Variable Speed Pump Operation Can Cut Energy Costs but System Static Head Reduces Savings Determining

pump speed using the affinity rules is not as easy as it appears. By Jeffrey L. Sines, Engineering Training Lead, Engineered Software, Inc. As printed in Pumps & Systems, June 2011 The days of inexpensive electricity are gone, and with environmental pressures on the oil, coal, and nuclear industries, electricity prices will only go up. In todays economy, many companies are looking at options to reduce energy consumption as a way to add to the bottom line or just stay in business. For companies that use centrifugal pumps in their processes, one method to reduce energy consumption is to install a variable speed drive to reduce the motor and pump speed. For some piping systems this is a great solution, but is it always the best solution? To answer that question, its important to understand how a pump and piping system interact, and to understand the affect static head has on the pumps operating point. The pump affinity rules describe how a pumps performance will change with a change in pump speed, but the actual operating speed of the pump, and the energy savings, will depend on the amount of static and dynamic head in the system. Systems with Differing Dynamic and Static Heads Consider the three piping systems in Figure 1. Each system consists of a Supply and Product Tank, a variable speed pump, valves and the interconnecting pipelines. The working fluid is water at 60 F with a density of 62.37 pounds per cubic feet. Each system has the same pump selected to meet an operating point of 1,000 gallons per minute and 98 feet of total head at 1735 rpm, but each has a different amount of static and dynamic head, achieved by varying the total pipe length and Product Tank elevations.

Figure 1. Systems with varying amounts of static and dynamic head. Its important to note that the pump does not know how much of its total head is allocated to static and dynamic head in the system. Static Head is the sum of the difference in elevations of the liquid levels and surface pressures in both tanks. The dynamic head is the sum of the head losses in the pipelines, valves, fittings, and other components in the system. For pipelines, head loss can be calculated using the Darcy method shown in Equation 1, taken from the Crane Technical Paper No. 410 Flow of Fluids Through Valves, Fittings, and Pipe.

Equation 1. Darcy Head Loss Equation Although it appears that the head loss is a second order function of the flow rate, the Darcy friction factor (f) is also a function of the flow rate, which makes the head loss not quite a second order relationship. The pump and system resistance curves for these piping systems are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Pump and system resistance curves for three piping systems with various amounts of static and dynamic head. How a Systems Static Head Affects Pump Speed in Variable Speed Applications The pump affinity rules in Equation 2 describe how a centrifugal pumps flow rate (Q), Total Head (H), and power consumption (P) change with a change of impeller speed (N). ( Equation 2. Pump Affinity Rules Since the flow rate changes in direct proportion to speed, and head changes proportional to the speed squared, a second order relationship exists between flow rate and head in pump performance as the speed changes. Mathematically, the affinity rules are easy calculations. However, although the rules describe how the pumps performance will change with a change in speed, they do not show how a pump will perform in any particular piping system. It is the piping system that determines what speed the pump has to run at to overcome the static head and dynamic head at any given flow rate. What is the pump speed needed to reduce the flow rate in each system in Figure 1 to 500 gallons per minute with the variable speed pump? Using just the affinity rules, to reduce the flow rate by 50 percent the speed has to be reduced by 50 percent to 867.5 rpm: ) ( )

The affinity rules can then be used to determine the pump head at this speed: ( ) ( )

However, does the pump produce the amount of head required by the system at 500 gallons per minute? The total head needed by the system can be determined by calculating the pressures at the pump suction and discharge based on the Supply and Product Tank levels and pressures, the piping and valve losses, and the system flow rates. The required differential pressure across the pump can then be converted to head using Equation 3.

Equation 3. Converting differential pressure (in psi) to head (in feet of fluid). Fluid density () is in units of lb/ft3. Figure 3 shows this for the three systems.

Figure 3. Calculating the suction and discharge pressures and the pump Total Head required for each system. Using Equation 3, the Total Head required by System 1 is:

)(

The pump head calculated using the affinity rules was 24.64 feet, which is not enough to meet what the system requires at 500 gallons per minute, so the speed must be slightly higher to meet the needs of the system. Figure 4 shows the required pump speed needed to meet the head requirements of all three systems.

