Francis turbine

A reaction water turbine that converts pressure and flow energy into shaft power as water passes radially inward through its runner and exits axially.

Spiral case: A volute-shaped housing that distributes water around a turbine runner. It feeds water around the runner’s circumference while maintaining an even flow.
Reaction turbine: A turbine that extracts energy from both fluid pressure and velocity as fluid flows through its runner. Francis turbines belong to this class, unlike machines driven chiefly by a free jet.
Hydroelectricity: Electricity generated by converting the energy of moving or falling water into electrical power. Francis turbines convert a plant’s hydraulic power into the rotation used for generation.
James B. Francis: A British-American engineer known for developing and analyzing the inward-flow water turbine named after him. His Lowell, Massachusetts, work established the turbine design associated with his name.
Pelton wheel: An impulse turbine that extracts energy from high-speed water jets striking spoon-shaped buckets. It suits high-head, low-flow sites, while Francis turbines handle a broader range of intermediate conditions.
Stay vane: A fixed guide blade that supports the flow passage and directs water toward adjustable guide vanes. It conditions the incoming flow before the adjustable vanes meter it.
Hydraulic head: The mechanical energy of water per unit weight, expressed as an equivalent height. The available head sets the energy per unit weight that the turbine can extract.
Hydroelectric power station: A facility that converts water’s hydraulic energy into electricity using turbines and generators. The turbine is coupled to a generator within this larger power-conversion system.
Lowell, Massachusetts: A Massachusetts city that became a major nineteenth-century textile-manufacturing center powered by water. Francis developed his turbine while working on the city’s canal and water-power system.
Kaplan turbine: An axial-flow reaction turbine with adjustable runner blades, commonly used at low heads and high discharges. Its axial flow and adjustable blades distinguish it from the Francis runner’s inward radial flow.

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