Atypical start-up experiments on pump as turbine

Abstract

At present, research on the characteristics of pumps as turbine (PATs) during the start-up process is still insufficient. To reveal the transient characteristics of a centrifugal PAT during the atypical start-up process, a test rig for the transient performance of the PAT was built; in addition, experiments on the transient hydraulic performance of three kinds of steady speed and three kinds of steady flow were conducted. Through these experiments, the evolution characteristics of the transient performance parameters of the PAT during the atypical start-up process were analyzed over time. Moreover, three dimensionless coefficients were employed to deeply reveal the transient characteristics of the PAT during atypical start-up. Results showed that the rise curves of flow rate and outlet static pressure exhibited shock phenomena. With the increase in the stable running speed after start-up, the impact phenomenon of the outlet static pressure presented a delayed trend. The dimensionless head and flow coefficients reached the maximum value at the initial stage of the atypical start-up process and then rapidly dropped to the minimum value before slowly rising to the final stable value. The dimensionless power coefficient had a maximum value at the initial stage of atypical start-up and then rapidly dropped to the final stable value.