Beacon Engineers Inc.

Pump Terminology
Suction Elevation - Elevation difference in feet between the liquid level in the tank or
vessel supplying the pump and the centerline of the pump.
Pressure @ Source - Pressure above the free surface of the liquid in the tank or vessel
supplying the pump in psig. If the pressure above this liquid is below atmospheric then
this number should be negative.
Equipment Pressure Loss - Any pressure losses, in psi, due to filters, heat exchangers,
etc. upstream of the pump suction.
Piping Complexity - This term reflects the relative configuration of the piping in which a
pressure drop will be estimated for use in this program. If the user does not want the
program to automatically estimate the piping losses then "Actual Line Loss" should be
selected from this pulldown. If the user does not know the exact configuration of the
piping then they can enter the estimated pipe lenght and piping complexity and the
program will estmate the line losses for them. The default value, "Normal Piping" should
be used in most cases. If your piping application conforms more closely to one of the
other options listed, choose that option. This term is used along with the estimated pipe
length to determine the friction line losses in the pipe in question at the design capacity. A
factor is calculated by your choice and is multiplied by the "Estimated Pipe Length" to
arrive at an equivalent pipe length used in determining the piping friction losses in this
application. This graph shows the values for this factor and how they change with piping
size and pipe routing complexity. If the user calculates and enters their own "Actual Line
Loss" then "Actual Line Loss" should be selected in the Piping Complexity pull-down. In
this final case, the complexity factor and estimated pipe lenght boxes are ignored by the
program
Enter "Actual Line Loss" if Selected - This is a required field if the user selects "Actual
Line Loss" for the Piping Complexity. This means that the program will not calculate the
line losses for this section of pipe and the line losses in psi entered manually by the user
will be used as the pressure loss. Since the program's automatic line loss calculations are
based on fully turbulent flow of Newtonian fluids, applications that do not meet these
requirements will require that the "Actual Line Loss" for this section of pipe be entered
here. Most common cases where this will be needed are for laminar flow applications and
situations involving non-Newtonian fluids like pulp stock solutions.
Discharge Elevation - Elevation difference in feet between the liquid level in the tank or
vessel at the end of the piping system (where the velocity of the liquid goes to zero, like
in a tank) and the centerline of the pump.

Pressure @ Destination - Pressure above the free surface of the liquid in the tank or
vessel the end of the piping system in psig. If the pressure above this liquid is below
atmospheric then this number should be negative.
Safety Factor - The pressure drop entered here helps account for any inaccuracies in the
pressure drop estimations for the equipment, valves, or piping in the system, or changes
in the pressure drops in these items over time. These inaccuracies usually arise because of
lack of complete information about the overall pumping system or changes that occur
over time. If your system has a properly designed control valve in it, the assignment of a
safety factor is only of minimal significance because this valve can compensate for
changes in the nature of the pressure drops of the individual components in the system. If
your system does not have a control valve in it, then the accurate calculation and input of
the various pressure drops present in the system becomes extremely important. This is
due to the fact that if these individual pressure drops are in error, the pump may not be
able to perform to design conditions. In these cases, the assignment of a safety factor is
critical. It is better to have a pump that is a little larger (and more expensive) then
required than one that cannot pump the fluid to its final destination at all! Of course, the
larger the pump, the larger the capital cost, the larger the risk. In this program you have
the option to choose from a few pressure drop values for this safety factor, or you can
choose to set the safety factor at "10% of the discharge friction loss". This final choice
takes 10% of the sum of all the pressure drops (excluding the control valve pressure drop)
you entered into the program, and assigns this value to the safety factor pressure drop. In
essence this adds a 10% "safety factor" to all the pressure drops you assigned in the
program. In most cases this is a good first choice for this safety factor value.
Control Valve Pressure Drop - This value is the pressure drop of the control valve for
the discharge side of the pumping system at design conditions. This value should not
include pressure drop for manual valves in the discharge piping because these drops
should be included in the "line loss" section of this program. In this program you have the
option to choose from a few pressure drop values, in psi, for this control valve, or you can
choose to set this pressure drop at "33% of variable system loss". This final option
assigns 33% of all the losses in the discharge line of the pump (including the safety factor
and the control valve drop) to the control valve itself. In many cases this 33% value is a
good first choice before the system is fully designed. After the control valve has been
designed and specified, this pump calculation should be revisited to make sure the
assumptions made here are still valid. Proper control valve design is critical to proper
operation of the pumping system in the various conditions it may experience, thus proper
engineering design, not just a suggestion from this program, should be conducted to
arrive at its final pressure drop value and configuration.
Highest Point in Pipe Rack - Highest point that the liquid must travel in the discharge
section of the pumping system. This point may be higher than the Discharge Elevation
mentioned above. It is required that you compare this with the total discharge heat of the
pump to make sure the pump can get this liquid past this initial height on startup. After
the liquid passes this height initially it will recover this head as it falls to its final
destination (so long as the pipe is not vented at this high point).

NPSH - Net Positive Suction Head. This is the absolute pressure at the suction inlet of
the pump. If this value is not high enough than when the liquid is pulled into the pump
the absolute pressure on the liquid in the pump can fall below the vapor pressure of the
liquid at the operating temperature. If this happens then the liquid will start to vaporize.
This is called "cavitation". As this partially vaporized liquid moves to the discharge side
of the pump the pressure increases and the vaporized liquid will "collapse". This can
reduce the pumps performance and greatly damage it. Cavitation should be avoided at all
times. To do this make sure that the NPSH Available is always larger than the NPSH
Required by the pump you choose for your application. This program calculates NPSH
Available and NPSH Specified. The NPSH Specified is 2 feet less than the NPSH
Available, and the NPSH Specified is what you should use to determine your pump
choice to insure that no cavitation will occur in your application. NPSH calculations are
usually only significant in pump design and selection when you are dealing with liquids
that are heated near there boiling points, or have a suction condition that is under
vacuum.
Brake Horsepower (BHP) - The horsepower required to move the liquid in the pump in
question. This factor includes the inefficiencies of the pump. The actual electrical
horsepower needed will be slightly higher because it must also account for the efficiency
of the electric motor driving the pump.
Beacon Engineers, Inc.
Phone: 425-869-4141
Fax: 425-883-2171
Email: smv@beaconengr.com
1999 Beacon Engineers, Inc.