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Pumps

INFORMATION PACK
Medias transporting energy have to be pumped. This Info Pack covers mechanical pumps. refrigerant is often called brine (even though it in scientific sense only covers the salt based solutions). Phase changing refrigerants obtain heat as they evaporate at the cooling surface when changing from liquid to gas. In this setup the cooling surface is called an evaporator. The transition of liquid to vapour happens at a constant temperature meaning that the evaporator has the same temperature on the entire surface. The phase change requires a lot of energy meaning that a small amount of liquid can obtain a lot of heat. As the liquid evaporates it returns to the cooling plant as vapour where it condenses and release the energy (heat) obtained during the evaporation. The liquid is then pumped back to the cooling surface where it evaporates once again. Secondary refrigerants obtain heat by simple temperature change of the liquid: The liquid enters a cooling surface at a low temperature and returns warmer, meaning that the cooling surface is coldest were the liquid enters and warmer where it exits. The increase of temperature in the liquid is proportional to the heat removed at the cooling surface. The heated liquid is then pumped to a cooling plant, cooled to the initial cold temperature and circulated back to the cooling surface.

Power consumption
The theoretical power required for pumping fluids is determined by: Where: P is the power input in kW is the density of the fluid in kg/m3 Q is the flow rate in L/s g is gravity = 9,81m/s2 H is the pressure difference (head) across the pump in m As and g are constant, the power consumption is linear dependent on only two parameters flow and pressure difference across the pump. So to minimize the power consumption the flow and pressure difference have to be minimized. The flow is given by the required cooling. The pressure difference is determined by pressure drop in the distribution system which consist of friction loss (dynamic head) height difference in the system (static head) in open systems To calculate the electrical power consumption the efficiency of both the drive line (electrical motor and if installed the VSD (Variable Speed Drive) and the pump:

Refrigerant pump (Grundfos)

To minimize the power consumption in pumps the flow and pressure difference have to be minimized

The amount of cooling media to be pumped

In general the fluids used in cooling systems can be either phase changing refrigerants, such as ammonia and CO2, or subcooled liquids such as glycol or water. Subcooled liquids that does not change phase are often referred to as secondary refrigerants. When secondary refrigerants contain an antifreeze, such as salt or glycol, the secondary

Transporting heat using phase changing refrigerants

As mentioned above, the phase change from liquid to vapour takes up a lot of energy. The specific amount depends on refrigerant type and to some extent the evaporating temperature. In general, the cooling capacity can be calculated using the formula:

Cooling water circulation pumps (Grundfos)

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temperature difference of 6 K. The first calculation shows the required flow rate using water as secondary refrigerant whereas the second shows the flow rate using a 50 % glycol mixture. In the second calculation, the multiplication factor is higher as the glycol mixture has a lower specific heat capacity. Water:

Where: is the cooling capacity in kW is the mass flow of refrigerant in kg/s hvap is the heat obtained per kg refrigerant that evaporates Evaporating ammonia in a cooling surface at 30 C takes 925 kJ/L of ammonia that evaporates. For comparison CO2 only takes 325 kJ/L, meaning that using CO2, rather than ammonia, require bigger pumps. The flooded evaporators (cooling surfaces) used in such systems often have a circulation rate higher than 1, meaning that the amount of refrigerant that is applied exceeds the amount that evaporates. Having a higher circulation rate makes the heat exchanger more efficient and must be considered when calculating the necessary pump capacity. Using the above example at -30 C and a circulation rate of 1,3 (meaning that an additional 30 % of refrigerant is pumped), it is possible to calculate the required volume flow at a cooling capacity of 100 kW: Using ammonia as refrigerant:

50% E-Glycol (-30 C):

Figure 1
Using CO2 as refrigerant:
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Compared to the evaporating refrigerants above the flow rates are 10-40 times greater when using secondary refrigerants, meaning that pipes and pumps are very different. The flow rates can be reduced by increasing the temperature differences but as this result in a lowering of the evaporating temperature it will increase the energy consumption of the cooling plant it is important to find the right balance between temperature and flow.

Type of pumps
At a given cooling demand the pump capacity is determined by the circulation rate and characteristics of the specific refrigerant. A lot of different types of mechanical pumps exist such as Centrifugal Membrane Gear Impeller Only centrifugal pumps will be covered by the following as this type by far the most used in refrigeration systems.

