Pumps

A pump is a machine that uses energy transformations to increase pressure of a liquid (figure 1)

Liquid out (high pressure)

Driver Pump
Energy in Liquid in (low pressure)

[Electricity, steam,

Oil, high pressure hydraulic fluid,

Compressed air]

Figure (1)

Energy in (using shaft/impeller)Kinetic energy (gain in velocity) (using expansion)Pressure energy

(gain in pressure)

The reasons for increasing liquid pressure is to: 1) increase static elevation, 2) overcome frictional losses,
3) increase pressure, 4) increase velocity.

Relation between pressure and head: pressure (psi)= [head (ft)xSG]/2.31

Classification of pumps

Kinetic: energy is continuously added to the liquid to increase its velocity. When the liquid velocity is
subsequently reduced, this produces a pressure increase.
Positive displacement: energy is periodically added to the liquid by the direct application of a force to
one or more movable volumes of liquid.

Centrifugal pumps

A centrifugal pump consists of an impeller attached to and rotating with the shaft, and a casing that
encloses the impeller. In a centrifugal pump, liquid is forced into the inlet side of the pump casing by
atmospheric pressure or some upstream pressure. As the impeller rotates, liquid moves toward the
discharge side of the pump. This creates a void or reduced pressure area at the impeller inlet. The
pressure at the pump casing inlet, which is higher than this reduced pressure at the impeller inlet, forces
additional liquid into the impeller to fill the void.

If the pipeline leading to the pump inlet contains a noncondensable gas such as air, then the pressure
reduction at the impeller inlet merely causes the gas to expand, and suction pressure does not force
liquid into the impeller inlet. Consequently, no pumping action can occur unless this noncondensable gas
is first eliminated, a process known as priming the pump. With the exception of a particular type of
centrifugal pump called a self-priming centrifugal pump, centrifugal pumps are not inherently self-
priming if they are physically located higher than the level of the liquid to be pumped. That is, the
suction piping and inlet side of centrifugal pumps that are not self-priming must be filled with
noncompressible liquid and vented of air and other noncondensable gases before the pump can be
started. Self-priming pumps are designed to first remove the air or other gas in the suction line, and to
then pump in a conventional manner.

If vapors of the liquid being pumped are present on the suction side of the pump, this results in
cavitation.

Once it reaches the rotating impeller, the liquid entering the pump moves along the impeller vanes,
increasing in velocity as it progresses.

A typical velocity and pressure changes in a centrifugal pump as the liquid moves through the flow path
of the pump is illustrated in the figure below (Figure 2):

Pressure
Outlet tip
Inlet tip of impeller
of impeller vane
vane

Velocity

Suction Discharge

Figure (2)

A centrifugal pump operating at a fixed speed and with a fixed impeller diameter produces a differential
pressure, or differential head. The amount of head produced varies with the flow rate, or capacity
delivered by the pump, as illustrated by the characteristic headcapacity curve (Figure 3). As the head of
the pump decreases, the capacity increases. Alternatively, as the pump head increases, the flow
decreases.

Slip
Positive displacement
H

Centrifugal

Q
Figure (3)
The centrifugal pump casing is one of several types. A single volute casing (Figure 4) has a single
cutwater where the flow is separated. As the flow leaves the impeller and moves around the volute
casing, the pressure increases. This increasing pressure as the liquid moves around the casing produces
an increasing radial force at each point on the periphery of the impeller, due to the pressure acting on
the projected area of the impeller. Summing all of these radial forces produces a net radial force that
must be carried by the shaft and radial bearing system in the pump. The radial bearing must also support
the load created by the weight of the shaft and impeller. The radial bearing loads generated by a pump
also vary as the pump operates at different points on the pump performance curve, with the minimum
radial force being developed at the best efficiency point (BEP) of the pump (Figure 5). Symptoms of
excessive radial loads include excessive shaft deflection and premature mechanical seal and bearing
failure. Continuous operation of the pump at too low a minimum flow is one of the most common causes
of this type of failure. Bearing life is inversely proportional to the cube of the bearing load.

Figure (4)

Single volute

Radial load
Double volute

Diffuser

H BEP

Q
Figure (5)
A diffuser casing (Figure 6) is a more complex casing arrangement, consisting of multiple flow paths
around the periphery of the impeller discharge. The liquid that leaves the impeller vanes, rather than
having to move completely around the casing periphery as it does with the single volute casing, merely
enters the nearest flow channel in the diffuser casing. The diffuser casing has multiple cutwaters, evenly
spaced around the impeller, as opposed to the one cutwater found in a single volute casing. The main
advantage of the diffuser casing design is that this results in a near balancing of radial forces (Figure 5),
thus reducing shaft deflection and eliminating the need for a heavy-duty radial bearing system. The dead
weight of the rotating element must still be carried by the radial bearing, but overall the diffuser design
minimizes radial bearing loads compared with other casing types. This is usually only found to be the
case in multistage, high-pressure pumps.

