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Title : Pump designing and sizing for cooling water collection pit

Objective : 1. To calculate the required amount of pump power(kW) to ensure sufficient


water flowrate

2. To increase the pump capacity by determining required flowrate of water

Introduction
The pump currently used at the cooling water collection pit in front of the transformer
room is under-capacity and is not able to cope with the large volume of cooling water return.
Thus, especially during startup the cooling water overflows from the collection pit and is
wasted. The wasted cooling water flows to the waste water treatment plant before it flows out
to the main drain.

Description
In order to design a new pump with sufficient capacity to cope with the flow of
cooling water return, we would need to calculate the flowrate of cooling water required,
pressure loss along the straight pipe, fittings and the static head. By using a flowmeter, we
collected two day’s worth of flowrate data. The data is summarised in the tablet below:

Date Time Flowrate m3/hr


9/11/2012 Afternoon 51.65
51.45

12/11/2012 Morning 51.49


Afternoon 52.15
Evening 51.9

Average 51.775

Using the flowrate data collected, we can deduce the pressure loss in terms of total
head using the equivalent pipe length method.

For 3 inch straight PVC pipe schedule 40 of 50.62 m

Pressure drop = 30681.7 pa / 30.48 m

Total pressure drop = 50954.976 pa


For 3 inch straight CS schedule 40 pipe of 116.4 m

Pressure drop = 115360 pa / 100 m

Total pressure drop = 134279.04 pa

Overall pressure drop from straight pipe = 134279.04 + 50954.976

= 185234.016 pa

Pressure drop in pascal is converted to pressure loss in total head

= 185234.016 / ( 9.81 x 1000)

= 18.9 m

For 23 unit of 90o elbow

Equivalent length = 11 ft x 23

= 253 ft

Pressure loss = 10.14 ft / 100 ft

Total loss = 25.65 ft

= 7.82 m

For 3 unit of Globe Valve

Equivalent length = 79 ft x 3

= 237 ft

Pressure drop = 10.14 ft / 100 ft

Total loss = 24.03 ft head loss

= 7.32 m

Static Head =6m

Overall head loss = 18.9 + 7.82 + 7.39 + 6m

= 40.11 m x 1.2

Pump bhp(kW) = [ Q ( m3/hr) x H(m) x SGwater ] / (367 x 0.5 )] x motor efficiency

BHP(kW) =[ (51.775 x 48.13 x 1 ) / ( 367 x 0.5) ] x 0.88


= 12 kW

In theory the power required for the pump to generate flowrate of 51.755 m3/hr is 12kW

Recommendation
It is recommended that the flowrate of cooling water be increased from the current
flow of 51.775 m3/hr to about 55 m3./hr to cope with the volume of cooling water returned to
the collection pit. Using the new cooling water flowrate, we made another calculation as
follows:

Pump bhp(kW) = [ Q ( m3/hr) x H(m) x SGwater ] / (367 x 0.5 )] x motor efficiency

BHP(kW) =[ (55 x 48.13 x 1 ) / ( 367 x 0.5) ] x 0.88

= 12.69 kW

Thus, theoretically the pump requires 12.69 kW of power in order to produce the
required flowrate necessary to prevent cooling water overflow from the collection pit. The
next step is to provide the data and specification for the pump supplier to quote the price of
the new pump.

Summary
In conclusion, the pump power required to produce sufficient flowrate of 55 m3/hr so
as to avoid overflow from the collection pit is found to be 12.69kW. This data is required for
the supplier to quote the price of the pump that would be used to replace the current pump
which is under-capacity.

In the long term, this would save the company money as less cooling water is wasted and
more would be return back to the cooling tower where it is recycled for further use as cooling
water utility.
Appendix

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