Experimental Investigation and Performance Characteristics of Francis Turbine with Different Guide Vane Openings in Hydro Distributed Generation Power Plants
Megavath Vijay Kumar,
T. Subba Reddy,
P. Sarala,
P. Srinivasa Varma,
Obbu Chandra Sekhar,
Abdulrahman Babqi,
Yasser Alharbi,
Basem Alamri,
Ch. Rami Reddy
Affiliations
Megavath Vijay Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malla Reddy Engineering College, Maisammaguda, Secunderabad 500100, India
T. Subba Reddy
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Andhra Loyola Institute of Engineering and Technology, Vijayawada 520008, India
P. Sarala
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Malla Reddy Engineering College, Secunderabad 500100, India
P. Srinivasa Varma
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram 522502, India
Obbu Chandra Sekhar
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar 190006, India
Abdulrahman Babqi
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Yasser Alharbi
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Basem Alamri
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Ch. Rami Reddy
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Malla Reddy Engineering College, Secunderabad 500100, India
This article presents a study on the performance characteristics of a Francis turbine operating with various guide vane openings to determine the best operating point based on unit quantities. The guide vane openings were specified based on the width between the vanes at their exit, i.e., 10 mm, 13 mm, 16 mm, and 19 mm. The performance characteristic curves of the Francis turbine—head versus speed, torque versus speed, discharge versus speed, and efficiency versus speed—were obtained at various input power and guide vane openings. From these data, unit curves were plotted and the corresponding best efficiency points were obtained. The highest efficiency of 50.25% was obtained at a guide vane opening of 19 mm. The values of head, discharge, speed, and output power at BEP were 7.84 m, 13.55 lps, 1250 rpm, and 524 W, respectively.
