A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work.
Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Since then, they have been mostly used for electric power generation. Water turbines are mostly found in dams to generate electric power from water potential energy.
History
Water wheels have been used for hundreds of years for industrial power. Their main shortcoming is size, which limits the flow rate and head that can be harnessed. The migration from water wheels to modern turbines took about one hundred years. Development occurred during the Industrial Revolution, using scientific principles and methods. They also made extensive use of new materials and manufacturing methods developed at the time.
Swirl The word turbine was introduced by the French engineer Claude Burdin in the early 19th century and is derived from the Greek word "τύρβη" for "whirling" or a "vortex". The main difference between early water turbines and water wheels is a swirl component of the water which passes energy to a spinning rotor. This additional component of motion allowed the turbine to be smaller than a water wheel of the same power. They could process more water by spinning faster and could harness much greater heads. (Later, impulse turbines were developed which didn't use swirl.)
Timeline
The earliest known water turbines date to the Roman Empire. Two helix-turbine mill sites of almost identical design were found at Chemtou and Testour, modern-day Tunisia, dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. The horizontal water wheel with angled blades was installed at the bottom of a water-filled, circular shaft. The water from the mill race entered the pit tangentially, creating a swirling water column which made the fully submerged wheel act like a true turbine.; ;
Fausto Veranzio in his book Machinae Novae (1595) described a vertical axis mill with a rotor similar to that of a Francis turbine.
Johann Segner developed a reactive water turbine (Segner wheel) in the mid-18th century in Kingdom of Hungary. It had a horizontal axis and was a precursor to modern water turbines. It is a very simple machine that is still produced for use in small hydro sites. Segner worked with Euler on some of the early mathematical theories of turbine design. In the 18th century, a Dr. Robert Barker invented a similar reaction hydraulic turbine that became popular as a lecture-hall demonstration.Musson, Albert and Robinson, Eric. Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution, p. 45 (Taylor & Francis, 1969). The only known surviving example of this type of engine used in power production, dating from 1851, is found at Hacienda Buena Vista in Ponce, Puerto Rico.R. Sackett, p. 16.
In 1820, Jean-Victor Poncelet developed an inward-flow turbine.
In 1826, Benoît Fourneyron developed an outward-flow turbine. This was an efficient machine (~80%) that sent water through a runner with blades curved in one dimension. The stationary outlet also had curved guides.
In 1844, Uriah A. Boyden developed an outward-flow turbine that improved on the performance of the Fourneyron turbine. Its runner shape was similar to that of a Francis turbine.
In 1849, James B. Francis improved the inward-flow reaction turbine to over 90% efficiency. He also conducted sophisticated tests and developed engineering methods for water turbine design. The Francis turbine, named for him, is the first modern water turbine. It is still the most widely used water turbine in the world. The Francis turbine is also called a radial flow turbine, since water flows from the outer circumference toward the centre of the runner.
Inward-flow water turbines have a better mechanical arrangement and all modern reaction water turbines use this design. As the water swirls inward, it accelerates and transfers energy to the runner. Water pressure decreases to atmospheric, or in some cases subatmospheric, as the water passes through the turbine blades and loses energy.
In 1876, John B. McCormick, building on Francis's designs, demonstrated the first modern mixed-flow turbine with the development of the Hercules turbine, initially manufactured by the Holyoke Machine Company and subsequently improved upon by engineers in Germany and the United States. The design effectively combined the inward flow principles of the Francis design with the downward discharge of the Jonval turbine, with flow inward at the inlet, axial through the wheel's body, and slightly outward at the outlet. Initially performing optimally at 90% efficiency at lower speeds, this design would see many improvements in the subsequent decades in derivatives under names like "Victor", "Risdon", "Samson", and "New American", ushering in a new era of American turbine engineering.
Water turbines, particularly in the Americas, would largely become standardized with the establishment of the Holyoke Testing Flume, described as the first modern hydraulic laboratory in the United States by Robert E. Horton and Clemens Herschel, the latter of which would serve as its chief engineer for a time. Initially created in 1872 by James B. Emerson from the testing flumes of Lowell, after 1880 the Holyoke, Massachusetts hydraulic laboratory was standardized by Herschel, who used it to develop the Venturi meter, the first accurate means of measuring large flows, to properly measure water power efficiency by different turbine models. While skepticism of certain weir calculations were held by European hydrologists, the facility allowed for standard efficiency testing among major manufacturers through 1932, by which time more modern facilities and methods had proliferated.
Around 1890, the modern fluid bearing was invented, and since then has become universally used to support heavy water turbine spindles. As of 2002, fluid bearings appear to have a mean time between failures of more than 1300 years.
