Parametric Optimization & Design of Pelton Turbine Wheel for Hydraulic Efficiency Improvement

Abstract

Impulse turbine is one of the oldest methods of water power extraction. Pelton turbine is one amongst them. There is notable increase in utilization of renewable energy sources and hydropower in developed countries. The potential energy of water in hilly areas can fulfill the demands of the rural areas and can also contribute to grids. The power output of a turbine can be increased from the same input by improvising its efficiency. This paper aims to design the Pelton turbine wheel to improve its hydraulic efficiency. Parametric optimization of a Pelton turbine wheel is achieved by two methods: direct search method and efficiency optimization method. The effect of bucket exit angle, specific speed, speed ratio and nozzle opening on hydraulic efficiency is described here. The hydraulic efficiency of the turbine will be higher at the complete nozzle opening and at a higher specific speed. The maximum hydraulic efficiency is achieved for the specific speed 20.77. The theoretical hydraulic efficiency 93.9 percentage is achieved for 15 degrees of exit angle at 0.49-speed ratio.

Numerical modelling of a hydro-pneumatic energy storage system for smoothing power fluctuations from offshore wind

“…Interpolation between curves was used to adjust the pump's speed, which in turn updated the pump flowrate, its overall efficiency and power output. The Pelton Wheel consisted of two requirements, whereby the optimal bucket-to-speed ratio of 0.48 was to be maintained, and the spear valve position was adjusted per timestep to attain the power desired post Pelton turbine efficiency [22]. As the flowchart depicts, the power difference was updated every minute based on the new forecasted power and SMA.…”

Modification, Simulation and Demonstration of Laboratory Scale Pelton Turbine for Waterfall Hydropower Plant

“…A waterfall hydropower plant harnesses the energy of falling water to generate electricity. It uses the principle of energy conversion to first convert the potential energy of water at a high elevation to kinetic energy at a lower level [6]. Next, a Pelton turbine converts this kinetic energy into mechanical energy through a rotor disk fixed with buckets on its periphery.…”

“…In addition, the presence of rubber additives may also have cushioned shock loads due to sudden changes in flow rate, due to the higher elastic property of rubbers. Shah et al, [6] designed a Pelton turbine with focus on the hydraulic efficiency improvement using parametric optimization method. The effects of bucket exit angle, specific speed, speed ratio and nozzle opening on hydraulic efficiency were investigated.…”

“…Average energy demand in rural settings can be accomplished without the extension of the national grid supply. Hydro sources such as waterfalls can be harnessed to provide for the small-scale energy demand in rural areas [6]. The activities of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) are hampered by the enormous amount of money required to take electricity to such remote and hard-to-reach places which is estimated to be between N311 billion to N519 billion for 75% access by 2020 and a further N484 billion to N807 billion for 100% rural access by 2040, REA [7].…”

Investigation of hydraulic characteristics of Pelton turbine with casing structure using a moving particle simulation method

“…CFD analysis of Pelton turbine is not feasible due to the complexity of several design parameters. Previous researchers have conducted a lot of researches on the Pelton turbine [2][3]. In recent papers, flow simulations in the rotating Pelton buckets are mostly based on the volume of fluid method carried in the ANSYS CFX, ANSYS Fluent or OpenFOAM software packages [4].…”