Optimizing pump-as-turbines for improved efficiency with reduced costs

Converting potential energy into mechanical and electrical energy is often a very cost-effective way of using existing resources to create power. Water wheels were some of the first devices used to harness energy from the local environment. As industrialization has continued, so dams have been built and used to store water with potential energy that is captured by turbines and generators to create electricity.

Modern industry uses fluid under pressure for many processes, but also has to employ pressure reducing valves to dissipate hydraulic energy. These can be replaced with hydraulic power recovery turbines (HRPTs), which convert excess pressure to mechanical energy that drives a generator to produce electricity.

All centrifugal pumps, whether they are low or high specific speed, single or multistage, horizontal or vertical, can be operated in reverse and used to power a generator. The challenge is selecting the most appropriate design and fine-tuning it to provide an efficient and reliable source of power.

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