Centrifugal Pump Monitoring and Determination of Pump Characteristic Curves Using Experimental and Analytical Solutions

Abstract

Centrifugal pumps are widely used in the industry, especially in the oil and gas sector for fluids transport. Classically, these are designed to transfer single phase fluids (e.g., water) at high flow rates and relatively low pressures when compared with other pump types. As part of their constructive feature, centrifugal pumps rely on seals to prevent air entrapment into the rotor during its normal operation. Although this is a constructive feature, water should pass through the pump inlet even when the inlet manifold is damaged. Modern pumps are integrated in pumping units which consist of a drive (normally electric motor), a transmission (when needed), an electronic package (for monitoring and control), and the pump itself. The unit also has intake and outlet manifolds equipped with valves. Modern systems also include electronic components to measure and monitor pump working parameters such as pressure, temperature, etc. Equipment monitoring devices (vibration sensors, microphones) are installed on modern pumping units to help users evaluate the state of the machinery and detect deviations from the normal working condition. This paper addresses the influence of air-water two-phase mixture on the characteristic curve of a centrifugal pump; pump vibration in operation at various flow rates under these conditions; the possibilities of using the results of experimental investigations in the numerical simulations for design and training purposes, and the possibility of using vibration and sound analysis to detect changes in the equipment working condition. Conclusions show that vibration analysis provides accurate information about the pump's functional state and the pumping process. Moreover, the acoustic emission also enables the evaluation of the pump status, but needs further improvements to better capture and isolate the usable sounds from the environment.Processes 2018, 6, 18 2 of 15 refers to the difficulty of finding a general analytical model that explains the changes of the pump characteristic curve [3,6].The development in materials and pump construction have led to an increased life time and better reliability of the products. The pump application may limit the access of personnel for a thorough visual pump inspection, so that under these conditions, the use of non-intrusive sensors can replace humans for detecting pump failure. Sometimes, air entrapment does not necessarily lead to a major failure, hence the pump may work under two-phase flow until a replacement/solution is found. However, as the pump characteristic is changing, the control system needs to know how to adjust the pumping parameters accordingly, so that the pump runs under safe conditions. This paper shows the concept of how the pump characteristic curves transform from the normal state to the conditions of circulating a two-phase mixture. Several papers have shown and demonstrated the ability of vibrations measurement as an effective solution to identify improper machine state (such as valve opening or pump vibrations) [8][9][10][11][12...

Characteristic Curves of Chemical Pump

“…The best pump efficiency (Q bep ) was 3.02 x 10 -3 m 3 /s. The influence of gas-water two-phase mixing on the characteristic curve of centrifugal pump was discussed in [8], the inoperability of pump vibration at different flow rates under these conditions is considered. The ability to use experimental research results for numerical modeling for design and training, as well as the ability to use vibration and sound analysis to capture changes in equipment operating conditions.…”

Fault Diagnosis in Centrifugal Pump using Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network

“…This is primarily due to the absorption losses of short CdS wavelength and an interlinking individually or simultaneously; in case of interconnected parameters such as the motor's electrical signals and fluid pressure and temperature signals. In the latter case, synchronized measurements of different DOI : 10.36909/jer.EMSME.13881 parameters are performed and analyzed simultaneously to identify the fault and determine its root cause Stan et al, 2018). While these signals aid in fault diagnosis, they are still an indirect signature of the actual fault condition.…”

Investigation of centrifugal pump characteristics

“…Studies of the geometric parameters of a centrifugal pump impeller results state that their modifications can have a significant impact [5] on its performance. Investigations show that the introduction of air into the water changes [6][7][8] the pump characteristic curve. Experiences with incorporating the testing of small water pumps in an engineering technology curriculum have shown that it is a versatile and economical tool for learning valuable techniques [9] in experimental testing.…”