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Mavel

Pelton

Machine for high heads

An impulse turbine for heads of 50–1 000 m. Instead of pressure acting on submerged blades, needle-controlled jets strike bucket-shaped cups. Suited to sites with a large drop and a small flow.

Aerial view of a concrete gravity dam and its reservoir in the Alps
Jérémy Toma / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Head
50 – 1 000 m
Flow
0.1 – 10 m³/s
Output
up to 30 MW
Runner
Ø 500 – 2 500 mm

How it works

How it works

At a head of 1 000 m water leaves the nozzle at about 140 m/s — close to 500 km/h. The double-cup buckets split each jet in two and turn it back almost 180°, transferring nearly all of its kinetic energy to the runner.

Configurations

Configurations

Horizontal machines carry up to three jets, vertical machines up to six, for the highest output at a given head.

Pelton Horizontal

Pelton Horizontal

Head
50 – 1 000 m
Flow
0.1 – 6 m³/s
Output
up to 30 MW
Jets
1 – 3
Drive
Direct
Pelton Vertical

Pelton Vertical

Head
50 – 1 000 m
Flow
up to 10 m³/s
Output
up to 30 MW
Jets
3 – 6
Drive
Direct

Applications

Applications

  • High mountain penstocks
  • Glacier- and snow-fed streams
  • Drinking-water pressure recovery
  • Sites with strongly seasonal flow

Key facts

Key facts

  • Heads up to 1 000 m — jet speed close to 500 km/h
  • 1–6 jets, each with its own spear valve
  • The runner turns in air: no cavitation on the buckets
  • Reference: 11.3 MW at 165 m head in Canada

Selected references

Selected references

View all

Upper Clowhom HPP

Canada

1 × Pelton Vertical

P 11.3 MWH 165 mQ 8 m³/s

Armamar HPP

Portugal

1 × Pelton Horizontal

P 739 kWH 212 mQ 0.4 m³/s

Other machines

Is this the right machine for your site?

Send your head and flow figures. We will confirm the type, size the unit and prepare a budgetary proposal.

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