Assignment-1

Cavitation in Francis Turbine:

Cavitation is a phenomenon in which the static fluid pressure at a point in the turbine becomes less than the vapour pressure which results to the formation of bubbles in the fluid. It mostly occurs near the fast moving blades or exit regions of the turbines. The liquid enters Francis turbine at a very high pressure which is a combination of static pressure and dynamic pressure .The dynamic pressure is due to the flow velocity and the static pressure is the potential head by the virtue of the height. Near the region of fast moving blades there is a sudden conversion of most of the head available into dynamic energy so the static head decrease less than the vapour pressure and cavitation occurs. Cavitation also occurs at the exit of the turbine as the liquid has lost major part of its pressure heads and any increase in dynamic head will lead to fall in static pressure causing Cavitation. The bubbles so formed are carried to the high pressure zones where vapour condenses and bubbles burst. Since the collapsing pressure may be as high as hundreds of atmospheres which lead to the formation of pressure waves, it causes the pitting in the metallic surface of the runner vanes and draft tubes etc. The collapse of smaller bubbles is more dangerous to machines as compared to larger as they generate high frequency pressure waves. The runner is eaten away gradually from these point and this results in lowering the overall efficiency of the turbine. Therefore a turbine should be design such that the overall cavitation effect can be minimized or eliminated completely. These days CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is used to find the ways to curb cavitation. In general, to avoid cavitation parameters should be set such that at any point of flow static pressure may not fall below the vapour pressure of the liquid. These parameters to control cavitation are pressure head, flow rate and exit pressure of the liquid. The control parameters for cavitation free operation of hydraulic turbines can be obtained by conducting tests on model of the turbine under consideration. The parameters beyond which cavitation starts and turbine efficiency falls significantly should be avoided while operation of Francis turbines. To totally avoid the flow separation and cavitation in the draft tube it is submerged below the level of the water in tail race.

Governing in Turbines:
Governing in turbine means regulating the turbine speed under no load and varying load condition. It helps in control of grid frequency under normal operation and protects the machine as well as grid during emergency situation. The load on a turbine generating unit does not remain constant and can vary as per consumer requirement. In order to maintain the synchronous speed under changing load, the turbine is equipped with electro-hydraulic governor; fully backed-up by a hydraulic governor. The measuring and processing of electrical signal offer the advantages such as flexibility, dynamic stability and simple representation of complicated functional systems.

The main components of governing system are: Remote trip solenoids, main trip valves, starting and load limit service, hydraulic amplifier, follow-up piston valves etc,. The various problems faced in operating the generator which requires a feedback system are: Wide and frequent variations of frequency. Continuous manual interventions. Conflict with offsetting frequency correction.

The main functions of the governing system are Control of the turbine start-up and shutdown sequences Synchronisation of the turbine with the grid

Control of the active power supplied by the generator to an interconnected network

Control of network frequency on an isolated electrical network Protection of the unit against overspeed in case of load rejection Control of advanced sequences

Surge Tanks:
Like we use risers in sand casting as a reservoir to provide melted metal to the cast, in the same way surge tanks acts a storage reservoir to provide extra water during a brief drop in pressure. For hydroelectric power uses, it acts as a reservoir fitted between the main storage and power house. The main function of surge tanks is: When the load demand is decreased, the generator doesnt require much mechanical energy so the extra water flows and gets stored in surge tanks. In the same way when there is extra need, the additional water is brought from surge tanks. There are three important types of Surge Tanks used in Hydro Electric Power Plant: Simple surge tank Restricted orifice type surge tank Differential surge tank.

The surge tanks are also used to prevent bursting of pipes due to water hammering. Also, In large water mains the rate of change in flow is carefully controlled to avoid damage to pipes and valves. Unfortunately this solution will not work with Turbines where a sudden change in load requires a rapid change in water demand. So, here the use of surge tanks is advantageous.

References:
http://www.codecogs.com/reference/engineering/fluid_mechanics/surge/surge_tanks.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_tank Reference of diagram: http://www.alstom.com/power/resources/brochure/hydro-turbinespeed-governing-system/ http://www.engihub.com/?p=112

Submitted byAkanksha Jagwani(10003019)