NEW HYDRAULIC TEST RIG FOR SMALL-POWER TURBOMACHINES

A new universal test rig has been installed at the HES-SO VS Sion - Switzerland to assess the hydraulic performances of different types of small-power turbomachines (up to 10 kW) and other hydraulic components with complex geometry, following the IEC 60193 standard recommendations. The closed-loop circuit allows simulating different implantation levels of the model and therefore recovering the cavitation performances as well. The present work introduces a state-of-the-art approach of an automatic regulation for hydraulic test rigs. An autonomous regulation system based on real-time measurements is developed using the capabilities of a National Instruments compact Reconfigurable Input Output device. Indeed, during operation, the system can keep constant the value of the desired parameters (e.g. testing head, discharge, pumps speed, Thoma number, etc.). Then, the implemented wireless communication architecture between the hydraulic test rig and further measurements/monitoring systems offers flexibility. Moreover, the control system of the test rig manages a dedicated cloud of variables and shares it with the client systems. Finally, this approach ensures safe data centralization and storage on hydraulic turbomachinery model testing.