Frequency modelling and dynamic identification of cross-flow water turbines

Abstract

The cross-flow turbines cover from the point of view hydraulic power the running domain of some well-known turbines such as Pelton, Francis or Kaplan. This type of turbine has a simple construction, long life and low execution cost, which makes it very suitable for on and off grid small to medium hydro power plants. It is quite difficult to establish an exact theoretical dynamic model for this type of turbines, due to the complex flow phenomenon (bi phase flow water and air). In order to obtain the exact dynamic behavior of the hydraulic machine, experimental dynamic identification will be done. In automation, the dynamic properties, represent the fundamental characteristic of the object which must be regulated. When the dynamic properties of the regulated object are obtained experimentally, we analyze the characteristics of the transient regime, which appears because of the application at the system inlet of some stochastic or deterministic signals (sine waves for our case). The hydraulic turbine is modeled as an informational quadrupole having the inlet parameters the movement of the wicket gate and the turbine head and outlet parameters the torque and the speed. In this paper it will be presented the frequency modelling of the cross-flow turbine and the validation of the mathematical model through experimental dynamic identification.