Transporting heat using secondary refrigerants

Using secondary refrigerants, heat is obtained as temperature in the fluid. This means that a cooling capacity is determined by temperature difference, flow rate and the specific heat capacity of the fluid. In general the cooling capacity can be calculated using the formula: Where: is the cooling capacity in kW is the mass flow of secondary fluid in kg/s Cp is the specific heat capacity of the fluid in t is the temperature rise of the fluid in kelvin The factor 0,86 holds the Cp-value of water and volume flow rather than mass flow. The cooling capacity is proportional to both flow rate and temperature rise of the fluid. A given cooling capacity can be reached using either a high temperature difference, a high flow rate or combination. Cooling systems often use high flow rates and low temperature differences meaning that bigger pumps and pipes are needed whereas heating systems the energy is often transported with high temperature differences meaning low flow and thereby small pipes and small pumps. The formula above is used to calculate the flow rates in a 100 kW system with a

Basic pump theory

The pump curve
All pumps have a certain characteristic regarding flow and pressure. This characteristic is described by a so-called pump curve. Common centrifugal pumps have pump curves similar to the one in the figure 1. The blue line shows the pumps performance depending on pressure (vertical) and flow (horizontal): A centrifugal pump is not able to provide a high pressure at the highest flow rates and vice versa. The pump curve change, if the speed of the pump is changed. This is explained more thoroughly in the paragraph concerning power consumption.

Figure 2

The system curve

In order to determine the so-called duty point the characteristics of the system itself must be considered as well. This is often determined by friction losses in pipes, valves, heat exchangers etc. and is

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described by a system curve shown on the figure 2. The yellow line shows the systems characteristics on pressure (vertical) and flow (horizontal). The figure shows that the pressure required increases exponentially with increasing flow rates. A system with small pipes and narrow valves (high friction losses) has a steep system curve whereas a system with big pipes and large valves has a more flat system curve.

The duty point

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The duty point of a system is where the pump curve intersects the system curve. The flow rate in the system and the pressure difference across the pump is determined by this point. This is shown in the figure 3. If other flow rates are required either the system curve, the pump curve or both must be altered: When pumps with fixed speed are used it is not possible to change the pump curve meaning that different flow rates are obtained by changing the system curve. This can be done using a control valve. Closing the valve will make the system curve steeper and the new duty point will be at a higher pressure but less flow, whereas opening the valve will make the system curve less steep and a new duty point will be at a higher flow rate but less pressure. This is illustrated on figure 4.

Static head

Figure 3
New duty point Closing valve

Figure 6
helps the pump thus requiring less pressure from the pump. When the static head is negative, the system curve starts below 0 as shown in figure 6. As the static pressure is negative, the total pressure required by the pump is the pressure from friction loss, minus the static head.

Initial duty point New duty point Opening valve

Secondary refrigerants
Cooling systems using secondary refrigerants are either closed or open systems. In closed systems the fluid is sealed from the surroundings throughout the system. In open systems the fluid is in contact with the atmosphere thus making it an open system. This is the case in systems using cooling towers or large storage tanks that are not pressurized.

System curves in different types of systems

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Figure 4

The system curve is highly depending on the system design and the fluid to be pumped (viscosity) The static head (and hereby the energy consumption) varies dependent on the type of system.

Liquid injection from expansion valve

Gas return to compres sor

Negative static head

In systems using evaporating refrigerants from a liquid separator, there must be a static head at the suction side to avoid cavitation (cavitation is explained in the next paragraph). The principle of such a system is seen in figure 5. The liquid refrigerant inside the separator is at the saturation point meaning that a drop in pressure will cause the liquid to boil. Inside a pump a lower pressure exist compared to the inlet and to avoid boiling inside the pump (cavitation), the pump is placed at the lowest point meaning that the refrigerant at the suction side is subcooled by the pressure H1. As the liquid enters the cooling surface (evaporator) it evaporates and most of it returns to the liquid separator as vapour. In this system there is a liquid column (H1) at the suction side of the pump and a smaller liquid column (in the evaporator) at the discharge side (H2). The static head is determined by the difference in H1 and H2. In this case the static head is negative as H1 is bigger than H2. In others words gravity

Figure 5

Figure 7

No static head (closed systems)

In closed systems the liquid columns are always the same on suction and pressure sides of the pump. This mean that the only pressure the pump should overcome is the friction loss independent of different levels in the system. Such a system is shown on figure 7. The secondary refrigerant is pumped into a cooling surface where it obtains heat, and then circulated to a cooling plant before entering the pump again. The static pressures before and after the pump are identical meaning that the system curve in closed systems always starts in 0 as shown in Figure 8. As the system curve starts at 0 the total pressure required from the pump is the pressure drop from friction losses.

high risk of cavitation in systems using evaporating refrigerants, as these are very close to the saturation pressure. Secondary refrigerants (e.g. water and brines) at low temperature on the other hand, are very far from the saturation pressure and will only cavitate at a very low pressure (which can be made is an inlet valve is being closed!). The pressure drop inside a pump depends on3 the design of that specific pump and because of this different pumps tend to cavitate at different pressures and flow rates.

