FRANCIS TURBINE PROTOTYPE TESTING AND GENERATION OF PERFORMANCE CURVES

Abstract

Hydroelectric power plant converts the hydraulic power in flowing water to mechanical energy. A key item of any hydro power plant is the governor. The control of the governor depends mainly on the performance curves of the turbine. Studies and measurements in the laboratory have given important information about the model and its characteristics and performance. This study concerns laboratory studies with focus on the characteristics of the Francis turbine model. The laboratory model considered in this study is a test rig set in the Fluid Mechanics laboratory at Mechanical Engineering Department manuf actured by Gilbert Gilkes and Gordon Ltd, representing a Francis turbine hydro power plant model. This manual test rig has been upgraded to control the measurements automatically. The variables measurement technology of the turbine are developed and implemented by using LabVIEW software interface. Performance test on the test rig of a Francis turbine has been carried out in the laboratory for various gate opening of the turbine. The numerical results for the test rig were implemented to get dedicated values of the six partial coefficients of the Francis Turbine test rig that used for control studies. These partial coefficients are compared with ideal model values.