Experimental Investigation and Performance Characteristics of Francis Turbine with Different Guide Vane Openings in Hydro Distributed Generation Power Plants

Abstract

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.