A Modern Laboratory for Hydraulic Turbine and Pump/Turbine Model Performance Testing

Increased demands for higher performance, reliability, and versatility from hydraulic turbines and pump/turbines have dictated that manufacturers improve their model testing facilities to thoroughly evaluate individual designs as required by customer specifications. Advances in supporting technology, particularly electronic instrumentation, data acquisition, and motor/generator control, have significantly improved performance data and have reduced testing time to a minimum. This paper discusses a new laboratory design, incorporated by the Hydro-Turbine Division of Allis-Chalmers Corporation for model testing, including the building, the flexible test circuits, the data acquisition system, the power generation system, and the model test stand.