Turbine and multi piston pump

A turbine, wherein a propeller is mounted to said turbine, rotatable around a propeller axis, wherein a multi piston pump is provided, said multi piston pump being drivable by said propeller for pressurizing a pumping fluid,

• wherein the multi piston pump comprises a central part and a drive ring, wherein the central part comprises a series of piston-cylinder assemblies which are each compressible and extendible in a respective radial direction with respect to a common central axis, wherein each of the piston-cylinder assemblies is directly or indirectly engageable by the drive ring for radial compression thereof for pressurizing said pumping fluid,
• wherein at least one of the piston-cylinder assemblies is provided with a biasing means for at least selectively biasing at least part of said at least one piston-cylinder assembly towards engagement with the drive ring substantially independent of and/or complementary to a biasing by a pressure of pumping fluid at said at least one piston-cylinder assembly,
• wherein the biasing means is at least selectively connected to at least another one of the piston-cylinder assemblies for receiving a variable actuation signal therefrom, wherein the at least selectively connecting is at least partly dependent on the received actuation signal.

A multi piston pump for a turbine, the multi piston pump comprising a central part and a drive ring, wherein the central part comprises a series of piston-cylinder assemblies which are each compressible and extendible in a respective radial direction with respect to a common central axis, wherein each of the piston-cylinder assemblies is directly or indirectly engageable by the drive ring for radial compression thereof for pressurizing a pumping fluid,

• wherein at least one of the piston-cylinder assemblies is provided with a hydraulic and/or pneumatic biasing means for at least selectively biasing said at least one piston-cylinder assembly towards engagement with the drive ring substantially independent of a pressure of pumping fluid at said at least one piston-cylinder assembly.

A method of operating a multi-piston pump which comprises a series of piston-cylinder assemblies and a drive ring extending around said series of piston-cylinder assemblies, wherein the method comprises hydraulically and/or pneumatically biasing at least one of the piston-cylinder assemblies towards engagement with the drive ring during pumping of a pumping fluid, wherein said biasing is provided by a biasing force independent from a pressure of said pumping fluid.