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Pump section,
performance. Installation of pump to get desired performance and connection of pump piping. We can
understand classification , working and standard engineers practice of pump from this article.
Terms to Remember :
Pump type, Head, Head loss , NPSH.
Liquid is pressured in to the suction of pump where the impeller imparts a centrifugal velocity to the fluid. As
the liquid discharges from the pump its velocity head converts to pressure head because of typical shape of
the casing.
Pumps are usually specified early in the Process Schedule , when lines are SKETCHILY located and sized
when control valves have not been Sized and when pump performances must be estimated rather than
established .
A complex relationship exists between the system head, Pump head and valve drop characteristics
.Methods of selecting control valve drop and impeller performance are not readily Systematized .API-610
fixed many mechanical and procedural details and it is often included in all Refinery/Petrol chemical
industries when pumps are specified.
A Design Engineer must consider two characteristics of a centrifugal pump., their discharge pressure and
volumetric flow rate through them. The designers heat and material balance will give the required flow rate
hydraulic Calculations will dictate the head.
Case-1
Suppose we have a simple equation
HCL+ NaOH = = > NaCL + H2O
= = => (1 mole + 1 mole = = => 1 mole + 1 mole ) Mol. wts
= = => 36.5 kg + 40 kg = = => 58.5 kg+18 kg .
Hence for manufacturing 100 kg of NaCL you have to pump 62.40 kg of HCL &
68.37 kg of NaOH .
Case 2
Some times to take away the reaction heat , youve to add excess reactant .It may be as high as 5 to 6 times
the actual requirement .
Case 3
For some reactions , we have to keep some excess reactant to ensure
completion of (100 %) reaction.
Case 4
As a design engineer, we have to consider about 20% flow as re -circulation to avoid cavitations problems in
the pump.
Hence designed flow rate shall be 20% more than the actual flow rate. From
above pump flow ratio is calculated by following equation.
For example , if one has to pump 1000 kg/hr of H2SO4 (which has specific gravity
1.8 (98% H2SO4 ) , the required m3/hr is
COMPONENTS CALCULATION
(a) Differential pressure:
To calculate the differential pressure I head, the following formula to be used.
Where Sp gr. is the specific gravity of the liquid pumped at the process
temperature.
(b) Head to lift the liquid
This is simply the difference between the liquid level in the first & second vessels.
(c) Friction head loss :
Actually a design Engineer does not lay the piping .Just consider that he can allow 0.3kg/cm2 Pr. drop for
each other 100m of piping and estimate the approximate distance the piping will run . Double the calculated
pr.drop to allow for elbows, bends, valves and other pipe fittings. Convert the friction pressure drop in to
head by same formula.
(d) Control valves / instruments:
As a thumb rule , the loss across a control valve is equivalent to half the friction loss of pipe line or 1.50
kg/cm whichever is greater .
(e) NPSH required by pump:
NPSH required by a pump is normally given in the manufactures pump curve which is normally 0.5-4m .
As a summary , one can calculate the total pump head required for above pump
can be calculated as (sp.gr=0.8)
Some people may like it to play safe allow larger pr. drops in control valves and other instruments. This will
lead to a bad selection of a pump where in sometimes you may get lower models of pumps.
Now we have arrived two basic requirements of selecting the pump that is Q & H(volumetric flow rate and
head).
As in the case of turbines , specific speed is a sound design basis for a technical
classification of centrifugal pumps .
Specific speed is defined as the speed of geometrically similar impeller (pump)
when delivering one m3./sec against a head of 1 m.
Depending on the specific speed , the type of impeller can be selected from the following table:
Pumps having a specific speed less than 12 are generally not recommended. Infect the efficiency falls
drastically if the specific speed is less than 20. This is because impeller becomes disproportionate, the dia.
being too large relative to width.
It results in leakage and higher disc friction and fluid friction losses owing to narrow passage of fluid . It is
therefore advisable to use impellers of small diameters consequently high specific speed.
This will reduce the disc friction losses which vary with the radius. The efficiency will rise & cost will fall in
such case. Thus using higher stage pumps came in to picture.
If we select higher stages, H will be divided for that many stages and single impeller head reduce and Ns
increases.
Depending on the blade shape, the efficiency changes and it can have one of the following different shapes.
In order to have high efficiency, the blades bent backward shall be selected. Straight blades can be used for
small pumps where economy is important. Blades bent forward yield very low efficiency and hence rarely
used.
Selecting a pumps impeller
The enclosed figure shows the typical set of curves, representing characteristic of an individual impeller .The
top curve is for the largest size impeller that can physically fit in to the pump. Impellers are easily machined
for any intermediate size between those indicated on pump curves.
-Never select a pump which requires maximum size of impeller, when selecting the size to avoid future
modifications impossible .
Selecting a Pump motor
An experienced design engineer shall usually select a motor for centrifugal pumps based not on the size of
impeller used but on the max. impeller dia that will fit in to the pumps .The reasons for selecting higher KW
rating motors are :- It doesnt trip for higher initial torque
- If engineer want to expand the pump capacity .
Otherwise the motor shall be selected at the end of the curve power OR with the following correlations as
per normal practice depend on the absorbed power .
The trick to select a larger impeller when expanding a pump capacity is to match the impeller size to the
capacity existing motor drive. The changing of impeller is easy and cheaper when compared to changing the
motor and its associate compounds .
The changing of the dia . of impeller is done thro following empirical relations .
To decide on the maximum size impeller that can be used existing motor , it is best to observe following in
field .
a. Place the control valve position WIDE OPEN .
b. Measure amperage drawn by motor .
The rated capacity of the motor (in amps) can be multiplied by its service factor (typically 10-15 %). To
calculate max. size of impeller that can be used with existing motor shall be
Where are is the rated amperage of motor including its service factor .
In addition many large head pumps are subjected to a phenomenon called internal recirculation, which
damages pumps internal parts when the pump is operated at reduced rate .
A simple modification in the process as shown below will automatically prevent pump damage due to low
flow .
The designer should consider whether the min. flow by pass is necessary, considering the process variables
of the plant designed .Never tie the min. flow discharge line in to the suction of pump .This defeats the
purpose of line ; it must be routed back to a point in the process where the pumping heat is dissipated .
c) Provide adequate liquid hold in process vessels acting as surge drums . As a thumb rule 5-15 min. hold
up is a typical range.
HOW TO CALCULATE NPSH AVAILABLE:
1. Assume some line configuration to get total equivalent lengths and convert that
in to friction drop.