Investigating the performance degradation of centrifugal pumps

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While the amount of energy used for pumping varies depending on a number of factors, the energy consumption in pumping systems accounts for approximately 10% of the world's electrical energy demand. Also, the life-cycle cost of running a pump is often far outweighs their capital cost and the pump inefficiencies usually account for up to approximately 25 per cent of potential energy savings in pumping systems. It therefore stands to reason that energy efficiency and evaluating performance degradation of pumps should be an important consideration to the operation of variety of systems including but not limited to energy production, cooling, heating, food processing, water distribution, etc. Several factors play a significant role in performance degradation of pumps such as vibration, hydraulic factor including cavitation, recirculation, axial thrust, radial thrust, and pressure pulsations, corrosion, erosion and maintenance. Different methods were developed to monitor degradation in pumps including: vibration spectral analysis, modal analysis, acoustic emission analysis, and motor current or power analysis. Historical trending of process parameters such as temperature, pressure, flow rates, and infrared imaging are also used. However, very limited studies were developed to evaluate the effect of operation and varying the system load on pump performance over the entire life of the pump. Also, evaluating the effect of multi-degradation mechanism on the pump performance has not been studies before. Therefore, the objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the performance degradation of different type of pumps of interest to Xylem Co. under different operating conditions. Also, the automation system analysis will be used to develop a diagnostic tool for predictive maintenance. The gained knowledge from this research will enable better design of the pumps and develop a better operation control. This will not only save energy consumption in the pumping system, but also will improve the pump reliability, and reduced life cycle costs, which will directly benefit the Canadian economy.