Guide to Finding The Optimal Efficiency Point of your Pumping System

November 22, 2022

The pumping system holds the industrial pump in its grasp like a captive. The pump is under the control of the system. The components that make up the system are the suction and discharge vessels and the pipes, elbows, valves, filters, fittings, and instruments. The pump will respond to any changes in the system.

When the pump is asked to perform tasks it cannot perform, the result is frequent and early failure. Unscheduled downtime, reactive maintenance, and "mystery pump failure" are all terms used to describe this phenomenon. How exactly do you find out what your pump is capable of doing inside the system is part of?

The solution seems straightforward but will not always work out that way. Even though the pump curve should be accessible to and understood by everyone engaged with the pump, this is rarely the case. The identification plates on the pump and the motor include user data. The motor's identification plate has a speed indicator on it. The impeller diameter is typically denoted in inches on the pump identification plate.

There are two different approaches you may use depending on the speed of the pump and the diameter of the impeller. Read on to discover more.

First Approach

At a speed of 1,800 revolutions per minute, the estimated shutdown head of the pump in feet is equal to the impeller diameter in inches multiplied by itself. This indicates that a conventional centrifugal pump with a six-inch impeller mounted on a four-pole motor will create 34 to 38 feet of shutdown head (6 inches x 6 inches = 36 feet).

Similarly, a nine-inch impeller attached to a four-pole motor would produce about eighty-one feet of shutdown head (9 inches multiplied by 9 equals 81). And a 13-inch impeller would produce approximately 170 feet of shutdown head (13 inches times 13 inches equals 169 feet). These statistics are accurate to around 5 per cent of their stated value.

Second Approach

The best efficiency point, sometimes known as the BEP, is located at approximately 85 per cent of the shutdown head. The pump ought to be run at or very close to the point when it is at its most efficient. The term "about" is the one to focus on here. There are exceptions to this procedure, which depend on the design of the pump, the application, and the liquid. On the other hand, this accounts for approximately 90% of all centrifugal pumps. If the speed of the pump or the diameter of the impeller varies, the pump's performance will change according to what is popularly known as the affinity laws.

The notion of the shutdown head is straightforward. If you were to pump into a vertical pipe, the pump would cause the liquid to be propelled upward into the pipe to a certain point, after which there would be no further opportunity to achieve elevation. Because the electric motor uses all of its available energy to keep the height constant, flow is completely stopped. This is the head of the shutoff.

Assuming you have a pump that can fill a tank at a rate of 600 GPM with water from the surrounding environment, the discharge pipe will ascend beyond the top before descending into the tank. When the discharge vessel is at capacity, it has a level that is 52 feet higher than the level in the suction vessel. The pipelines, elbows, valves, and instruments all contribute to the two feet of friction losses that are experienced by the system.

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