2.1 What is the turbine?

Turbine is a rotary device that

converts the mechanical motion into
another form of energy like work or
electricity.

Too many kinds of turbines are

used, simple ones like water turbine;
wind mill, and the complex ones like
the steam turbine, gas turbine.

2.1.1 Theory of Operation

The working fluid has a potential and

kinetic energy, and can be
compressible or in compressible; we haveFigure
two main physical
2.1 Siemens steam
turbine
Methods to collect this energy:

1- Impulse turbines: used to

change the direction of flow of
high velocity working fluid, the
impulse rotates the turbine;
there will be no pressure
change inside the rotor
blades.
Impulse turbines do not
require a pressure casement
around the rotor since the
fluid jet is created by the
nozzle prior to reaching the
blades on the rotor. Newton's
second law describes the
transfer of energy for impulse
turbines.
2- Reaction turbines: it uses the
torque by reacting to the fluid mass or pressure, the
pressure changes during the flow through the rotor

Figure 2.2 Impulse and reaction

turbines
 blades; pressure container is needed to keep the fluid as it
should act on the turbine
Stage, container must contains and
Directs the fluid, for water kind turbines, it keeps the
suction transporter with the draft tube, Francis turbines
using this concept. For compressible fluids multistage
turbine is used to get an efficient expansion of the gas,
Newton third law can describe the energy transfer for
reaction turbine since it uses its principle.

2.2 Francis turbine

2.2.1 Definition

Francis turbine is a water turbine

developed by James B. Francis, it a
reaction type, where it combine
the axial with the radial flow
principles.

This type of turbines operates in

the head range from 10 to 700 m, so it isFigure
used2.3for generating
Francis turbine
electricity.

2.2.2 Basic components and operation theory

Francis turbines is a reaction turbines, so the pressure changes

as it go through the turbine, so the fluid loses its energy to the
turbine,

so to get more energy we need big pressure difference,

for that reason usually the turbine located between the high
pressure water source and low pressure water exit (mostly it is
located at the base of the dam).

Inlet of Francis turbine has a spiral shape, the vane guides the
water tangentially to the turbine wheel or the runner; the flow
acts on the runner vanes, so it starts to spin, the vane guide
can be adjusted for the flow conditions.
When water moves through the runner it’s spinning radius
decreases, further acting on the runner. For an analogy,
imagine swinging a ball on a string around in a circle; if the
string is pulled short, the ball spins faster due to the
conservation of angular momentum. This property, in addition
to the water's pressure, helps Francis and other inward-flow
turbines harness water energy efficiently.

At the exit, water acts on cup shaped runner features, leaving

with no swirl and very little kinetic or potential energy. The
turbine's exit tube is shaped to help decelerate the water flow
and recover the pressure. And sending water outside the
system.

Basic components for Francis and Kaplan turbines:

 Figure 2.4 Components of the Francis and Kaplan turbines

2.2.3 Applications:

The Francis turbine can be designed for head from 10- 700 m,
and for capacity varies from kilowatts up to 1 gigawatt, the
efficiency of this kind is typically over 90%, they may also be
used for pumped storage; where a reservoir is filled by the
turbine (acting as a pump) during low power demand, and then
reversed and used to generate power during peak demand.

Ch 3 Theory and Equations