Water Pumps and Turbines

Abstract

A device which brings about an exchange of energy between a mechanical system and a fluid medium is a fluid machine. If the machine is driven mechanically to work on the fluid system and thereby transform mechanical energy into ‘fluid’ energy it is referred to as a pump. However, the word pump is generally applied to machines working on liquids only. Pumps which drive gases at low pressures are usually called fans and those which drive gases at high pressures are called compressors. The reverse of a pump, a device extracting energy from a fluid system and converting it into mechanical energy, is called a turbine. Like a pump, a turbine may be driven by liquid energy or gas energy giving a hydraulic turbine or a gas turbine.