CL351: Chemical Engineering Lab-II

Semester 1, 2014-2015
IIT Gandhinagar

Pradeep Diwakar (Group G)

Roll no. 12110063
CHARACTERISTICS OF CENTRIFUGAL PUMP
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CENTRIFUGAL PUMP
Objective:

The objective of this experiment is to study the characteristics of a

centrifugal pump with respect to the head developed, flow rate and power
provided.
Theory:

Centrifugal pump is a machine that converts electrical power to mechanical

power and this mechanical power is used to increase potential energy of the
fluid. As the potential energy increases the pressure drops with increasing
flow rate and this flow rate is changed by using a regulator that varies flow
rate while keeping the RPM constant.

Head of pump is expressed by using Bernoullis equation:

2
p 2 p 1 v
h= +
g 2g

Where:

h = total head developed (m)

p1 = pressure of the inlet (N/m2)

p2 = pressure of the outlet

= density of fluid (kg/m3)

v = velocity of the outlet flow

The efficiency of pump is measured as the ratio of water power to the motor
power.

Efficiency of a pump, Ef = PW / Ps

Where:

Ef = efficiency
Pw = water power

Ps = shaft power

Procedure:

We were provided with a tube with longitudinal fins, a bare tube without fins
and a steam generator to generate steam at constant pressure. Initially the
water reservoir is filled up till 90% of its capacity and all the valves are
opened. The RPM is set to 5000 and a rotameter is used for this. Also RPM
was maintained constant at 5000 throughout the experiment. Flow was kept
at maximum initially and then decreased for different readings. For taking
the readings we noted the manometer readings, the power applied by the
motor was also displayed and was noted. The flow rate is measured. And this
whole process was repeated for taking twelve different sets of readings at
different flow rates.
Results:

Table1. Observed height and power input:

Actual
Obs. Volume Time Power
h (m) power
No. (ml) (s) (W)
(W)
1 500 17.40 0.59 60 28
2 500 8.43 0.41 62 30
3 500 6.92 0.28 66 34
4 500 5.83 0.23 70 38
5 500 5.56 0.16 72 40
6 500 5.36 0.13 73 41
7 500 5.23 0.08 70 38
8 500 5.17 0.08 70 38
9 500 5.01 0.06 64 32
10 500 4.90 0.05 60 28
11 500 5.07 0.05 68 36
12 500 5.19 0.05 66 34
Table2: Water power and pump power comparison:

Mass flow
Obs. Head Theoretical Efficiency
rate
No. (m2/s2) Power (W) ()
(g/ccs)
1 28.74 72.80 20.81 69.36
2 59.31 50.59 29.84 99.48
3 72.25 34.55 24.83 82.76
4 85.76 27.76 23.68 78.94
5 89.93 19.12 17.11 57.02
6 93.28 15.42 14.31 47.70
7 95.60 10.12 9.62 32.07
8 96.71 9.25 8.90 29.67
9 99.80 7.40 7.35 24.50
10 102.04 6.54 6.64 22.12
11 98.62 6.17 6.05 20.17
12 96.34 6.05 5.79 19.31

80.00

70.00

60.00

50.00

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

0.00
20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00 100.00110.00

Graph 1. Head vs mass flow rate

 120.00

100.00

80.00

60.00

40.00

20.00

0.00
20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00 120.00

Graph 2. Efficiency vs mass flow rate

Discussion and Conclusion:

The results shows that the efficiency of the pump continuously increases up
to certain flow rate then it starts decreasing. The efficiency first increases
with increase in flow rate but it then started decreasing after reaching its
maximum level at flow rate 0.059 g/ccs and efficiency of 73.03%. The head
was continuously decreasing with the increase in flow rate. The reason is that
efficiency was increasing because the water power was more drastically
increasing than the shaft power but when efficiency value hits the maxima it
started decreasing because now the velocity vibration of motor has
increased and it causes more frictional and mechanical losses. There is
always decrease in head with the increase in velocity because at low velocity
pipe was offering more friction but as velocity was increased the resistance
offered by pipe wall decreases thus head decreases. Now to attain maximum
efficiency pumps should be designed in such a way that the flow attains
maximum velocity. There were a few errors and to minimise them care
should be taken while keeping the RPM constant at 5000 throughout
experiment and while measuring the pressure and flow rate.

Appendix:
Sample Calculations for reading. 3:
Volume accumulated: 500 ml
Time taken: 6.92 sec
Thus,
Volume flow rate, m = V/t = 500/6.92 = 72.50 g/cc*s
Height difference: 28 cm
Pump power input: 66 W
1. Actual power input = 66-32
= 34 W
2. Head value, H = h*(m f )*g/ f = 0.28*12.59*9.8/1
= 34.55 m2/s2
3. B.H.P = 34 W
4. F.H.P = m*H*746/(75*1000) = 72.5*34.55*746/(75*1000)
= 24.83 W
5. Efficiency = F.H.P/B.H.P *100 = 24.83/34 *100 = 73.03