Review of methods used for selecting Pumps as Turbines (PATs) and predicting their characteristic curves

Abstract

The use of Pumps As Turbines (PATs) can be the best solution for exploiting small hydraulic resources. Pump manufacturers do not provide the performances of their machines running in reverse mode, thus several authors developed appropriate prediction models. Some of them can only correlate the pump Best Efficiency Point (BEP) to the PAT corresponding one; other ones are able to obtain the characteristic curves. In this paper, a review of these methodologies is presented with the aim to find the best strategy that allows a designer of a small hydropower plant to select the PAT to be used and to predict its characteristic curves. The study also highlights the possibility of disassembling some models in order to merge the best parts in a more reliable strategy.