Performance Test of Pelton Turbine

Johannes Bruce Llausas de Guzman1

Abstract: A Pelton turbine is a tangential flow impulse turbine invented in 1880 by an American engineer Lester A. Pelton. In this experiment,
the performance of the Pelton turbine set-up located in the Mechanical Engineering hydraulics laboratory of the University of San Carlos is
assessed by operating the turbine by supplying it with water coming from the centrifugal pump. The data gathered that is essential in evaluating
the Pelton turbines performance were the shaft speed, torque, weir height and their corresponding spear setting. These data were then used to
obtain the shaft power Ps, water power Pw, the flowrate Q, and the hydraulic efficiency . The calculated data was then used to obtain graphs
to comprehend the behavior of a parameter with respect to another parameter. The graphs made were efficiency vs flow rate, efficiency versus
spear setting, and shaft speed versus efficiency. These graphs were then verified by other related published literatures found. The highest
efficiency of the turbine was found to be 59.63%. The experiment was performed by 5 th year Mechanical Engineering students of the University
of San Carlos Talamban Campus.

Author keywords: Performance Test, Turbine Efficiency, Impulse turbine, Pelton Turbine

Introduction Therefore, the turbine is classified as an impulse turbine. In

Energy is one of the most fundamental elements of our universe.
According to Mohibullah & MohdIqbal (2015), energy is inevitable
for survival and indispensable for development activities to promote
education, health, transportation, and infrastructure for attaining a
reasonable standard of living and is also a critical factor for economic
development and employment. Hydropower is a renewable, non-
polluting and environmentally benign source of energy. Hydropower
is based on simple concepts. Moving water turns a turbine, the turbine
spins a generator, and then electricity is produced. The use of water
falling through a height has been utilized as a source of energy since
a long time. It is perhaps the oldest renewable energy technique
known to the mankind for mechanical energy conversion as well as
electricity generation (Vineesh & Selvakumar, 2012). Hydropower
on a small-scale is one of the most cost-effective energy technologies
to be considered for rural electrification in less developed countries
(Paish, 2002). Performance prediction of hydraulic machines, such
as efficiency and dynamic behavior under different operating
conditions, is of high interest to manufacturers (Kueny, 2006).
In hydropower plants with Pelton turbines, the available hydraulic
energy exists as potential energy, which is measured in the form of
the geodetic height difference between the upper level of water in the
reservoir and the turbines in the machine house of a lower altitude.
This height difference is denoted as hydraulic head in the
terminology of hydropower. The conversion of the potential energy
into the usable mechanical energy is completed by first converting
the potential energy into kinetic energy in the form of high-speed jets
at the altitude of the turbine wheel. For the energy conversion, one or
many injectors can be used. By neglecting the friction losses in the
injector, the jet speed can calculated by the Bernoulli equation
(Zhang 2016).
The Pelton turbine, which was patented by Lester Pelton in 1880,
is commonly used in hydroelectric generation in geographical
locations where high water head is available but volume flows are
small. The wheel is fitted with vanes evenly spaced about its
circumference. Unlike traditional water wheel designs, each vane is
actually composed of two cups joined by a sharp ridge. The water
flow is directed by one or more nozzles to strike the ridge of each
vane tangentially in succession and in turn delivers the waters
kinetic energy in impulses.
1
Student, Dept. of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Univ. of San Carlos, Cebu City 6000, Philippines. E-mail:
johannesyap18@gmail.com
principle, the ridge acts to divide the water jet in order to achieve
better mechanical efficiency. With an optimized jet and cup
geometry, more than 90% of the power of the water jet can be
transformed into mechanical power at the turbine shaft (Boyle 1996).
Since the Pelton wheel rotates in air, the action of the water and wheel
rotation is easily observed by the experimenter. Additionally, there is
a clear observable difference in turbine operation and water
behaviour at maximum efficiency conditions as compared to those of
low efficiency. Direct observation of efficiency changes is an
attractive characteristic from an educational perspective and it is said
that Pelton himself got the idea for his turbine from such a direct
observation (Agar and Rasi 2008).
According to Alnakhlani et al. (2015), Pelton turbine is an
engine that facilitates continuous power as a wheel or a rotor
continually turns due to the pressure of fast moving water through the
bucket, where a bucket receives water from the surging nozzle.
Figure 1 shows the Pelton turbine velocity triangles for low and high
flow, respectively. Velocity triangles are important in analyzing the
flow through moving curved vanes. The Vw speed tangential jet at the
turbine wheels change the direction on the v speed circumferential
spoons. The inlet velocity triangle degenerates into straight, since Vw
and v are parallel. The relative speed Vr size of the water flowing
through spoons does not change, since pressure is constant. The
degree of reaction turbines would therefore be zero. The diverted jet
velocity whose close angle to the radial direction.
