Characteristics of Francis Turbine
The Francis turbine is compact and efficient, and can adapt to a wide range of water heads. It is one of the most widely used turbine types in the world. When water flows through such a turbine wheel, it enters in a radial direction and flows out axially, so it is also called a radial axial flow turbine.
It is suitable for water heads ranging from 20 meters up to 700 meters. It is simple in structure, stable in operation and high in efficiency, but it is generally used in the middle head range (50 meters to 400 meters). Single machine output from tens of kilowatts to hundreds of thousands of kilowatts. At present, the maximum output of such turbines has exceeded 700,000 kilowatts. It is one of the most widely used turbines. China's 700 MW unit with single-unit capacity was put into operation in the Three Gorges, and 800 MW mixed-flow unit was used in Xiangjiaba.