Figure 4. Systems with pump speeds calculated to match the head requirements of each system. In order to meet the total head requirements of System 1 for a 50 percent flow reduction, the pump speed must be 895 rpm, compared to 867.5 rpm calculated using the affinity rule. This underestimation in pump speed is due to the fact that the system resistance is not quite a second order relationship to the flow rate. Underestimating the pump speed with the affinity rules is exacerbated by increasing the static head in the system. For Systems 2 and 3 in Figure 4, the total head requirements and the calculated pump speeds needed to meet them are even higher. Only the dynamic head is affected by a reduction in the flow rate. The static head stays the same as long as the difference between liquid levels and pressures between the two tanks stays the same. The pump in System 2 requires a speed of 1140 rpm to obtain a total head of 44.6 feet at 500 gallons per minute, whereas the pump in System 3 must run at 1530 rpm because it requires 81.3 feet of total head. Using just the pump affinity rules in these cases would grossly underestimate the pump speed needed to reduce the flow to 500 gallons per minute. Figure 5 shows how the pump curve shifts down as the pump speed is reduced.

Figure 5. The pump curve shifts down as speed is reduced. The system requirements determine the operating speed of the pump. Effect of Static Head on Pump Efficiency and Energy Savings The determination of pump speed for systems with static head also explains why the use of variable speed pumps in a system with a large amount of static head does not save as much money compared to a system with just dynamic head. The affinity rules show that the power consumption is reduced by the cube of the change in pump speed, so the completely dynamic head system will consume much less power at the reduced flow rate because of the greater change in pump speed compared to the high static head system. For the same 50 percent reduction in flow rate, System 1 saw a reduction in pump speed from 1735 rpm to 895 rpm (840 rpm change), System 2 went from 1735 rpm to 1140 rpm (a 595 rpm change), and System 3 went from 1735 rpm to 1530 rpm (205 rpm change). The pump efficiency at the operating point is also affected by the amount of static head. Figure 6 shows the pump and system resistance curves, as well as the ISO-efficiency lines to show how pump efficiency changes with a change in pump speed. Figure 6 also shows the operating points for each system at the original and reduced flow rate. At 1,000 gallons per minute, all three pumps operate at about 88.6 percent efficiency. When the flow rate is reduced, the pumps in System 1, 2, and 3 operate at an efficiency of 88.3 percent, 83.1 percent and 72.4 percent, respectively.

Figure 6. Constant efficiency lines follow a second order relationship as pump speed is reduced. Pump efficiency decreases with increased static head in the system. To put all of this into perspective, assume each system is operated for half the year at 1,000 gallons per minute and half the year at 500 gallons per minute with an energy cost of $0.10 per kilowatt hour and motor efficiency of 93 percent. Table 1 summarizes the energy costs and annual savings for each system as compared to operating the systems with a fixed speed pump at 1,750 rpm and using a throttle valve to control the flow rate. Table 1. Operating costs and energy savings for systems with various amounts of static head Fixed Speed Pump with Variable Speed Pump Annual Throttle Valve Savings System 1 $17,200 $11,400 $5,800 (100% Dynamic Head) System 2 $17,200 $12,500 $4,700 (75% Dynamic Head) System 3 $17,200 $15,200 $2,000 (25% Dynamic Head) Conclusion Static head in a system reduces energy savings when using a variable speed pump. The pump affinity rules describe how the pump performance will change with a change in pump speed, but the actual operating speed of the pump will depend on the head requirements of the system.

The more static head the system has, the higher the pump speed needed to overcome this head. In addition, the pump will operate farther back on its pump curve, resulting in lower pump efficiency at reduced flow rates. The net effect of higher operating speeds and lower pump efficiency in systems with static head is a reduction in the energy savings when using variable speed pumps. Jeff Sines has over 20 years of plant operations experience in the US Navy nuclear power program and pulp and paper industry. He is currently the Engineering Training Lead for Engineered Software, Inc. and provides technical support for their PIPE-FLO Professional and Flow of Fluids programs. He is also an instructor for ESIs Piping System Fundamentals and Piping System Assessment and Optimization courses. For more information, go to www.eng-software.com. He can be contacted at Jeff.sines@engsoftware.com.