Effects of Blade Inlet Width on Performance of Centrifugal Pump as Turbine With Special Impeller Using in Turbine Mode

A reverse running centrifugal pump is one of the attractive choices in micro-hydropower development and industrial pressure energy recovery. One of the main problems in utilizing pump as turbine (PAT) is that the performance of PAT is usually not ideal due to the impeller with the routine backward curved blades which do not match well with turbine running condition. A cost effective suitable way for solving this problem is to redesign impeller with forward curved blades from turbine working condition while the other components do not undergo any modifications. Blade inlet width is one of the main factors in impeller design. Therefore, research on the influence of blade inlet width on PAT performance is useful. In this paper, based on the constant velocity moment theory, the velocity moment at impeller inlet is acquired, firstly. Next, a relationship expression between blade inlet angle and the design flow rate is deduced. To perform research on blade inlet width influencing PAT’s performance with special impeller, three impellers which inlet widths are 13 mm, 16 mm and 19 mm, respectively, are designed by using ANSYS Bladegen software. Numerical simulation and analysis of the three PATs are performed using a verified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. Comparison of three PATs’ performance curves obtained by CFD, we can find that the blade inlet width has obvious effect on the performance of PAT. The flow rate, required pressure head, generated shaft power, and efficiency at best efficiency point (BEP) increase with the increase of blade inlet width. The flow rates of three PATs at BEP are about 90 m³/h, 100 m³/h and 105 m³/h, respectively, when impeller inlet width varies from 13 mm to 16 mm and 19 mm. The BEP of three PATs shifts towards higher discharge and its high efficiency range becomes wider with the increase of blade inlet width. At above 100 m³/h discharge, the PAT efficiency increases in accordance with the increase of blade inlet width. And the hydraulic loss and turbulence kinetic energy loss within impeller decrease with the increase of blade inlet width. In order to improve efficiency, it is helpful to choose a relatively larger blade inlet width in the design of special impeller using in turbine mode of PAT.