A PRESENTATION

ON
CROSS FLOW TURBINE

25 Jan 2013

PRADHUMNA ADHIKARI
069/MSR/511
INTRODUCTION

The Cross-flow turbine (Mitchell-Banki turbine) was

invented and patented by an Australian engineer Mitchell
in 1903. Hungarian Professor Donat Banki later refined
the design.

The turbine is mainly classified as impulse or free jet

turbine.

Suitable for low and medium head ranging from 5-100 m

and flow ranging from 0.1 to 10 m3 .

Main characteristics is water jet of rectangular cross

section passes twice through rotor blades- arranged at
periphery of cylindrical rotor.
CROSS FLOW TURBINE CONSTRUCTION

Water flow in the casing

1: Runner 2,3: Guide Vane 4: Casing 5: Baffle Guide vanes fully closed
Plate 6: Inlet Pipe 7: Cover 8: Draft Tube 9:
Runner Shaft 10: Bearing Box 11: Shaft Seal
12: Air Valve 13: Silencer 14, 15: Guide Vane
Arm 16: Handhold
SPECIFIC SPEED VS. APPLICABLE TURBINE TYPE
WORKING PRINCIPLE
The water flows through the runner
blading first from the periphery towards
the center and then after crossing the
open center space from the inside
outwards.
It has two velocity stages, the water
Horizontal entrance of water
filling only part of the runner at any one
time
It removes the water in a simple manner
after it has passed through the runner
without producing any back pressure.
Net head can be increased by creating
partial vacuum by fitting draft tube, Vertical entrance of water
submerged by tail water all the time
DESIGN OF CROSS FLOW TURBINE
If Q (m3/s) and Hnet (m) are flow rate and head then
approximate feel for the physical dimension can be
obtained as:
1. Runner diameter

= 40 , N is crossflow rpm

2. Jet thickness
The jet thickness is usually between one tenth and one
fifth of the runner diameter.
= 0.1
It also depends whether flow control vane is fitted.
3. Length of runner
0.23
= ,

4. The width of the rectangular jet orifice is always equal

to runner length
5. Blade Design
Cross flow turbine consists of
two end plates in which
blades are joined.

Many designs dont have

thorough shaft so blades
endure all the bending
moment of torque
transmission.

So, blades with longer rotor

and small radial chord is
avoided.
Blade can be of thin strip of
sheet or cut out of thin walled
tubes.
Fig. Cross flow blade
terminology where
ri & ro are inner and
outer radius
s is spacing betn
blades
VELOCITY DIAGRAM AT DIFFERENT LOCATION
OF CROSS FLOW TURBINE

C is absolute velocity
U is peripheral velocity
W is relative velocity
COMPARISION OF EFFICIENCY OF VARIOUS
TURBINES
CROSS FLOW EFFICIENCY COMPARISON
ADVANTAGES OF CROSS FLOW TURBINES

Suitable for medium head and small flow

Good part flow efficiency compared with Francis turbine
Guide vanes are used for water flow regulation, which
enables the turbine to work in various flows
Easy to manufacture with locally available materials
suitable for developing countries
A large variety of flow rate can be accommodated with
constant diameter runner by varying inlet and runner
width. This makes it possible to reduce the need of jigs,
tooling and fixture while manufacturing
CROSS FLOW IN NEPAL

It is used extensively in the micro hydro plants of

Nepal where the head is medium.
Examples are Helambu MHPP (capacity of 40 Kw)

Namche SHPP (capacity of 20 Kw)

Salleri-chialsa MHP (80 kw)

REFERENCES

Breslin, W.R. Small Michell (Banki) Turbine: A Construction Manual. n.d.

Durali, Mohammad. "Design of small water turbines for farms and small
communities." 1976.
Harvey, Adam. Micro Hydro Desing Manual . 1993.
Mockmore, C.A. "The Banki Water Turbine." (1949).
Mtalo, Flex and Ramadhani Wakati. "Design and Fabrication of Cross
Flow Turbine." 2010.