§ 203. General Considerations on the Choice of a Type of Turbine.—The circumferential speed of any turbine is necessarily a fraction of the initial velocity of the water, and therefore is greater as the head is greater. In reaction turbines with complete admission the number of revolutions per minute becomes inconveniently great, for the diameter cannot be increased beyond certain limits without greatly reducing the efficiency. In impulse turbines with partial admission the diameter can be chosen arbitrarily and the number of revolutions kept down on high falls to any desired amount. Hence broadly reaction turbines are better and less costly on low falls, and impulse turbines on high falls. For variable water flow impulse turbines have some advantage, being more efficiently regulated. On the other hand, impulse turbines lose efficiency seriously if their speed varies from the normal speed due to the head. If the head is very variable, as it often is on low falls, and the turbine must run at the same speed whatever the head, the impulse turbine is not suitable. Reaction turbines can be constructed so as to overcome this difficulty to a great extent. Axial flow turbines with vertical shafts have the disadvantage that in addition to the weight of the turbine there is an unbalanced water pressure to be carried by the footstep or collar bearing. In radial flow turbines the hydraulic pressures are balanced. The application of turbines to drive dynamos directly has involved some new conditions. The electrical engineer generally desires a high speed of rotation, and a very constant speed at all times. The reaction turbine is generally more suitable than the impulse turbine. As the diameter of the turbine depends on the quantity of water and cannot be much varied without great inefficiency, a difficulty arises on low falls. This has been met by constructing four independent reaction turbines on the same shaft, each having of course the diameter suitable for one-quarter of the whole discharge, and having a higher speed of rotation than a larger turbine. The turbines at Rheinfelden and Chevres are so constructed. To ensure constant speed of rotation when the head varies considerably without serious inefficiency, an axial flow turbine is generally used. It is constructed of three or four concentric rings of vanes, with independent regulating sluices, forming practically independent turbines of different radii. Any one of these or any combination can be used according to the state of the water. With a high fall the turbine of largest radius only is used, and the speed of rotation is less than with a turbine of smaller radius. On the other hand, as the fall decreases the inner turbines are used either singly or together, according to the power required. At the Zürich waterworks there are turbines of 90 h.p. on a fall varying from 101⁄2 ft. to 43⁄4 ft. The power and speed are kept constant. Each turbine has three concentric rings. The outermost ring gives 90 h.p. with 105 cub. ft. per second and the maximum fall. The outer and middle compartments give the same power with 140 cub. ft. per second and a fall of 7 ft. 10 in. All three compartments working together develop the power with about 250 cub. ft. per second. In some tests the efficiency was 74% with the outer ring working alone, 75.4% with the outer and middle ring working and a fall of 7 ft., and 80.7% with all the rings working.
| Fig. 206. |
§ 204. Speed Governing.—When turbines are used to drive dynamos direct, the question of speed regulation is of great importance. Steam engines using a light elastic fluid can be easily regulated by governors acting on throttle or expansion valves. It is different with water turbines using a fluid of great inertia. In one of the Niagara penstocks there are 400 tons of water flowing at 10 ft. per second, opposing enormous resistance to rapid change of speed of flow. The sluices of water turbines also are necessarily large and heavy. Hence relay governors must be used, and the tendency of relay governors to hunt must be overcome. In the Niagara Falls Power House No. 1, each turbine has a very sensitive centrifugal governor acting on a ratchet relay. The governor puts into gear one or other of two ratchets driven by the turbine itself. According as one or the other ratchet is in gear the sluices are raised or lowered. By a subsidiary arrangement the ratchets are gradually put out of gear unless the governor puts them in gear again, and this prevents the over correction of the speed from the lag in the action of the governor. In the Niagara Power House No. 2, the relay is an hydraulic relay similar in principle, but rather more complicated in arrangement, to that shown in fig. 206, which is a governor used for the 1250 h.p. turbines at Lyons. The sensitive governor G opens a valve and puts into action a plunger driven by oil pressure from an oil reservoir. As the plunger moves forward it gradually closes the oil admission valve by lowering the fulcrum end f of the valve lever which rests on a wedge w attached to the plunger. If the speed is still too high, the governor reopens the valve. In the case of the Niagara turbines the oil pressure is 1200 ℔ per sq. in. One millimetre of movement of the governor sleeve completely opens the relay valve, and the relay plunger exerts a force of 50 tons. The sluices can be completely opened or shut in twelve seconds. The ordinary variation of speed of the turbine with varying load does not exceed 1%. If all the load is thrown off, the momentary variation of speed is not more than 5%. To prevent hydraulic shock in the supply pipes, a relief valve is provided which opens if the pressure is in excess of that due to the head.
