Francis Turbine Experiment 543b2y

Abstract. A turbine extracts energy from fluid or air flow to generate power and converts it into useful work.The blade attached on the shaft will react to the flow so that it will move and cause rotational energy to the rotor.Francis turbine may be designed for a wide ranged heads and flows.Francis turbines widely used in the world because their high efficiency .The ouput power varies from just few kilowatts to one gigawatt covering a head range from 20 meter to 700 meter.The francis turbine can be used for pumped storage where it will acting as pump during low power demand and then reversed and used to generate power during peak demand. Theory: This type of hydraulic machine is converting the head energy to mechanical energy.

The input, Pi n

.Q.H V2 .g .Q.

i

2g The output, .T

Pout .( F r

)

2N T 60 The turbine efficiency, Po Pin

1 00%

Flow rate, Q

V t

Figure 1 Francis Turbine Impel Apparatus: Armfield R16 Francis (Reaction) Turbine

Figure 2 Armfield R16 Francis Turbine

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Part Name Sump Tank Pump assembly Centrifugal pump Suction pipe Valve Delivery pipe Electromagnetic flow meter

Procedure: 1. Check that the sump tank is filled. 2. Check that the valve at the pump discharge is closed and set the guide vanes on the turbine to the closed position. 3. Release any load on the disc brake by unscrewing the handwheel and check that the dial gauge reads zero. Adjust if necessary. 4. Switch on the pump and slowly open the valve at the pump discharge to the fully open position. This valve is to be kept opened throughout the test. 5. Gradually open the guide vanes to approximately mid-position, typically 15o on the indicator, then clamp in position. 6. Allow the speed of turbine to stabilize, then take readings of:e. turbine speed (read on Tachometer, RPM) f.

Inlet head (read on Bourdon gauge, m head) g. Flow rate (read on flow meter, m3/hr h. brake force (read on brake spring balance, kg) 7. Slowly apply load to the disc brake by turning the hand wheel in a clockwise direction until the speed of the turbine reduces by approximately 100RPM. 8. Keeping the speed steady (by re-adjusting the brake load if necessary), repeat the readings in step 6. 9. Repeat steps 7-8 until turbine stalls (0 RPM) 10. On completion if the test:i.

Close the guide vanes

j. Release the load on the brake k. Switch off the pump l.

Close the valve at the pump discharge

Result. Brake arm radius (r) = 0.25m Turbine Speed, N (RPM) 2000

1800 1600 1400 1100 1000

Inlet Head, H (m)

10.8 10 9.8 9.6 9.5 9.4

Flow meter Reading

72.05 (m3/hr) 90.50 98.00 100 108 110

Volume

Brake

Brake

Brake

Flowrate, Q

Reading

Force, F

Torque, T (Nm)

0.02 (m3/s) 0.0251 0.02722 0.02777 0.03 0.0305

0 (kg) 2.6 4.3 5.0 6.2 6.6

0 (N) 25.506 42.183 49.05 60.822 64

0 6.3765 10.545 12.26 15.20 16

Mechanical Power, PM (W)

0 1269.8 1766.83 1797.40 1750.9 1675.52 ..

746

Calculation.

From the data taken,we calculate;      

Volume flow rate,Q( Brake Force,F(N) Brake Torque,T(Nm) Mechanical Power,Pm(W) Water Power,Pw(W) Turbine Efficiency,µ(%) Example calculation step with turbine speed ,N=1925RPM 1) Volume flow rate,Q(

=72.05

2)Brake Force,F(N)=mg =Brake reading x9.81 =2.6x9.81 =25.506 N 3)Brake Torque,T(Nm)=Fxr =25.506x0.25 =6.3765 N/m 4)Mechanical Power=ωXT =

T

=0.02

Water Power, PW (W)

2118.9 2462.3 6 2616.9 1 2615.3 2795.9 2812.5

Turbine Efficiency,%

0 51.54 67.52 68.73 62.62 59.57

(

=

=1269.8 5) Water Power,Pw(W)=pgQH =1000(9.81)(0.02)(10.8) =5297.4 W 6)Turbine Efficiency (Pout/Pin)x100 =1410.9/5297.4 =26.63 % Graph

Torque(Nm) Vs Turbine Speed(N) 2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0 0

1

2

3 Figure 1

4

5

6

7

Mechanical Power(W) Vs Turbine Speed(N) 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Figure 2

Turbine Efficiency(%) Vs Turbine Speed(N) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0

500

1000 Figure 3

1500

2000

2500

Discussion Based on the graph plotted from our result,Some information had been extract.We can see that the trend for all of the graphs is the same,as it inversely proportional to each other.For the first graph which is the torque against turbine speed,we found out that when the turbine speed increases,the brake torque increase,the brake torque decreases.This is because we keep increasing the force ,the friction is higher and thus it makes the fluid velocity decrease. For the second graph which is the mechanical power against turbine speed,we can see that when the turbine speed increases,the mechanical power decreases as well.The Francis turbine is a reaction turbine,which means that the working fluid changes pressure as it moves through the turbine,giving up the energy .From the pressure formula,we knew that as we increases the load,the pressure increases.As the turbine speed increase,the load also increases and pressure increase.As the turbine speed increasemthe load alos increases and pressure increases.Thus,the mechanical power increases with the pressure increase For the third graph,we cannot get 100% efficiency because the machine is now well calibrated.besides that,this might experience wear since it has been used for a long time,resulting an error in data recorded.

Conclusion In Conclusion, we found that the brake torque, mechanical power and turbine efficiency are all inversely proportional to turbine speed. Hence,in reality we can apply this knowledge by keeping the turbine speed as low as possible but still economical.There are some errors in the experiment which causes inaccurate readings however we still get the correct patterns that suit the predicted results.