serve as a
reservoir to store water.
• A spillway is connected to a Forebay.
• Problems
• Choking Trashrack due to suspended materials
• Excessive sedimentation
• Leakage, deformation and crack in structure
• Land slide and soil erosion due to spillway
Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
09/04/2021 5
Major Components – Penstock Pipe

Dochalgad Micro hydro

Plant (86.5kW)
Garjyangkot, Jumla

09/04/2021 6
Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
•
Major Components – Penstock
Functions
• Pipe to convey water from Forebay to turbine.
• Steel pipe in case of high pressure.
• HDPE pipe or Hard vinyl chloride plastic pipes or FRP (Fiber
Reinforced Plastic) pipes in case of low pressure
• The penstock often constitutes a major expense in the total micro
hydro budget, as much as 30 % is not uncommon in high head
installations, and it is therefore worthwhile optimizing the design.
• Head loss due to friction in the pipe decrease dramatically with
increasing pipe diameter.
• Conversely, pipe costs increase steeply with diameter.
• A compromise between cost and performance is required.

• Problems
• Leakage from welding joint (poor QC)
• Cracks in pipe
• Landslides in pipe alignment
• Leakage from Expansion Joint
• Entrance head loss
Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
09/04/2021 7
 Major Components – Valve and
•Turbines
Functions
• A controlling valve, at the upstream of turbine, is
installed to regulate the flow and the speed of the
turbine.
• The turbine converts the flow and pressure of the
water to mechanical energy; the water emerging
from the turbine returns to the natural watercourse
along a tailrace channel.
• The turbine turns a generator, which is then
• Problems
connected to electrical loads.
• Leakage from valve
• Excessive wear of turbine due to high sediment
concentrated water
• Breakdown of turbine due to foreign harmful material
in flowing matter
• Poor quality of runner and housing
• Misalignment of turbine and generator
• Excessive heat, noise and vibrations

Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar

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Major Components – Gearing and Electrical items
• Functions
• Belts are designed for light-duty power
transmission and high-performance
conveying.
• Induction or synchronous generator
are used to convert mechanical power
into electrical.
• Electronic Load Controller (ELC) is used
which automatically regulates and
• Problems
controls the rotational speed of a
• Excessive vibrations and noise
• Belthydro-electric
breakage
generating system by
adding
• Frequent MCBor deducting an array of
Tripping
• Load Unbalance
dummy loads.
• Generator over heated
• Frequent breakdown of ELC
09/04/2021 9
Major Components – Transmission and Distribution
• Functions
• Transmission of electrical power from powerhouse
to load center.
• Different types of conductor are used like Dog, Wolf,
Squirrel, Ant etc. based on the current rating and
breakage strength in tension.
• For micro hydro power transmission, swaged type
tubular poles are used. Wooden poles are also sued
to reduce the initial invent.

