Hydro Energy

- Hydroelectric power is energy that comes from flowing water

- Hydroelectric power is the result of two natural principles: Gravity and
Hydrological cycle
Hydrological Cycle

Types of hydropower plants

1. IMPOUNDMENT

 Uses water that is stored ("impounded") in a manmade dam.

 Water is released from the reservoir and flows into a turbine, causing it to spin
and activate a generator that produces electricity.
 The water flow is controlled in these systems, and it may be released to meet
changing electricity needs or to stabilize the water level in the reservoir.

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2. DIVERSION
 Also called run-of-river plants
 Divert a portion of the current of a river through a canal or penstock.
 It may not require the use of a dam.
 Common with small hydro power plants

3. PUMPED STORAGE
 Store energy by pumping water to a higher reservoir when demand is low.
 When electricity is needed, the water is released to turn turbines.

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 Two way flow
 Pumped up to a storage reservoir and returned to a lower elevation for power
generation

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 Hydropower Plant

Head Race
hL

H
Hg

Tail Race

 Potential energy at the headwater

 Kinetic energy at the penstock
 Mechanical energy at the turbine
 Electrical energy at the generator

Hydropower plant consists of the following:

1. A Dam constructed across a river or a channel to store water. The
reservoir is also known as Headrace.
2. Pipes of large diameter called Penstocks which carry water under
pressure from storage reservoir to the turbines. These pipes are usually
made of steel or reinforced concrete.
3. Turbines having different types of vanes or buckets or blades mounted
on a wheel called runner.
4. Tailrace which is channel carrying water away from the turbine after
the water has worked on the turbines. The water surface in the tailrace
is also referred to as tailrace.

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 Hydropower Design
Terminology
 Head
 Water must fall from a higher elevation to a lower one to release its stored
energy.
 The difference between these elevations (the water levels in the forebay and
the tailbay) is called head
 Dams: three categories
 high-head (800 or more feet)
 medium-head (100 to 800 feet)
 low-head (less than 100 feet)
 Power is proportional to the product of
head x flow

Classification of Hydropower Projects

 Large-hydro
 More than 100 MW feeding into a large electricity grid
 Medium-hydro
 15 - 100 MW usually feeding a grid
 Small-hydro
 1 - 15 MW - usually feeding into a grid
 Mini-hydro
 Above 100 kW, but below 1 MW
 Either stand alone schemes or more often feeding into the grid
 Micro-hydro
 From 5kW up to 100 kW
 Usually provided power for a small community or rural industry in remote
areas away from the grid.
 Pico-hydro
 From a few hundred watts up to 5kW
 Remote areas away from the grid.

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 Types of Hydropower Turbines

 Francis Turbine
 Kaplan Turbine
 Pelton Turbine
 Turgo Turbine
 New Designs

Classification of Hydro Turbines

 Reaction Turbines
 Derive power from pressure drop across turbine
 Totally immersed in water
 Angular & linear motion converted to shaft power
 Propeller, Francis, and Kaplan turbines
 Impulse Turbines
 Convert kinetic energy of water jet hitting buckets
 No pressure drop across turbines
 Pelton, Turgo, and crossflow turbines

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Schematic of Francis Turbine

Francis Turbine Cross-Section

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Francis Turbine

Fixed-Pitch Propeller Turbine

Kaplan Turbine Schematic

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Kaplan Turbine Cross Section

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Pelton Wheel Turbine

Turgo Turbine

Turbine Design Ranges

 Kaplan 2< H < 40

 Francis 10< H <350
 Pelton 50< H <1300
 Turgo 50< H <250

(H = head in metres)

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Hydraulic Turbines: Definition and Basics
Classification of Hydraulic Turbines: Based on flow path

 Water can pass through the Hydraulic Turbines in different flow paths.
 Based on the flow path of the liquid, Hydraulic Turbines can be categorized into three
types.
 Axial Flow Hydraulic Turbines: This category of Hydraulic Turbines has the
flow path of the liquid mainly parallel to the axis of rotation. Kaplan Turbines
has liquid flow mainly in axial direction.
 Radial Flow Hydraulic Turbines: Such Hydraulic Turbines has the liquid
flowing mainly in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation e.g. Pelton
Turbine
 Mixed Flow Hydraulic Turbines: For most of the Hydraulic Turbines used
there is a significant component of both axial and radial flows. Such types of
Hydraulic Turbines are called as Mixed Flow Turbines. Francis Turbine is an
example of mixed flow type, in Francis Turbine water enters in radial
direction and exits in axial direction.

NB: None of the Hydraulic Turbines are purely axial flow or purely radial flow. There is
always a component of radial flow in axial flow turbines and of axial flow in radial flow
turbines.

Classification of Hydraulic Turbines: Based on pressure change

 One more important criterion for classification of Hydraulic Turbines is whether the
pressure of liquid changes or not while it flows through the rotor of the Hydraulic
Turbines.
 Based on the pressure change Hydraulic Turbines can be classified as of two types.
 Impulse Turbine: The pressure of liquid does not change while flowing
through the rotor of the machine. Thus no pressure drop between turbines,
they convert kinetic energy of water jet hitting buckets. One such example of
impulse turbine is Pelton Wheel.
 Reaction Turbine: The pressure of liquid changes while it flows through the
rotor of the machine, thus they derive power from pressure drop between
turbines. The change in fluid velocity and reduction in its pressure causes a
reaction on the turbine blades. Francis and Kaplan Turbines fall in the
category of Reaction Turbines.