The velocity triangles illustrate the absolute velocity, with the
kinetic energy reduction of the fluid, which is converted into work by
the turbine.
Fig. 1 Pelton turbine velocity triangles for low and high flow
(Image courtesy of Kumar 2011.)
 The jet of water from the nozzles strikes the bucket at the splitter,
which splits up the jet into two parts. These parts of the jet, glides
over the inner surfaces and comes out at the outer edge. The splitter
is the inlet tip and outer edge of the bucket is the outlet tip of the
bucket.
This experiment aims to evaluate the relationship of the different
settings crucial that is crucial/influential to the performance of the
Pelton turbine.
Experimental Methods
Apparatus
The panoramic view of the experimental set-up for the performance
test of Pelton turbine is shown in figure 2 wherein the main
components: Axial pump, Centrifugal pump, Pressure tank, and the
Pelton turbine. The axial pump will help prime the centrifugal pump
that will give the necessary head for the Pelton turbine operation. A
pressure tank is also provided which is a closed container designed
to hold the water at a pressure substantially different from the
ambient pressure. The Pelton turbine is found near the entrance of the
Mechanical Engineering Hydraulics Laboratory of the University of
San Carlos Talamban Campus.
Fig. 2 Actual Set-up of a Pelton Turbine in ME laboratory.
Image courtesy of Tamse and Rosal (2016).
Figure 3 shows the schematic diagram of the different
components for the experimental set-up. The water source found
underneath the ground serves as the reservoir, and is a recirculating
system designed to conserve water. The water source also serve as a
source for other performance tests of equipment like the Kaplan and
Francis turbine, and pumps present in the laboratory. As said earlier,
the axial pump primes the centrifugal pump since the centrifugal
pump is not submerged to the water reservoir which gives it a hard
time to operate directly. From the centrifugal pump, the water is
pumped into the pressure tank where it is stored and where the
necessary head for the operation is being built up and be utilized for
the Pelton turbine operation. The bypass valve between the gate valve
after the centrifugal pump and the water source aids to regulate the
pressure building up in the pressure tank.
Below the axial pump, there is a foot valve (not shown in the
schematic diagram) where it should be in its closed position to
prevent water from going though it during the priming process.
Running the Pelton Turbine set-up
Before running the Pelton turbine set-up, the gate valves that
leads to other machineries are closed in order to ensure that the water
flow will be directed to the Pelton turbine set-up. The gate valve
before the jet nozzle was also ensured to be closed to protect the
turbine runner from the sudden inward flows. The bypass valve near
the water source was kept open since water will be flowing into this
valve after the gate valve is opened.
Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of the Pelton turbine experiment
set-up. Image courtesy of Tamse and Rosal (2016).
For the priming process, the primer cup was opened and the axial
pump was turned on. The priming process fills the housing or the
casing of the centrifugal pump with water. It is deemed necessary to
prime the centrifugal pump since it is not submerged to the water
source giving it a hard time to pump water due to its design. The gas
cock was opened to get rid of trapped air in the casing of the
centrifugal pump. After bubbles popping out of the water were gone,
the primer cup and the gas cock was closed. The priming of the
centrifugal pump for the Pelton turbine set-up was observed to be
faster compared to the centrifugal pumps of other turbine set-up
because the centrifugal pump for this set-up was smaller compared
to other centrifugal pumps.
After the priming process was completed, the axial pump was
turned off, then the centrifugal pump was turned on. During the
process of turning on the centrifugal pump, it was made sure that the
gate valve after the pump was opened quickly as the pump is turned
on; this is done to avoid exceeding the critical pressure indicated in
the pressure gauge. After the gate valve was fully opened, the gate
valve near the turbine was slowly opened until such time the runner
starts to rotate. The regulation of the pressure of the water flow was
done by controlling the opening of the bypass valve.
Experimental Data Gathering
In the experiment, the data collected were based on two pressure
settings indicated by the pressure gauge: 1 kg/cm2 and 2 kg/cm2. The
weir height, shaft speed, torque, and the corresponding spear setting
was recorded. The length of the lever arm was found to be 0.715m
and the weight used for both the 1kg/cm2 and 2 kg/cm2 pressure
setting was 0.5 kgf.
The Pelton turbine was operated on 8 spear settings by rotating
the spear rod, noting the data of the important parameters in assessing
the turbine performance mentioned earlier. The weir height was also
noted for each of the spear setting. The weir height indicates the
height of the water flowing out of the Pelton turbine. The weir height
will be essential in calculating the flow rate of water flowing out of
the system. The pressure and the rotational speed of the shaft were
given by the indicator incorporated in the system, as shown in figure
4. These parameters are used later on to calculate the torque (N-m),
shaft power (W), flow rate (m3/s), water power (kW), and most
importantly, the Pelton turbine efficiency (%) which is an indicative
of the Pelton wheels performance.

