Application
Francis turbines may be designed for a wide range of heads and flows. This, along with their high efficiency, has made them the most widely used turbine in the world. Francis type units cover a head range from 20 to 700 meters (100 to 2,300 feet), and their output power varies from just a few kilowatts up to one gigawatt. Large Francis turbines are individually designed for each site to operate at the highest possible efficiency, typically over 90%.
In addition to electrical production, they may also be used for pumped storage, where a reservoir is filled by the turbine (acting as a pump) during low power demand, and then reversed and used to generate power during peak demand.
Read more about this topic: Francis Turbine
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