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Francis – Mixed flow hydraulic turbine

Kaplan- an axial hydraulic turbine

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PELTO N – RADIAL
HYDRAULIC
TURBINE

Unit Quantities

- In the studies of comparison of the performances of turbines of

different output, speeds and different heads, it is convenient to
determine the output, the speed and the discharge, when the head on the
turbine is reduced to unity, i.e. 1 m.
- The conditions of the turbine under unit head are such that the
efficiency of the turbine remains unaffected.
- For a given a turbine every velocity vector ( V 1 , U 1 , Vw 1 , V f 1 ) is a
function of H where H is the head on the turbine. With this basic
concept, we can determine the speed, discharge and power under unit
head.
Unit Speed (N u ):

- This is the speed of a turbine working under a unit head

- Let N be the speed of turbine, H be the head on the turbine and u be the
peripheral velocity.

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 - The peripheral velocity u is given by
π DN
u=
60 where D is the mean diameter of the runner which is treated
as constant and N is the speed of the runner,
- Hence u  N

But u=K u √ 2 g H and therefore u α √H

Hence N α √H

i.e. N = K 1 √ H , where K 1 is the proportionality constant.

- From definition of Unit speed, it is the speed of a turbine when

working under unit head. Hence at H=1, N=N u . Substituting, we get
N u = K 1 √1 = K 1

N
Nu =
N = Nu √ H or √ H ---------------------------------------------------------------------(01)
Unit Discharge (Q u ):

- This is the discharge through the turbine working under a unit head.
- Consider Q as the discharge through a turbine. From discharge
continuity equation, Q = a x V, where a is the cross-sectional area of
flow and V is the mean flow velocity.
- For a given turbine, the cross-sectional area is constant and hence Q 
V

- But V =C v √ 2 g H and therefore V α √H , hence Q α √H

i.e. Q = K 2 √ H where K 2 is the proportionality constant.

- From definition of Unit discharge, it is the discharge through the

turbine when working under unit head. Hence at H=1, Q=Q u .
Substituting, we get
Qu = K 2 √1 = K 2

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 Q
Qu =
Q = Qu √ H or √ H ------------------------------------------------------(02)
Unit Power (P u ):

- This is the Power developed by the turbine working under a unit head.
- Consider P as the power developed by the turbine.
P
η=
- The efficiency of turbine is given by γ Q H Where  is the weight
density of the fluid/water passing through the turbine, Q is the
discharge through the turbine and H is the head under which the turbine
is working.
- But efficiency of a turbine and weight density of water are constants
and hence, we can write
P  Q H

- From discharge continuity equation, Q = a x V, where a is the cross-

sectional area of flow and V is the mean flow velocity.
- For a given turbine, the cross-sectional area is constant and hence Q 
V

But V =C v √ 2 g H and therefore V α √H , hence Q α √H

- Substituting, we get

P α H √H or P = K 3 H √ H where K 3 is the proportionality constant.

- From definition of Unit Power, it is the power developed by the turbine

when working under unit head. Hence at H=1, P=P u . Substituting, we
get
Pu = K 3 1 √ 1 = K 3

P P
Pu = = 3
H √H
P = Pu H √ H or H 2 ------------------------------------------------------(03)

- Unit Speed, Unit discharge and Unit Power is definite characteristics

of a turbine.
- If for a given turbine under heads H 1 , H 2 , H 3 ,…. the corresponding

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 speeds are N 1 , N 2 , N 3 ,…, the corresponding discharges are Q 1 , Q 2 , Q 3 ,….
and the powers developed are P 1 , P 2 , P 3 ,…. Then
N1 N2 N3
N u= = =
Unit speed = √H1 √H2 √ H3
Q1 Q2 Q3
Qu = = =
Unit Discharge = √H1 √H2 √ H3
P1 P2 P3 P1 P2 P3
Pu = = = or Pu = = =
H √ H1 H √H 2 H √ H3 3
2
3
2
3

Unit Power = H1 H2 H32

- Thus if speed, discharge and power developed by a turbine under a

certain head are known, the corresponding quantities for any other head
can be determined.

Example 1

A turbine is to operate under a head of 25 m at 200 rpm. The discharge is 9

m 3 /s. If the efficiency is 90%, determine the performance of the turbine under
a head of 20 m

Solution:

H 1 = 25 m; N 1 = 200 rpm; Q = 9 m 3 /s;  = 0.90, H 2 = 20 m; N 2 = ?; Q 2 = ?

P 1 = ?, P 2 = ?

We know that

P
η=
γQH

P
0 . 9=
( 10×1000 ) ×9× 25

P 1 = 2025 kW

Further unit quantities are given by

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 N1 N2
N u= =
Unit speed = √H1 √H2
Q1 Q2
Qu = =
Unit Discharge = √H1 √H2
P1 P2
Pu = 3
= 3

Unit Power = H 12 H22

200 N
N u= = 2 =40
√25 √ 20
N 2 = 178.9 (Ans)

9 Q
Qu = = 2 =1 .8
√25 √ 20
Q 2 = 8.05 m 3 /s (Ans)

2025 P2
Pu = 3
= 3
=16 .2
2 2
25 20

P 2 = 1449 kW (Ans)

Example 2

A turbine develops 7500 kW of power under a head of 25 m, while operating

at 220 rpm. If the same turbine has to work under a head of 10 m, determine
the power developed and the new speed.

Solution:

P 1 = 7500 kW; H 1 = 25 m; N 1 = 220 rpm; H 2 = 10 ; P 2 = ? ; N 2 = ?

Further unit quantities are given by

N1 N2
N u= =
Unit speed = √H1 √H2

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 P1 P2
Pu = 3
= 3

Unit Power = H 12 H22

220 N
N u= = 2 =44
√25 √ 10
N 2 = 139.14 (Ans)

7500 P2
Pu = 3
= 3
= 60
2 2
25 10

P 2 = 1897.4 kW (Ans)

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