Technological excellence is the core of FLOVEL and over the years we have invested in capabilities that deliver the best in class, high performance turbines. Model test is one such capability which lets a customer test out (if needed) the efficiency of the turbine before the start of the actual turbine components’ manufacturing.

One such model is under final testing stage for the Chinnar Project. FLOVEL received the order for Chinnar Project in the last financial year. The order included verification of efficiencies of the prototype turbine through model testing. Post order a special hydraulic design was developed in our Design Center with the help of #CFD tools and a model turbine was manufactured at FLOVEL’s manufacturing facility as per the design.

Model testing of the Chinnar project is now running at the Hydraulic Turbine R&D Laboratory, HRED, IIT Roorkee. Model test is performed according to international standard IEC 60193, which is the worldwide accepted guideline that assures credibility of results. Below are some pictures of the model turbine that is in the laboratory.

The model was assembled at the lab. After completing the assembly and the first filling with water for leak tests, the calibration of the instruments for pressure, flow, shaft torque and speed measurement was checked. Tests of turbine efficiency are ongoing for the guaranteed range of Chinnar project. In the coming weeks, cavitation, runaway and other tests will be carried out according to the test program. Finally, the test will be witnessed by the Customer.

About the model test: The model testing is being arranged at the Hydraulic Turbine R&D Laboratory, HRED, IIT Roorkee. This is one and only hydraulic lab for measurement of hydraulic turbine characteristics in India. Model test is performed according to international standard IEC 60193, which is the worldwide accepted guideline that assures credibility of results. It allows the turbine designer to verify the complete operational range, under complex hydraulic phenomena, which cannot be anticipated so precisely by analytical calculations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The test results reproduce the conditions of the real hydroelectric plant, the so-called prototype machine.