Francis Turbine
HTE Engineering and its partners have provided hundreds of Francis turbines all over the world, ranging in size from 145 kW to 750 MW.
The Francis turbine is a type of inward-flowing reaction turbine. This turbine is named after James B. Francis (1815 – 1892), an American hydraulic engineer who designed, built, and tested the first of these types of turbines.
In the Francis turbine, the water flows from the penstock into a spiral scroll case, and is then channeled to the turbine runner using adjustable guide vanes, or wicket gates. The scroll case is designed to decrease in cross-sectional area so that the water can maintain constant velocity in the scroll case as water is discharged to the runner and the flow in the scroll case decreases. Flow through the system is controlled by opening or closing the wicket gates. Once passing the runner, the water is then discharged through a draft tube into the tailrace.
The Francis turbine is very versatile, and may be manufactured for use in a wide variety of applications. The Francis turbine can be designed to operate over a wide range of flows and heads and may be mounted on either a vertical or a horizontal axis.