Fig. 4 Pressure and speed indicator of the Pelton turbine
experiment set-up. Image courtesy of Tamse and Rosal
(2016).
Results and Discussions
Turbine efficiency versus Flow rate
Figure 5 shows the relationship of the turbine efficiency versus the
flow rate. Turbine efficiency is defined as the ratio of the turbines
actual work output to the work input. It is gives an indication of how
well the turbine converts or utilizes the available head from the pump
and can be calculated by the equation:
2 A relationship of the turbine efficiency versus flow rate is
= = (1)
where is the turbine efficiency expressed in percentage (%), is
the shaft power developed by the turbine in (kW), and is the water
power that is brought by the incoming jet of water from the nozzle
(kW). The shaft power was calculated by getting the torque and shaft
speed.
The water power is the power developed from an elevated water
supply. In the experiment, the head is provided by the pump since the
water reservoir is located below the ground. The head was calculated
by getting the quotient of the pressure indicated by the pressure gage
from the specific weight of the fluid which is water. It is given by the
equation:
2
= + + (2)
2
where H is the total head, P is the pressure indicated by the dial gauge,
is the specific weight of water, V is the velocity of the water jet,
and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
In finding the flow rate of the water coming out of the system, a
derived equation was used based on the rectangular weir. This
equation is given by:
2 3
= 2()2 (3)
3 Fig. 6 Relationship of various Turbine efficiencies versus ratio of the actual flow
where = the flow rate, =the coefficient of discharge, = the
length of the weir, = the gravitational acceleration, = height of
water above the weir crest.
With the flow rate obtained, the water velocity at the jet nozzle
can be obtained by
(3)
=
where = the water velocity at the jet nozzle, = the flow rate of
water, = the area of the jet nozzle. After getting these parameters,
the total head was obtained using equation 2.
70
60
50
Efficiency (%)
40
30 1 kg/cm2
2 kg/cm2
20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Flow rate ( 10-3 m3/s)
Fig. 5 Relationship of Turbine efficiency versus Flow rate
established in figure 5. The blue dots represents the data gathered in
1 kg/cm2 pressure setting while the orange dots represent the gathered
data at 2 kg/cm2 setting. From a direct observation, it can be seen that
the efficiency drops as the flow rate increases. However, inspecting
the best fit curve for the points for 1 kg/cm2 pressure setting, it can
be seen that the curve goes up for a certain moment then drops at
certain point of flow rate. This is an indication of the best flow rate
operating point of the Pelton turbine wherein a substantial amount of
shaft power is produced at a certain water flow. For the 2kg/cm2, a
constant decrease in efficiency is observed, an indication that the best
operating point for this particular pressure setting may have been way
past the starting point during experimentation.
rate to the maximum flow rate capacity. Graph retrieved from
http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/0506/small_hydro/method_fr.html
 A study entitled Micro-hydro Project can inferenced for this
observation and a graph is shown in figure 6 wherein the relationship
of efficiency versus increasing ratio of the actual flow to the
maximum capacity flow is plotted. For the Pelton turbine (indicated
by the dashed blue lines), it can be seen that as the flow nears the
maximum flow, the efficiency starts to drop. For a particular range
0.1 0.2, a sharp increase is observed, this is also true to the other
turbines at a certain range of flow operation. The maximum point of
efficiency is known to be the best operating point of the turbine.
A confirmation of the results gathered with respect to the behavior
of the turbine efficiency as the spear setting is increased is shown in
figure 8. It is evident that for the 3 pressure setting, the turbine
efficiency decreases as the spear setting is increased. It is to be noted
however that for the 3 kg/cm2 pressure setting, there is an inconsistent
trend of the efficiency, wherein it goes up and down.
70

