Francis hydraulic turbine

American engineer James B. Francis invents the hydraulic turbine. 

Hydraulic turbines are used for recovering energy from high-pressure liquid streams. A common process application is an absorber-stripper combination. In this apphcation, a gas is absorbed in a solvent at a high pressure, where absorption is favored. Then, the solvent is stripped of the absorbed components at a low pressure, where stripping is favored, to recover the solvent. Thus, the energy of the high-pressure solvent stream from an absorber can be partially recovered by a hydraulic turbine. There are three types of hydraulic turbines, the Pelton-wheel turbine, the Francis turbine, and the propeller reaction turbine, an axial type turbine. The propeller reaction turbine is used in hydroelectric applications and will not be considered further. The Pelton-wheel and Francis tur-... 

Development The following discussion relates specifically to the use of what could be called radial-inflow, centrifugal-pump power-recovery turbines. It does not apply to the type of unit nurtured by the hydroelecti ic industry for the 1 ge-horsepower, large-flow, low- to medium-pressure differential area of hydraulic water turbines of the Felton or Francis runner type. There seems to have been little direct transfer of design concepts between these two fields the major manufacturers in the hydroelectric field have thus far made no effort to sell to the process industries, and the physical arrangement of their units, developed from the requirements of the hydroelectric field, is not suitable to most process-plant applications. 

Figure 4. Speed governing system of Francis turbine. Legend 1) Pump 2) Motor A.C. 3) Motor D.C. 4) Relief Valve 5) Pressostat 6) Check Valve 7) Proport lonal Valve 8) Emergency Valve 9) Distribution Valve 10) Cylinders Hydraulics 11) Insulation Valve 12) Command Valve 13) Accumulator 11) heat exchanger. 

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