The two main types of turbine pumps are: vertical turbine pumps and submersible turbine pumps. While submersible pumps have an electric motor located below the pump, vertical turbine pumps have a motor located above the ground that is connected to the bottom impellers of the pump through a long vertical shaft. The term "turbine" in the name of the pump is somewhat wrong because this type of pump has nothing to do with a turbine.
How it works
Pumps are usually driven by an AC electric induction motor or by a diesel engine via a suitable angle drive. The end of the pump consists of at least one rotating impeller that is attached to a shaft and directs the well water into a diffuser called a bowl. Multi-stage setups use different impellers on the same shaft to create more pressure that is needed for deeper wells or higher pressure requirements (head level) at ground level. Vertical turbine pumps work when water enters the pump at the bottom through a bell-shaped part called the suction bell. From there it moves to the first stage propeller, which increases the speed of the water. The water then enters the diffuser bowl immediately above the impeller, where this energy is converted into high pressure at high speed. The bowl also directs the liquid to the next impeller immediately above the bowl, and this process continues through all pump stages. After the water leaves the last bowl of the diffuser, it passes through a long vertical column pipe as it rises from the earthen well to the surface. Spinning shafts within this column are supported at intervals of three or five feet by sleeve bushings mounted inside the column and lubricated by the water moving along them. At the surface is the discharge surface of the pump, which allows the flow to change its direction, towards the discharge pipe. A vertical high pressure A.C. motor is mounted above the discharge head.
Where are they used? They are primarily used wherever a submersible pump is impractical, because the flow is above the range of the turbines, or because the motor owner prefers a conventional motor mounted on top of the pump. They are usually They are used in wells that are intended to irrigate agriculture or lawns or provide water for municipalities that rely on groundwater instead of surface water. They are also used to prepare plant makeup water and fire water for industrial plants