• Problems
• Longer distance between the powerhouse and load
center
• Higher line loss
• Damage of wooden poles due to the biological
degradations
• Breakage of the conductor
• Electrical hazards
Picture Credit: Bal Mukunda Kunwar
• Short-circuit
09/04/2021 10
Operation and maintenance
• Operation- the action of functioning
• Maintenance- act of keeping something in good condition by
checking or repairing it regularly
• Procedural steps are required to be properly followed to
maintain the optimum performance of any machinery
• The operating conditions need to be maintained just right
• Steps may be preventive to avoid damage or corrective to
repair damage
Importance in Hydropower
• Failure of one small component can impact whole
system; subsequently plant
• Finding any irregularity within the system early if
present
• Avoiding accidents and financial losses
• Avoiding downtime of the plant
Types of maintenance
• Preventive maintenance
• Predictive maintenance
• Proactive maintenance
• Reactive maintenance
• Reliability-Centered maintenance
Preventive maintenance
• Also called scheduled or routine maintenance
• Based on the principle “prevention is better than cure”
• Main purpose to minimize breakdown.
• It is done on different time basis such as daily, weekly, monthly,
annually , etc
• It includes painting, lubrication, cleaning, adjusting and minor
component replacement.
• It doesn’t consider the actual condition of the equipment
• It is resource-intensive, costly and time-consuming.
Predictive maintenance
• It differs from preventive maintenance and tries to predict the failure
of equipment
• It requires different forms of testing and analysis for prediction
• The monitoring system are based on alarming signs and symptoms
• Data recording and analysis is done for all the tests
• Some of the signs are leakage of oil and water, loss of generated
power efficiency, unusual temperature range, vibration, etc
• It saves from different hazards and unnecessary losses
• For example, turbine erosion case(affected by the external conditions)
Proactive maintenance
• Recent type of maintenance
• Works on the principle “root cause failure analysis”
• In this, prime cause of failure is identified and then corrected
• It mainly focuses on the parameter that affect the performance and
that which causes breakdown
Reactive maintenance
• Also called breakdown maintenance
• It is done only when equipment has undergone failure
• It is generally used for cheaper components only
• It is preferred for mini and micro hydropower not for large
hydropower
• It includes high costs than other due to overtime expenses and
unplanned downtime
Reliability-Centered maintenance
• It is the mix of proactive, preventive and reactive maintenance
• It provides the reliability of components at minimum cost
• Main purpose is to eliminate costly unscheduled maintenance and
minimize preventive maintenance
• Not all components are equally important and less important are left
for breakdown
• It is based on appropriate maintenance at appropriate time
Methodology
Operating phase of hydropower plant
Maintenance phase of hydropower plant
Operation of hydropower plant
Civil structure and water flow
Power plant equipment
• Hydro-mechanical
• Electro-mechanical
• Transmission and Distribution
Civil structure and water flow
• Operation for water flow and civil structure(which guard the path of
water flow) depends on type of hydropower plant
• Pondage run off river, dam storage or pure run off river are general types
• The main purpose for the water flow is to manage the fluctuations in the
flow rate and
• The main purpose of structure for eg. gates is to regulate the amount of
water
• Closing and opening of gates at dam/reservoir allow storage of water
during dry seasons to met the demand and releasing when excessive
water is stored.
Hydro-mechanical equipment
• Lubrication oil in the oil pressure unit, compressed air pressure in
high-pressure compressor are regulated
• Air seal and drain valves are closed and leakages are inspected
• Bypass gates are not mechanically locked
• Intake gates and draft tube must be in operating condition
• Oil pressure level is regulated
• Cooling water supply for bearing and shaft is opened
• Braking system is kept on and guide vane is unlocked
Electro-mechanical
• In this section, generator is the prime focus
• Cooling system, lubrication system, braking system, fire protection
system are checked
• Temperature in the various components in generator(windings and
slip ring brushes) should be checked
• Pumps used for pumping oils and cooling water supply should be
checked
• Any kind of abnormal sound vibration must be avoided
Transmission and distribution
• Components used for transmitting and distributing the electricity
• Transformer and switchyard should be inspected.
• In case of transformer-firefighting system, cooling system, lubrication
oil should be checked
• Inspection of switchyard to avoid any unwanted sparks
• Position of circuit breaker, earthing switch should be properly verified
• Parameters in the control room display must be verified
Tools/ methods

• Water Leakages
• Vibration
• Oil Leakages
• Rotor corrosion and cavitation
• Clogging
Water leakages
• Prevalent in joints
mostly
• Maybe due to
corrosion as well
• Ultrasonic thickness
gauge can be used
• Magnetic particle
test is also helpful
Using plate
thickness gauge
Vibration
• Mostly occurring due to inappropriate assembly or corrosion
• Non uniform motion can be detected easily with noises if large vibration
• Necessary to find about vibration at early stages
• Vibration meter can be used
• Data is recorded in the meter

Oil leakage
• Visual inspection is important
• Insufficient lubrication in components make noise
• Pressure tests can be done with oil pressure unit
Rotor corrosion and
cavitation
• Defects seen are warping,
blistering, swelling
• Erosion is caused by high
sand content
• Cavitation is caused by
bubble formation due to
the rapid change in the
saturated vapor pressure
• Only one rotor at a time is
disassembled
Clogging
• Foreign component trapped
with flow of water is
prevented by trahrack
• Trashrack can be clogged if
not regularly cleaned
• Flow can be obstructed
• It can get damaged as well
• Rotor parts can be damaged
• Should be replaced or
repaired