Figure (6)

Vertical turbine pumps usually have diffuser casings. Because the bearings for these vertical pumps are
submerged in the liquid being pumped, it is not practical to have a ball or roller type radial bearing for
this type of pump. Rather, the radial bearing loads must be accommodated by a sleeve type bearing,
which is not an ideal bearing system in this type of arrangement. Therefore, to minimize radial bearing
loads, diffuser type casings are used in this type of pump. A hybrid between a single volute casing and a
diffuser casing is a double volute casing. With this casing design, the volute is divided, which creates a
second cutwater, located 180 from the first cutwater. This design results in much lower radial loads than
are present with single volute designs. Double volute casings are usually used for high flow (higher than
about 1500 gpm) to allow the use of smaller shafts and radial bearings.

Pump Capacity
Two parameters must be estimated to size a pump, capacity and total head. Capacity is a system
requirement. Total head is the summation of static, friction, pressure and velocity heads. The amount of
head developed by in the impeller is:

H=V2/2g and velocity at impeller tip is V=[rpm x D (in)]/229. Thus, H=[rpm x D] 2/[3.375 x 106]
Static head the total elevation change that the liquid must undergo, normally measured from the surface
of the liquid in the supply vessel to the surface of the liquid in the vessel where the liquid is being
delivered. Note that for a pump in a closed loop system, the total static head is zero.

Friction head varies as the square of liquids velocity (assuming fully turbulent flow). To determine
friction head for a piping, the designed capacity and a chosen pipe size are used. Velocity is used as a
criterion for choosing a preliminary line size [4-6 ft/sec for suction and 6-10 ft/sec for discharge]. Friction
head can be calculated as follows:

Hf=8x Jfx [L/d] x V2/2g Pipes [Jf from friction factors chart]
Hf=K x V2/2g fittings [k is resistance coefficient]

Pressure head is the head required to overcome a pressure or vacuum in the system upstream or
downstream of the pump. If the pressure in the supply vessel from which the pump is pumping and the
pressure in the delivery vessel are identical (e.g., if both are atmospheric tanks), then there is no
required pressure head adjustment to pressure head. Likewise, there is no pressure adjustment to
pressure head for a closed loop system. If the supply vessel is under a vacuum or under a pressure
different than that of the delivery vessel, a pressure head adjustment is required. The pressure or
vacuum must be converted to feet. Vacuum, usually expressed in inches of mercury (in. Hg), is converted
to feet of head by the formula:

Vac (feet)=vac in Hg x 1.133/SG

If the suction vessel is under vacuum, the amount of vacuum (equivalent to gauge pressure, converted to
feet) must be added to the delivery vessel gauge pressure (also converted to feet) to get the total
pressure adjustment to total head. If the suction vessel is under positive pressure (but different from the
pressure of the delivery vessel), then the suction vessel pressure (converted to feet) should be
subtracted from the delivery vessel pressure (converted to feet) to get the pressure adjustment to total
head.

Velocity head is the energy of a liquid as a result of its motion at some velocity V. The formula for
velocity head is:

Hv=V2/2g

Performance Curve

Once the pump configuration and rating (capacity and head) have been determined, as described in the
three preceding sections, the next step in the selection process is to decide which pump speeds should
be considered. The available motor speeds for standard alternating current (A.C.) electric motors are
based on the following formula:

Rpm=7200/N at 60 hz where N is number of poles.

Rpm=6000/N at 50 Hz [Europe]

Once the pump speeds to be considered have been determined, a centrifugal pump selection can be
made. Most centrifugal pumps have the capability to operate over an extended range of head and flow,
by trimming, or cutting the impeller diameter from its maximum size down to some predetermined
minimum size. Thus, for a given pump speed, a centrifugal pump produces an envelope of headcapacity
performance (Figure 7).

Maximum impeller diameter

Min impeller diameter

Q
Figure (7)
The convention for designating the size of a centrifugal pump is as follows:
Suction size Discharge size Maximum impeller diameter

Horsepower and Efficiency

Horsepower refers to the amount of energy that must be supplied to operate a pump. Water
horsepower (WHP) refers to the output of the pump handling a liquid of a given specific gravity, with a
given flow and head. The formula for WHP is:

WHP=Q x H x SG/3960 [Q in gpm, H in feet]

WHP=9797 x Q x H [Q in cubic meter/sec, H in meters]

Brake horsepower (BHP) is the actual amount of power that must be supplied to the pump to obtain a
particular flow and head. It is the input power to the pump, or the required output power from the
driver. The formula for BHP is:

BHP= Q x H x SG/3960 x [ is pump efficiency]

Wire-to-water horsepower is required power input into the driver, and is found by dividing BHP by the
motor efficiency. In the case of a pump using a variable-speed device or other auxiliary driving
equipment such as a gear box, BHP is divided by the combined efficiency of all of the driver components
to obtain the wire-to-water horsepower.

BHP is greater than WHP because of the fact that a pump is not a perfectly efficient machine due to the
following reasons:
1. Hydraulic losses due to the friction in the walls of liquid passageways around impeller and volute
or diffuser
2. Volumetric losses due to leakage of liquid from discharge to the suction
3. Mechanical losses due to the frictional losses occur in moving parts of pumps
4. Disk friction losses due to the rotating of disk inside casing
NSPH and Cavitation