FACULTY OF ENGNEERING

MECHANICAL ENGNEERING DEPARTMENT

FLUID MECHANICS LAB
ENME 321

EXPERIMENT # 8
Centrifugal pump power measurements

Instructors:
Dr. Adel Dwek
Prepared by:
DiaaHamdan 1090242
Saji Al-mashad 1091825
Ahmad Al-jamal 1090526

March 4, 2013

Abstract
 The centrifugal pump is a machine whose prime function is to pump or
circulate liquid from one place to another place. Centrifugal pumps consist of
a set of rotating vanes , enclosed within a housing or casing, used to impart
energy to a fluid through centrifugal force. Centrifugal pumps operate using
kinetic energy to move fluid utilizing an impeller and a circular pump casing.
The impeller produces liquid velocity and the casing forces the liquid to
discharge from the pump converting velocity to pressure. The fluid enters the
pump near the center of the impeller and is moved to its outside diameter by
the rotating motion of the impeller. The vanes on the impeller progressively
widen from the center of the impeller that reduces speed and increases
pressure. This allows centrifugal pumps to produce continuous flows at high
pressure. By forcing the fluid through without cupping it, centrifugal pumps
can achieve a very high flow rate.

In this experiment the performance and the efficiency of a centrifugal pump

with angular velocity of 2500 RPM will be calculate, the relation between the
head loss the efficiency, electrical and mechanical power also will be
considered.

The required data we have to take in order to reach the goal of this
experiment is the inlet and outlet pressures, the force, the voltage and the
current that produced by the pump when changing the flow rate.

Objectives
The objective of this experiment is to become more familiar with some basic
centrifugal pump characteristics and operations, and how to calculate the
overall efficiency of the pump and the mechanical power by using equations.

Sample Calculation

Note: the sample of calculation for run 1

The electrical power is calculated by the equation:

We = V*I

Where: V: is the voltage in volt

A: is the current in ampere

We=V*I=181*2.8=506.8 Watt

2
 The Head in meter is calculated by the equation :
p105
H= g
Where: p = outlet pressure inlet pressure = p2-p1
is the water density = 1000 kg/m3
g is the gravity acceleration = 9.81 m/s2

p10
5
( 1.80 )105
H= g = 10009.81 = 18.35 m

The overall efficiency is calculated by the equation :

gQH
= We
Where: Q is the volume flow rate in m3/s
gQH 10009.81( 0 )18.349
= ( )*100%= ( 100 = 0.00
We 506.8

The torque is calculated by the equation:

T=0.165*F
Where: F is the force in N
T=0.165*F=0.165*8=1.32 N.m

The mechanical power is calculated by the equation:

2 NT
Wm= 60
Where: N is the angular velocity
For the pump which use in this experiment N=2500 RPM
2 NT 2 ( 3.14 )( 2500 ) (1.32)
Wm= 60 = 60 = 345.40 Watt

The mechanical efficiency is calculated by the equation:

Wm 345.4
m= We ( )100 = 506.8 )*100%= 68 %

3
 Results : Tables & Graphs

Table 1 : The measured values of the inlet and outlet pressure, volume flow
rate, voltage and current:

Inlet Outlet Flow Force Voltage Current

pressure pressure rate
Run P1 P2 Q F V I
bar bar L.P.S N V A
1
0 1.8 0 8 181 2.8
2
0 1.8 0.7 10.5 180 3.3
3
0 1.78 1.1 12.25 180 4
4
0 1.75 1.6 13.5 180 4.5
5
0 1.7 2 14.5 180 5
6
0 1.4 3.2 20.5 180 6
7
-0.02 1.2 4 21.5 180 7
8
-0.02 0.6 5 24.5 180 7.5

Table 2 : The calculated values of the head, electrical power, electrical

efficiency, torque, mechanical power and mechanical efficiency:

Head Electrica efficienc Torque Mechanica efficiency

Rum l power y l power
H We e T Wm m
M watt % N.m watt %
1
18.35 506.8 0 1.32 345.40 68
2
18.35 594 21 1.7325 453.34 76
3
18.14 720 27 2.02125 528.89 73
4
17.84 810 35 2.2275 582.86 72
5
17.33 900 38 2.3925 626.04 70
6
14.27 1080 41 3.3825 885.09 82
7
12.44 1260 39 3.5475 928.26 74
8
6.32 1350 23 4.0425 1057.79 78 4
Graphs :

mechanical power VS volume flow rate

1100
1000
900
800
700
mechanical power (watt)
600
500
400
300
0 1 2 3 4 5 6

volume flow rate Q (L/s)

Graph (1) :mechanical power VS volume flow rate

5
 We VS vloume flow rate

1450

1250

1050
We (Watt) 850

650

450
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

volume flow rate (L/s)

Graph (2): The power required to drive the pump ( We) VS volume flow rate

Head & the overalla efficiency VS the volume flow rate

45.00
40.00
35.00
30.00
25.00
Head & efficiency (H&) (m & %) 20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6

volume flow rate Q (L/s)

Graph (3): The head and the overall efficiency vs the volume flow rate :

Discussion of results

6
From the experiment we can determine some values that help us to calculate the power required
for driving the pump and the efficiency and the mechanical pump.

From graph (1) we can see the relationship between the mechanical power and the volume flow
rate, and so when the volume flow rate increase then the mechanical power increase.

From graph (2) we can see the relationship between the electrical power and the volume flow
rate, and so when the volume flow rate increases then the electrical power increase.

From graph (3) we can see the relationship between the head and the overall efficiency according
to the volume flow rate, and so the efficiency increases with increasing flow rate to a certain
point then it starts to decrease, but when the volume flow rate increase then the head decrease.

Conclusion

In this experiment we were able to examine the characteristics of the centrifugal pump and the
how it operates. Also the values of the power required to drive the pump We, the mechanical
power Wm , and the efficiency of the pump where calculated for different volume flow rates.

According to graphs (1) & (2) it's clear that the mechanical power and electrical power required
to drive the pump increases with increasing of the flow rate, since the minimum power required
to drive the pump occurs at the minimum volume flow rate, and the maximum power occurs at
the maximum volume flow rate.

According to figure (3) we see that the Head of the pump decreases with increasing flow rate ,
however the efficiency increases with the increase of flow rate to a certain point (flow rate) then
it starts to decrease . We can notice that the maximum efficiency occurs at a flow rate of ( Q =
3.5 L/s ) , and this value will change if the RPM of the pump changes.

We note that the voltage which uses to determine the power is nearly 180 V which is around the
220 V which is source voltage.

Some errors were present in this experiment , these errors happened when calibrating the RPM to
( 2500 ), taking the readings of voltage, current and pressure. Also some errors made during the
balancing of the pump force, and the way of how to control the volume flow rate.

Appendix

7
 References:
Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Notes
Data:

Inlet Outlet Flow Force Voltage Current

pressure pressure rate
Run P1 P2 Q F V I
bar bar L.P.S N V A
1 0 1.8 0 8 181 2.8
2 0 1.8 0.7 10.5 180 3.3
3 0 1.78 1.1 12.25 180 4
4 0 1.75 1.6 13.5 180 4.5
5 0 1.7 2 14.5 180 5
6 0 1.4 3.2 20.5 180 6
7 -0.02 1.2 4 21.5 180 7
8 -0.02 0.6 5 24.5 180 7.5