NPSH (m)

Positive static head (open systems)

In open systems there might be different static pressures dependent on the levels of the system. The example in figure 8 shows an open system with a cooling tower. The pump circulates water from a receiver to a cooling surface and afterwards into a cooling tower at the roof. At the cooling tower the pressure of the water is equal to that of the atmosphere making it an open system. As the liquid column at the pressure side of the pump (H2) is higher than the column on the suction side (H1), the static pressure in this system is positive and determined by the pressure difference between H1 and H2. In this case gravity counter acts and the pump must provide the extra pressure to overcome gravity. When the static head is positive, the system curve starts above 0. This is shown in figure 9.

Figure 10
The minimum suction pressure required for a specific pump can be read from the pumps NPSH-curve. NPSH stands for net positive suction head and accounts for the balance in positive (gravity and absolute pressure) and negative pressures (friction losses) at a certain flow rate. Effectively, NPSH is the needed minimum difference of the pressure at the suction side of the pump and the fluids saturation pressure and all pumps require a certain NPSH not to cavitate. The required NPSH is found in the pumps specifications and a curve for a specific pump could be like the one the figure 10. The NPSH-curve shows the minimum NPSH required at different flow rates for a specific pump. Higher flow rates tend to require higher NPSH, as the pressure loss inside the pump increases with the flow. In order to avoid cavitation, the pressure of the fluid on the suction side of the pump must exceed the saturation pressure according to the NPSH-curve. Note that dynamic pressure losses must be considered as well. As stated before in pump circulated systems more liquid refrigerant is pumped into the distribution lines to the evaporators than evaporated. If problems arise like too little refrigerant supplied to an evaporator one could jump to the conclusion just to raise the flow into the system. But due to the shape of the NPSH curve one could end up having cavitation in the pump.

H2

H1

Figure 8
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NPSH and Cavitation

Cavitation occurs when a liquid turns to vapour and implodes back to liquid inside the pump. This occurs when the pressure of the liquid is close to the saturation pressure. In this case a pressure drop at the suction side of the pump could cause the fluid to evaporate and create bubbles inside the pump. As pressure rise through the pump the vapour will turn back to liquid and the bubbles will collapse. Cavitation can often be recognized by a distinct sound as if the pump was pumping gravel. Cavitation reduces the pumps capacity and efficiency, and in most circumstances the imploding bubbles will cause excessive wear on the pump impellers. There is a

Static head

Figure 9

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Energy consumption
As mentioned previously the theoretical power consumption of a pump is given by Because of this variable speed controlled pumps are particular suited for systems where flow and pressure are fluctuating. Control modes for variable speed pumps In order to exploit the reduction in energy consumption fully, the components in the system must be able to cope with lower differential pressures at low flow rates. This is not always possible and because of this most variable speed pumps can be controlled in either constant pressure or proportional pressure modes.

Initial duty point

New duty point

As long as the inlet (secondary refrigerants) or evaporation (direct systems) temperature is not changed a change in the cooling (or heating) demand is adjusted by regulating the flow. At reduced flow the pressure loss from friction is also reduced meaning that the pumps power consumption should decrease. When fixed speed pumps are used, the flow is adjusted using valves meaning that the pressure will increase or decrease as the flow is adjusted. By adjusting the flow rate using valves, the system is adjusted to fit a certain pump rather than adjusting the pump according to the system. This is illustrated on figure 4. The figure shows how adjusting valves will change the flow rate when a certain pump is used. Instead of changing the system pressure drop, the pump curve could be altered by adjusting the speed of the pump. Looking at the system curve with the valve open, it is clear that less flow is possible at much lower pressure levels. This means that the duty point with the valve closed could have been met using a lot less pressure thus reducing the energy consumption. This is illustrated in figure 11 where a new pump curve (at low speed) meets the system curve with the valve open. The figure shows how the new duty point is reached by changing the pump curve rather Equations of affinity Changing the speed of a centrifugal pump affects pressure, flow and energy consumption according to the equations of affinity shown below (index b = after and a = before the change): The ratio of the flow changes linear to the ratio in speed:

Constant pressure
Constant pressure means that the pump will keep a certain pressure according to a specified set point and adjust the speed to maintain the pressure at this set point as the flow rate fluctuates. Figure 12 below shows the duty points using constant pressure control mode.

Proportional pressure
In proportional pressure, the pressure in the system is reduced proportional to the flow rate. This control mode means higher energy savings at low flow rates as the pressure is reduced even further. The installer chooses two set points for the pressure levels: One pressure level at the highest flow rate and another at zero flow. The pump will reduce the speed so that the pressure never exceeds the set point. The duty points are at the same pressure until the pump reaches full speed at a certain flow rate. At higher flow rates, duty points will follow the pump curve at full speed. The pump will adjust the pressure proportional according to these two set points. Figure 13 shows the duty points using proportional pressure control mode. The pump adjusts the speed automatically to vary pressure at different flow rates as determined by the two set points. Proportional pressure is the best way to reduce the energy consumption of a pump in systems with fluctuation flow rates. The pump adjusts the speed automatically to vary pressure at different flow rates as determined by the two set points. Proportional pressure is the best way to reduce the energy consumption of a pump in systems with fluctuation flow rates. The pump adjusts the speed automatically to vary pressure at different flow rates as determined by the two set points. Proportional pressure is the best way to reduce the energy consumption of a pump in systems with fluctuation flow rates.

Figure 11
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Setpoint

Flow @ max speed

Figure 12
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Setpoint

Setpoint

The ratio in head and power consumption are squared and cubed, meaning that the pressure is reduced to at half speed and the power consumption to 1/8:

Flow @ max speed

Figure 13

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Fixed speed

Figure 14 shows two of the duty points using a fixed speed pump (blue) compared to the proportional pressure control mode (green). At the duty point at around half of the highest flow rate, the pump slows down using proportional pressure, meaning that the pressure in the system is actually less than half compared to a fixed speed pump. As the pump slows down, the valves in the system will open further to provide the proper flow rate. The proportional pressure control mode actually affects the system and force the valves to open meaning that the system require less pressure at a given flow rate thus making the system curve less steep compared to a fixed speed installation. Ideally the flow should be adjusted by pump speed alone meaning that all duty points would be on the system curve at the highest flow rate as illustrated on figure 15. The figure shows a system with no valves meaning that the system curve is static and the required pressure at a given flow is always the same. This is not the case in most applications where pumps provide flow for several circuits each controlled by a valve. In these applications the system curve will change depending on the demand which means that the pump must provide a pressure just above the required in order to detect the fluctuations and adjust the speed accordingly. This can be optimized using the proportional pressure control mode and the two set points are adjusted to an exact fit of a given system. Figure 16 shows a proportional pressure setup where the pressure is kept just above the required at all flow rates. In this setup the pump will provide a pressure just high enough to detect fluctuations in the system as valves open or close. This control strategy will force valves to open as much as possible and avoid energy consuming pressure losses yet provide sufficient pressure in all situations.
System curve Flow @ max speed

Prop. pres.

Highest flow rate

Figure 14
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systems trouble can occur when pipe distances (and hereby friction loss) PED=Pedestrian between a pump anddoors the different valves are varying. In such applications it is important to register the available pressure at the most critical points in the system and control the pump speed accordingly. It can be very complicated to find the lowest possible working pressure in a system, and as the cycle between max and min cooling demand often is one year, a change of the setup might cause trouble at a much later point. Because of this, it is often recommended to use a constant pressure control mode and only use proportional pressure with caution. However the benefits using proportional pressure should be exploited in new systems or at system rebuilds, where the characteristics of pipes and valves are considered anyway.

Flow @ max speed

Nomenclature Not updated

A cross sectional area of entrance, m 2 b thickness of door frame, m g acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m s-2 Kf,L Correction factor, dimensionless H height of entrance, m I Infiltration rate, m 3 s-1 t time, s To, Ti temperature outside and inside colds store, oC V volume of air within the room, 3 m Greek letters i, o, avg

Figure 15
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Pump curve

Figure 16

Energy wise, the best control strategy in most systems is a combination of controlling both valves (system curve) and pump speed (pump curve) so that the pressure is reduced along with the flow rate. But it can be difficult to find the correct ratio if a systems characteristics is not very well known. A low working pressure can cause valves to lose their function and hereby cause inadequate cooling. In big

density inside and outside cold store and -3 average, kg m

The work associated with this information pack has been carried out in accordance with the highest academic standards and reasonable endeavours have been made to achieve the degree of reliability and accuracy appropriate to work of this kind. However, the ICE-E project does not have control over the use to which the results of this work may be put by the Company and the Company will therefore be deemed to have satisfied itself in every respect as to the suitability and fitness of the work for any par ticular purpose or application. In no circumstances will the ICE-E project, its servants or agents accept liability however caused arising from any error or inaccuracy in any operation, advice or report arising from this work, nor from any resulting damage, loss, expenses or claim. ICE-E 2012

For more information, please contact: Lars Reinholdt (lre@teknologisk.dk)