A hydraulic turbine for small and medium – sized hydroelectric power plants is a rotary engine that converts the mechanical energy of water (its position, pressure, and speed energy) into the energy of a rotating shaft. The plant produces 3 types of turbines:
The “Pelton” bucket turbine is used for low water flow rates at high and ultra-high pressures up to 2000 meters, which are unattainable for other types of turbines, usually in mountainous areas. These turbines are much simpler than the others in terms of design.
Power: from 0.3 MW to 350 MW.
Head: from 70 m to 1200 m.
Impeller diameter: from 0.5 m to 4 m.
“Kaplan” rotary-blade turbine – this type of turbine has movable impeller blades, which makes it possible to maximize the use of water flow energy on low-pressure flat rivers with strong fluctuations in the upstream and downstream levels. As a rule, these turbines are installed at heads up to 85 m with high water flow rates.
Power: from 0.2 kW to 200 MW.
Head: from 1.5 m to 85 m.
Impeller diameter: from 0.5 m to 10 m.
The “Francis” radial-axial turbine has the widest operating pressure range. Currently, it is mainly used at high and ultra-high pressures from 40 m to 700 m, where it is impossible or impractical to use other types of hydraulic turbines. It has the highest possible efficiency of up to 97% in a wide range of pressures.
Power: from 0.2 kW to 500 MW.
Head: from 10 m to 700 m.
Impeller diameter: from 0.4 m to 7.5 m.