Evaluation of centrifugal pumps used as Turbines on Small Hydroelectric Plant : Analysis ofcorrelations Mg Orlando Aníbal AUDISIO UNIVESI!A! NA"I#NA$ !E$ "#%AHUE !pto& de %ec'nica Aplicada $aboratorio de %'(uinas Hidr'ulicas )$A&%&HI&* "alle +uenos Aires ,-.. )/01..+S2* Neu(u3n "apital 4 Patagonia Argentina TE: 554).*6774--7.1.. Int& -.- E4%ail: orlando&audisi o8fain&uncoma& edu&ar Abstract: Hydropo9erlarge and smallremains by far t;e most important of t;e <rene9ables= for electrical po9er production 9orld9ideproviding ,7> of t;e planet?s electricity& Small4scale ;ydro is in most cases <run4of4river=9it; no dam or 9ater storageand is one of t;e most cost4 eff ect ive and env ironmenta lly ben ign ene rgy tec ;no log ies to be con sid ere d bot; for rur al electr i@cati on in less develop ed countri es and furt;er ;ydro deve lopme nts in America & +yecolo gical and environmental issue ssmall ;ydro po9er resour ces 9ill be econo mical in t;e future& Standard pumps could be considered a lo9 cost alternative for ;ydraulic turbines used in small ;ydropo9er plants & An eperimental investigation of centrifugal pump ;as been carried out to study its c;aracteristics in pump and turbine mode operation and t;eir applications for electrical energy generation& +y using t;e results of tested pump of some previous researc;ersne9 correlations ;ave been developed by using its best eperimental parameters )optimal performance* in pump mode and mode turbines& Values obtained from t;e derived correlations s;o9 good matc; 9it; eperimental results& T;ese correlations 9ould be very ;elpful for t;e performance prediction ofpump 9orBing as turbine& A centrifugal pump can operate properly as a turbinebut of course 9it; lo9er efficiency comparing to t;e conventional turbines& Crom an economical point of vie9using a pump instead of a turbine can t;us be recommended for po9er stations under approimately D.. F installed capacity& Pump manufacturers do not normally provide t;e performance curves of t;eir pumps 9orBing in reverse mode )turbine*& T;ereforeestablis;ing a correlation proper t;e p assage from t;e GpumpG performance to GturbineG once is important for selecting t;e proper mac;ine& Several empirical met;ods eisting in t;e literature for predicting t;e best efficiency point of pumps running as turbines are presented and compared& Ho9ever eac; of t;ese of met;ods is applicable only for particular cases& ey 9ords:
