A Pelton wheel is designed to operate under a head of 600 m and develops 6 MW while running at 200 rpm. It is desired to test the turbine at a site where the maximum supply head is 100 m. Find out the speed, discharge and power output at the test condition. Assume an overall efficiency of 85% at the best operating point. Also find the unit quantities.
From the equation for efficiency,
ηo=WPSP=wQHSP=9810×Q×6006×106
Discharge Q1=9810×600×0.856×106=1.2 m3/s
Since the same machine has to operate under the new head, unit quantities for the actual and test conditions are to be equated.
Unit speed Nu=H1N1=600200=8.165
Unit discharge Qu=H1Q1=6001.2=0.049
Unit power Pu=H13/2P1=6003/26×103=0.408
Equating the unit quantities for the actual (suffix 1) and test (suffix 2) conditions, we get
H1N1=H2N2
Speed during test N2=N1×(H1H2)1/2=200×(600100)1/2=81.65 rpm
H1Q1=H2Q2
Discharge during test Q2=Q1×(H1H2)1/2=1.2(600100)1/2=0.49 m3/s
H13/2P1=H23/2P2
Power developed P2=P1×(H1H2)3/2=6×103×(600100)3/2=408 kW