Abstract
This paper presents the performance characteristic of a Francis hydro turbine with an inline casing. This turbine is designed for city water supply system. Due to large changes in ground elevation with high points and low points, some systems may experience larger-than-normal required pressures in areas with low ground elevations. One way to dissipate these excess pressures is by the use of an inline-turbine instead of an inline-pressure reducing valve. For best applicability and minimal space consumption, the turbine is designed with an inline casing instead of the common spiral casing. As a characteristic of inline casing, the flow accesses to the runner in the radial direction, showing a low efficiency. The installation of vanes improves the internal flow and gives the positive encouragement to the output power. For the power transmission to the outside of the turbine casing from the runner axis, a belt passage is designed in the inline casing, as its influence, the region after the belt passage shows a relatively low output power. The clearance gap in the runner side space is considered, in which a small volume of flow is contracted into the clearance gap, forming the leakage flow. The leakage flow leads to a decrease in the efficiency.