60
70
50
60

Efficiency (%)
40
50 2
1 kg/cm
Efficiency (%)

30
2
40 2 kg/cm
20
30 2
1 kg/cm 10
2
20 2 kg/cm
0
10 0 500 1000 1500
Shaft speed (RPM)
0
Fig. 8 Relationship of Turbine efficiency versus Shaft speed
0 2 4 6 8 10
Spear Setting

Fig. 7 Relationship of Turbine efficiency versus Spear setting
Figure 7 shows the trend of the turbine efficiency as the spear
setting is increased. Spear setting is the spear valve in the nozzle
portion where it dictates the velocity of the water jet that strikes the
Pelton turbines bucket. For both of the pressure setting, a decrease
in efficiency is observed for an increase in spear setting. Increasing
the spear setting means an increased area of the nozzle, causing e
lower velocity of the water jet. This claim is evidenced from the
equation 2, where the total head is dependent of the square of the
velocity. A decrease in velocity would compromise the head. Citing
Boyle 1996, a Pelton turbine was designed to operate on high head,
given the low availability of water volume.
70
60
Turbine Efficiency (%)
Figure 8 shows the relationship of the turbine efficiency versus the
shaft speed. The graph also gives an indication of the best operating
shaft speed of the Pelton turbine, where most of the water power is
converted as mechanical output or the shaft power output. A best fit
curve was used to portray the trend of scattered plot data. The 2
kg/cm2 setting is observed to give a downfall of turbine efficiency in
increased shaft speed. The graph also gives an indication of the best
operating speed of the Pelton turbine.
Conclusions
Inferring from the graphs constructed, the turbine efficiency
depends on the available head. The total head, which is the sum of
pressure head and the velocity head and the elevation head, was
calculated. The findings indicate that the turbines best spear setting
is 2, considering that the operating pressure is sitting at 1 kg/cm2. The
efficiency at this point is found to be almost 60%. The findings

indicate that the Pelton turbine could indeed utilize the available head
50 given the limited volume of water. The most influential to the
turbines performance is the available total head, which is also
1 dependent on the input pressure and the velocity of the water jet.
40
2
30 3 Notations

20
The following symbols are used in this paper:
10 = the flow rate;
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 = the coefficient of discharge;
Spear Setting = the length of the weir;
= the gravitational acceleration;
Fig. 8 Relationship of Turbine efficiency versus Spear setting = the height of water above the weir crest;
(Courtesy of Genebraldo, Virtucio and Talan. 2016) = the water velocity at the jet nozzle
 = the area of the jet nozzle;
= the total head;
= the supply water pressure;
= the specific weight of water;
= the difference of the elevation of the inlet and outlet
= the shaft power of the Pelton turbine;
= the value of pi;
= the torque applied by the weights;
= the speedometer reading;
= the available hydraulic power;
= the turbine efficiency

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