Table of content

No. Topic Page

1. Introduction

2. Theory

3 Objective

4. Procedure

5 Result

6 Graph

7 Discussion

8 Conclusion

9 Appendix
  Introduction

Nowadays many type of pump had been used to transfer fluid from one place to another.
There are few type of pump such as reciprocating pump, axial pump, rotary pump and many
more. Pumps are device that transfer mechanical energy from a prime mover into fluid energy to
produce the flow of liquids. There are two classifications of pump such as positive displacement
and dynamics displacement. In this experiment we use centrifugal pump to obtain the
performance characteristics of the pump.

A centrifugal pump converts driver energy to kinetic energy in a liquid by accelerating the fluid
to the outer rim of impellers. The amount of energy given to the liquid corresponds to the
velocity at the edge or vane tip of the impeller. The faster the impeller revolves, or the bigger the
impeller, then the higher the velocity of the liquid at the vane tip. Centrifugal pump is that type
of hydraulic pump which converts mechanical energy to hydraulic energy by means of
centrifugal force. Centrifugal pumps are commonly used in the field of water and wastewater for
a variety of applications such as lift and transport water, move sludge, well pumping, and
wastewater lift stations. Centrifugal pumps are common ones due to its simplicity, compactness,
low-cost and ability to operate under wide conditions.

Centrifugal pump:

A centrifugal pump is a rotodynamic pump that uses a rotating impeller to increase the
velocity and pressure of a fluid. Centrifugal pumps are commonly used to move liquids through a
piping system. The fluid enters the pump impeller along or near to the rotating axis and is
accelerated by the impeller, flowing radially outward into a diffuser or volute chamber, from
where it exits into the downstream piping system. Centrifugal pumps are used for large discharge
through smaller heads.
 A centrifugal pump works by the change from the rotational kinetic energy to increased
static fluid pressure. This pump usually works by an electric motor or turbine. When the fluid
enters the pump it will be forces outward through the impeller vanes to the discharge vane. As
the fluid exits the impeller, the fluid kinetic energy (velocity) is then converted to (static)
pressure due to the change in area the fluid experiences in the volute section. The result of the
action of this pump will increased the pressure on the downstream side of the pump and causing
flow in the pipe.

The actual problem that can be found in this pump is the cavitation. It occurs as the
phenomenon of formation of vapour bubble of a flowing liquid in a region where the pressure of
the liquid fall its vapour pressure. Cavitation is usually divided into two classes of behavior:
inertial (or transient) cavitation and non-inertial cavitation. Inertial cavitation is the process
where a void or bubble in a liquid rapidly collapses, producing a shock wave.

Due to the general complexity of flow through a centrifugal pump ,the actual performance of
the pump cannot be predicted on a completely theoretical basis .Actual pump performance is
determine experimentally through test on the pump and the result are presented as pump
performance curve
 Objective
To obtain performance characteristic for a variable speed centrifugal pump operating at 3
different impeller speeds. Performance characteristic of pump:
 Pressure(head) jump
 Power requirement
 Flow rate influence
 Pump speed influence.

 Discussion
`This experiment has been carried out to differentiate and identify the properties
of pump by different speed. Three tests have been carried out to identify the properties of
the pump at different speed. First we conduct the test for speed, N1 = 1439rpm (150.7
rad/s) , the efficiency increase as the flow rate increase until the maximum value of
effeciency of 29.92% at the flow rate of 1.42x10−3 m3/s. The head decrease slowly from
5.89m to 1.91m as the valve is fully opened. The shaft power increase from 105.49 W to
226.05 W. Based on the graph, the efficiency increase at the begining and slightly
decrease at the end due to the decrease of the head. Next we conduct the second test for
speed, N2 = 2178rpm (228.1 rad/s), the efficiency is increase until 40.96% at flow rate
2.49x10−3m3/s, then then efficiency start to decrease until 23.71% at flow flow rate
3.71x10−3 m3/s. The head pump slowly decrease from 13.29m to 4.47m as the water
flow rate increases until maximum flow rate of 3.71x10−3m3/s. The efficiency graph for
this speed almost the same with the first one which is isncrease in the begining and
decrease at the end. In the last test, the pump speed used is N3 = 2945rpm( 308.4rad/s).
The maximum effeciency is 47.07% at flow rate 3.16x10−3 m3/s. The head of pump
decrease slowly from 24.57m until 6.58m. The graph show that the efficiency for third
speed is not too stable because sometimes increase then decrease, and at the end it
decrease below 25%. The effeciencies of the pump depends on the size of the machine
and, hence, the capacity handled. The larger the machine, the higher is the efficiency. The
efficiency of the pump also changes depend on the failure that occur in the pump itself
such as cavitation in the pump, water bubble and many more. In the way to overcome this
 problem we can change the pump blade that had cavitate problem and do bleeding
operation to expel the air in the pump to achieve maximum efficiency of the pump.

In this experiment we found out that are major and minor losses in the piping
system such as friction in the pipe surfaces, elevation of the piping system, vibration of
the pump. For friction, elevation and vibration losses, we cannot avoid these losses but
we can minimize it, but we can prevent the cavitation by minimize the performance
parameter which is called as the required net positive suction head (NPSHrequired) to give
us a better result and increase the efficiency.

 Conclusion
For the nut shell, we can say that we have achieve our objective, which is to
obtain performance characteristics for variable speed centrifugal pump operating in three
different impeller speeds, we collect the data of pressure(head) jump, power requirement,
flow rate influence and pump speed.
Based on the graph obtain from the data result, we can see the entire graph are
inclined at first then slowly it started to declined. Based on these three speed
performance, we can see the difference of parameter calculated to achieving our
objective.

REFERENCES

1. Bruce R. Munson, D. F. (2006.). Fundementals of Fluid Mechanics, 5th Edition . Asia:

John Wiley & Sons.

2. Frank M. White. (2003). Fluid Mechanics, 5th Edition. New York, USA: Mc Graw Hill.

3. John F. Douglas, J. M. (2001). Fluid Mechanics, 4th Edition. Scotland: Pearson Prentice
Hall.

4. Fluid Dinamics Handbook By; R. D. Blevins, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New
York,1984.