| Fig. 207. |
§ 205. The Hydraulic Ram.—The hydraulic ram is an arrangement by which a quantity of water falling a distance h forces a portion of the water to rise to a height h1, greater than h. It consists of a supply reservoir (A, fig. 207), into which the water enters from some natural stream. A pipe s of considerable length conducts the water to a lower level, where it is discharged intermittently through a self-acting pulsating valve at d. The supply pipe s may be fitted with a flap valve for stopping the ram, and this is attached in some cases to a float, so that the ram starts and stops itself automatically, according as the supply cistern fills or empties. The lower float is just sufficient to keep open the flap after it has been raised by the action of the upper float. The length of chain is adjusted so that the upper float opens the flap when the level in the cistern is at the desired height. If the water-level falls below the lower float the flap closes. The pipe s should be as long and as straight as possible, and as it is subjected to considerable pressure from the sudden arrest of the motion of the water, it must be strong and strongly jointed. a is an air vessel, and e the delivery pipe leading to the reservoir at a higher level than A, into which water is to be pumped. Fig. 208 shows in section the construction of the ram itself. d is the pulsating discharge valve already mentioned, which opens inwards and downwards. The stroke of the valve is regulated by the cotter through the spindle, under which are washers by which the amount of fall can be regulated. At o is a delivery valve, opening outwards, which is often a ball-valve but sometimes a flap-valve. The water which is pumped passes through this valve into the air vessel a, from which it flows by the delivery pipe in a regular stream into the cistern to which the water is to be raised. In the vertical chamber behind the outer valve a small air vessel is formed, and into this opens an aperture 1⁄4 in. in diameter, made in a brass screw plug b. The hole is reduced to 1⁄16 in. in diameter at the outer end of the plug and is closed by a small valve opening inwards. Through this, during the rebound after each stroke of the ram, a small quantity of air is sucked in which keeps the air vessel supplied with its elastic cushion of air.
| Fig. 208. |
During the recoil after a sudden closing of the valve d, the pressure below it is diminished and the valve opens, permitting outflow. In consequence of the flow through this valve, the water in the supply pipe acquires a gradually increasing velocity. The upward flow of the water, towards the valve d, increases the pressure tending to lift the valve, and at last, if the valve is not too heavy, lifts and closes it. The forward momentum of the column in the supply pipe being destroyed by the stoppage of the flow, the water exerts a pressure at the end of the pipe sufficient to open the delivery valve o, and to cause a portion of the water to flow into the air vessel. As the water in the supply pipe comes to rest and recoils, the valve d opens again and the operation is repeated. Part of the energy of the descending column is employed in compressing the air at the end of the supply pipe and expanding the pipe itself. This causes a recoil of the water which momentarily diminishes the pressure in the pipe below the pressure due to the statical head. This assists in opening the valve d. The recoil of the water is sufficiently great to enable a pump to be attached to the ram body instead of the direct rising pipe. With this arrangement a ram working with muddy water may be employed to raise clear spring water. Instead of lifting the delivery valve as in the ordinary ram, the momentum of the column drives a sliding or elastic piston, and the recoil brings it back. This piston lifts and forces alternately the clear water through ordinary pump valves.
Pumps
§ 206. The different classes of pumps correspond almost exactly to the different classes of water motors, although the mechanical details of the construction are somewhat different. They are properly reversed water motors. Ordinary reciprocating pumps correspond to water-pressure engines. Chain and bucket pumps are in principle similar to water wheels in which the water acts by weight. Scoop wheels are similar to undershot water wheels, and centrifugal pumps to turbines.
Reciprocating Pumps are single or double acting, and differ from water-pressure engines in that the valves are moved by the water instead of by automatic machinery. They may be classed thus:—