Around 1913, Viktor Kaplan created the Kaplan turbine, a propeller-type machine. It was an evolution of the Francis turbine and revolutionized the ability to develop low-head hydro sites.
New concept
All common water machines until the late 19th century (including water wheels) were basically reaction machines; water pressure head acted on the machine and produced work. A reaction turbine needs to fully contain the water during energy transfer.
In 1866, California millwright Samuel Knight invented a machine that took the impulse system to a new level.W. A. Doble, "The Tangential Water Wheel", Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Vol. XXIX, 1899.W. F. Durrand, The Pelton Water Wheel, Stanford University, Mechanical Engineering, 1939. Inspired by the high pressure jet systems used in hydraulic mining in the gold fields, Knight developed a bucketed wheel which captured the energy of a free jet, which had converted a high head (hundreds of vertical feet in a pipe or penstock) of water to kinetic energy. This is called an impulse or tangential turbine. The water's velocity, roughly twice the velocity of the bucket periphery, does a U-turn in the bucket and drops out of the runner at low velocity.
In 1879, Lester Pelton, experimenting with a Knight Wheel, developed a Pelton wheel (double bucket design), which exhausted the water to the side, eliminating some energy loss of the Knight wheel which exhausted some water back against the center of the wheel. In about 1895, William Doble improved on Pelton's half-cylindrical bucket form with an elliptical bucket that included a cut in it to allow the jet a cleaner bucket entry. This is the modern form of the Pelton turbine which achieves up to 92% efficiency. Pelton had been quite an effective promoter of his design and although Doble took over the Pelton company he did not change the name to Doble because it had brand name recognition.
Turgo and cross-flow turbines were later impulse designs.
Theory of operation Flowing water is directed on to the blades of a turbine runner, creating a force on the blades. Since the runner is spinning, the force acts through a distance (force acting through a distance is the definition of work). In this way, energy is transferred from the water flow to the turbine.
Water turbines are divided into two groups: reaction turbines and impulse turbines.
The precise shape of water turbine blades is a function of the supply pressure of water, and the type of impeller selected.
Reaction turbines Reaction turbines are acted on by water, which changes pressure as it moves through the turbine and gives up its energy. They must be encased to contain the water pressure (or suction), or they must be fully submerged in the water flow.
Newton's third law describes the transfer of energy for reaction turbines.
Most water turbines in use are reaction turbines and are used in low (<) and medium () head applications. In reaction turbine, pressure drop occurs in both fixed and moving blades. It is largely used in dams and large power plants.
Impulse turbines Impulse turbines change the velocity of a water jet. The jet pushes on the turbine's curved blades which changes the direction of the flow. The resulting change in momentum (impulse) causes a force on the turbine blades. Since the turbine is spinning, the force acts through a distance (work) and the diverted water flow is left with diminished energy. An impulse turbine is one in which the pressure of the fluid flowing over the rotor blades is constant and all the work output is due to the change in kinetic energy of the fluid.
Prior to hitting the turbine blades, the water's pressure (potential energy) is converted to kinetic energy by a nozzle and focused on the turbine. No pressure change occurs at the turbine blades, and the turbine doesn't require a housing for operation.
Newton's second law describes the transfer of energy for impulse turbines.
Impulse turbines are often used in very high (>300 m or 1000 ft) head applications.
Power The power available in a stream is;
where:
power (J/s or watts) turbine efficiency density of fluid (kg/m3) acceleration of gravity (9.81 m/s2) head (m). For still water, this is the difference in height between the inlet and outlet surfaces. Moving water has an additional component added to account for the kinetic energy of the flow. The total head equals the pressure head plus velocity head. volumetric flow rate (m3/s)
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity Some water turbines are designed for pumped-storage hydroelectricity. They can reverse flow and operate as pumps to fill a high reservoir during off-peak electrical hours, and then revert to a water turbine for power generation during peak electrical demand. This type of turbine is usually a Deriaz or Francis turbine in design. Examples are the 3.6 GW Fengning in China, the 3 GW Bath County in USA, and numerous others.
Efficiency Large modern water turbines operate at mechanical efficiencies greater than 90%.
Types of water turbines
Reaction turbines Kaplan turbine Francis turbine Tyson turbine Deriaz turbine Gorlov helical turbine
Impulse turbine Water wheel Pelton wheel Turgo turbine Cross-flow turbine (also known as the Bánki-Michell turbine, or Ossberger turbine) Jonval turbine Reverse overshot water-wheel Screw turbine Barkh Turbine
Design and application
Turbine selection is based on the available water head, and less so on the available flow rate. In general, impulse turbines are used for high head sites, and reaction turbines are used for low-head sites. Kaplan turbines with adjustable blade pitch are well-adapted to wide ranges of flow or head conditions, since their peak efficiency can be achieved over a wide range of flows.