• September 5, 1829- March 14, 1908

• Known as “The Father of

Hydroelectric Power”

• Born in a log-cabin in rural

Vermillion Twn., Erie County, Ohio

• His grandfather, Captain Josiah

Pelton, who lost his assets bring
them in Ohio
• He spent his childhood working in
his family’s farm

•Gold Miner to Fisherman in

Sacramento River

• In 1860, he relocated in
Camptonville

• Work as Millwright and Carpenter

• In 1870, he invented the Pelton Wheel

•Pelton died in California on March 14, 1908

at age 78

• In 1895, The Franklin Institute,

Philadelphia, USA awarded Lester Pelton the
“Elliott Cresson Medal”– now renamed “The
Benjamin Franklin Medal”

• In 2006, he was inducted into the National

Inventors Hall of Fame
Pelton’s Original
Patent (October
1880)
• Pelton’s ideas in improving Turbine
Water Wheel came from his
experience and knowledge in
California’s Gold Rush County

• According to a 1939 – article by W. F

Durand of Standford University in
Mechanical Engineering, his invention
of Pelton’s Wheel sometime in 1970’s
was accident.
“Pelton was watching a spinning water turbine
when the key holding its wheel onto its shaft
slipped, causing it to become misaligned. Instead
of the jet hitting the cups in their middle, the
slippage made it hit near the edge; rather than
the water flow being stopped, it was now
deflected into a half-circle, coming out again
with reversed direction. Surprisingly, the turbine
now moved faster. That was Pelton's great
discovery. In other turbines the jet hit the middle
of the cup and the splash of the impacting water
wasted energy."
 Pelton Wheel,
circa 1880 built
by Miners
Foundry
• In the late 1870s, Pelton modeled, tested and
manufactured first turbine wheel called “Pelton
Runner”—later it was called “Impulse Blades”

• It was build in Miners Foundry in Nevada City

• At that time, Knight Foundry was being sold as

industry standard

• Pelton’s Wheel was found as 90% more efficient in

converting streamflow kinetic energy to horsepower
than other competitor with 40%-77% efficiency
• The Pelton Wheel sustained power during lowflow
conditions in mountain stream

• In 1887, a miner attached Pelton’s wheel to a

dynamo, an electrical generator that creates direct
current using a commutator

• It became the first Hydroelctric Power in Sierra

Nevada

• In 1895, the largest installation of Pelton’s Wheel

during Pelton’s lifetime was accomplished
 Assembly of
Pelton Wheel at
Walchensee
Hydroelctric
Power Station,
Germany
Sectional View
of a Pelton
Turbine
Installation
•It was accomplished at North Star Mine
Powerhouse, Grass Valley, California by Engr.
Arthur De Wint

• The Pelton’s wheel consist of approximately 30

meter diameter

• It results in greatly increasing hydropower

delivered by the Pelton runners to produce
compressed air for mining operations
 Bucket
detail on a
small
turbine
• An tangential flow impulse-type water turbine

• It extracts energy from the impulse of moving

water

• Used to generate electricity in the

hydroelectric power plant

• Many impulse turbines design existed prior to

Pelton’s design but they were less efficient than
Pelton’s design
• The energy availble at the inlet of
Pelton’s Wheel is only kinetic energy

• The pressure at the inlet and outlet of

the turbine is Atmospheric Pressure

• This type of turbine is used for high

head
1.Horizontal arrangement
Pelton’s Turbine
2. Vertical arrangement
Pelton’s Turbine
• Horizontal arrangement is
found only in medium and
small sized turbines with
usually one or two jets
• Large Pelton’s Turbine with
many jets are normally
arranged with vertical shaft

• The jets are symmetrically

distributed around the runner
to balance the jet forces
• Nozzle is used to increase the kinetic
energy of the water that is going to
strike the buckets or vanes attached to
the runner.

• The spear is a conical needle present

in the nozzle. It is operated by a hand
wheel or automatically in an axial
direction.
• The quantity of water that strikes
the buckets is controlled by spear.
The spear is installed inside the
nozzle and regulates the flow of
water that is going to strike on the
vanes of the runner. When the
spear moves backward, the rate of
flow increases and vice versa.
• Penstock is a solid pipe which
take water from the dam and
take it to the turbine at very
high speed
• Runner is a rotating part of the turbine.
It is a circular disc on the periphery of
which a number of buckets evenly spaced
are fixed.

•The buckets are made by two

hemispherical bowl joined together. Each
buckets have a wall in between two
hemispherical bowl called splitter.
• The splitter splits the jet of water striking the
buckets into two equal parts and the jet of
water comes out at the outer edge of the
bucket.

•The buckets are designed in such a way that

the jet of water strike the buckets, deflected
through 160 degree to 170 degree.

•The buckets of the Pelton turbine are made

up of cast iron, cast steel bronze or stainless
steel.
• The outer covering of the this turbine is
called casing. The Pelton turbine with the
casing is shown in the figure given below.

•It prevents the splashing of the water and

helps to discharge the water to the trail race.
It also acts as a safeguard in the case of any
accident occurs.

•Cast iron or fabricated steel plates are used to

make the casing of the Pelton Turbine.
• When the jet of water is completely closed by
pushing the spear in forward direction than
the amount of water striking the runner
becomes zero. But still the runner keeps
moving due to the inertia of the runner.

•In order to stop the runner in the shortest

possible time a small nozzle is provided which
directs the jet of water at the back of the
vanes. This jet of water used to stop the
runner of the turbine is called breaking jet.
•Most efficient of all turbines
•High overall efficiency
•Easy assembly
•Operate at low discharge
•Flat efficiency curve
•Can be operation in salted
water
•Decrease in efficiency with
time
•Components have large size
•Variation in the operating
head is very difficult to
control
•The operating head cannot
be utilized even when the
variation in the tail water
 The Specific Speed of a turbine is the speed
in rotations per minute (rpm) at which similar model
of the turbine would run under a head of 1 ft. When
of such size as to develop 1 HP.
•Pelton wheels are the preferred turbine for
hydro-power where the available water source has
relatively high hydraulic head at low flow rates.

• Pelton wheels are made in all sizes.

• There exist multi-ton Pelton wheels mounted on

vertical oil pad bearings in hydroelectric plants.

•The largest units - the Bieudron Hydroelectric

Power Station at the Grande Dixence Dam complex
in Switzerland - are over 400 megawatts.
• The smallest Pelton wheels are only a few inches across,
and can be used to tap power from mountain streams
having flows of a few gallons per minute.

• Some of these systems use household plumbing fixtures for

water delivery.

•These small units are recommended for use with 30 metres

(100 ft) or more of head, in order to generate significant
power levels.

• Depending on water flow and design, Pelton wheels

operate best with heads from 15–1,800 metres (50–
5,910 ft), although there is no theoretical limit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel

https://theconstructor.org/practical-guide/pelton-turbine/2894/

https://www.green-mechanic.com/2014/06/pelton-wheel-
turbine.html

http://www.oldpelton.net/history/

https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/energy/lester-
allan-pelton

http://www.mechanicalbooster.com/2016/10/pelton-turbine-
working-main-parts-application-with-diagram.html

http://electrical-engineering-portal.com/lester-allan-pelton-father-
hydroelectric-power