Multistage Centrifugal Pump

B141753, B141758, B141866, B141812, B141860

October 8, 2018

1 Aim
To determine the efficiency of a multistage(Two stage) centrifugal pump and plot the following curves.
• Discharge VS Head
• Discharge VS Efficiency
• Discharge VS Power

2 Apparatus Required
• Centrifugal pump
• Collecting tank with piezometer

• Pressure gauge
• Suction gauge
• Stop watch

• Energy meter
• Meter scale

3 Theory
A centrifugal pump is a rotodynamic type and converts the mechanical energy into hydraulci energy.A centrifugal
pump consists of the following parts:
1. The rotating element, known as the impeller.(wheel fitted with a series of backward curvd vanes)
2. The housing that encloses the rotating element and seals the pressurised liquid inside is known as casing.

The other components of a centrifugal pump are suction pipe, strainer, foot valve, delivery pipe and delivery
valve.
The impeller is mounted on a shaft, which is usually coupled to an electric motor. The electric motor
supplies energy to the shaft of the impeller. The rotary motion of the impeller creates a centrifugal force that
enables the liquid to enter the pump at the lower pressure region near the center of the impeller, called eye, and
move along the direction of the impeller vanes towards the high pressure region near the housing surrounding
the impeller. The rise in pressure head at any point of the rotating liquid due to forced vortex is proportional
to the square of the tangential velocity of the liquid at that point.
In the case of centrifugal pump, work is done by the impeller on the water. The expression for the work
done by the impeller on the water is obtained by drawing velocity triangles at inlet and outlet of the impeller
on the same way as for a turbine. The water enters the impeller radially at inlet for best efficiency of the pump.
The absolute velocity of water at inlet makes an angle of 90◦ with the direction of motion of impeller at inlet
and work done by the impeller is
1/g(vw1 u1 − vw2 u2 )

1
 A centrifugal pump with one impeller is called as single stage pump and with more than one impeller is
called as multistage pump. The stage of the pump is equal to the number of impellers. A single stage pump
is suitable for manometric head up to 100 m. For larger heads, a multistage pump in series can be used. The
impellers are mounted on the same shaft and are enclosed in the same casing such that the water discharged
with increased pressure from one impeller flows to the suction opening of the second, and so on. To discharge
a large quantity of liquid against a relatively small head, a multistage pump in parallel can be used. When
several pumps are connected in parallel in a pipeline, the discharge is increased but the pressure head remains
same as with a single pump. Pumps connected in series in a pipeline will increase the total output pressure,
but the discharge will remain approximately the same as that of a single pump.

4 Experimental setup
The schematic diagram of multistage centrifugal pump is shown in figure 1 of page 2. The test rig consists of
an elctric motor and multi stage pump(2 stage connected in series) directly coupled through a flanged coupling
arrangement and further it is mounted on a sump tank. A collecting tank is provided to measure discharge of
the pump. A panel board consisting of energy meter to measure the power input to the motor, and a starter
to start the pump. The rig is complete with suction and discharge pressure gauges along with suitable pipeline
and control valve arrangements.

Figure 1: Multistage centrifugal pump

5 Procedure
1. Keep the delivery valve in closed and suction valve in open position.

2. Start the motor

3. Open the delivery valve slightly so that the discharge of water takes place into the collecting tank.
4. Wait for steady state and then read the delivery pressure and suction pressure from delivery gauge and
suction gauge respectively.

5. Note down the time taken to 10 revolutions of energy meter.

6. Collect the water in collecting tank by closing its outlet valve.
7. measure the time taken for R cm rise of water in collecting tank

8. Open the outlet valve of collecting tank

9. Operate the delivery valve and change the flow rate
10. Repeat the experiment for 5 different openings of the delivery valve

2
6 Specifications/Given Data
• Electric service : 220-240 V AC, 1-Phase, 50Hz with earth connections
• Motor : 1.5 HP, 1420 RPM
• Centrifugal pump : 2-stage- Suguna Pump
• suction pipe diameter: 2.54 cm
• delivery pipe diameter: 2.54 cm
• Pressure gauge : 0–14 kg/cm2 or 0–200 lb/in2
• Suction gauge : 0–760 mm of hg or 0–30 in of hg
• Watt/Energy meter model:Type E3, AC watthour meter, single phase, 2 wire, class 2
• Watt/Energy meter constant: 750 rev/kWh
• Measuring tank dimensions:300mm x 300mm

7 Observation Table and Data

Energy meter constant: 750 rev/kWh
Number of revolutions of energy meter disc, n : 10

Table 1: Observation Table

S no Suction Delivery Rise of water level Time taken for Time taken for n
Pressure, Ps , Pressure, in collecting tank, R cm rise of water revolutions of en-
in mm of Pd , in R, in cm in collecting tank, ergy meter disc, tn ,
Hg lb/in2 tR , in sec in sec
1 100 14 10 13 52
2 100 24 10 15 50
3 100 30 10 18 47
4 100 44 10 22 44

8 Calculations

Shaft input power to motor = power input by energy meter Where rpm = Rotation of energy meter discTime
= Time for one revolution of the disc 0.736 = Conversion factor from KW to HP
Motor efficiency= 75%
Shaft input to the pump (Pi) = Shaft input to the motor X Motor efficiency
Total Head (Hm) = Suction head (Hs) + Delivery head (Hd)=
Where ρ = Density of water
Q = Discharge in m3 /s
Q = WLH /Time
L = Length of the collecting tank in m
W = width of the collecting tank in m
H = Height of Water in collecting tank in m read through Gauge glass and scale. Suction head ( hs ) = 100mm
of Hg = 13332.23N/m2
Sm = Specific Gravity of mercury = 13.6 mm of hg Sw = Specific Gravity of Water =1 Dischargehead(hd) =
1lb/in2 = 6795.7N/m2
T otalheadT h = [hd(N/m2 ) − hs(N/m2 )]/[1000 ∗ 9.81]
Areaof collectingtankA = 30cm ∗ 30cm
Raiseof waterlevelinthecollectingtankR = ..10..m
V olumeof watercollectedinT ankV = AR = ...0.3 ∗ 0.3 ∗ 0.1.........m3
T imetakenf orcollectionof ‘R0 mriseof water(t1) = 13s, (t2) = 15s, (t3) = 18s, (t4) = 22s
Actualdischarge(Qt) = [A ∗ R]/t => (Qt1) = 6.92 ∗ 10−4 , (Qt2) = 6 ∗ 10−4 , (Q3) = 5 ∗ 10−4 , (Q4) = 4.09 ∗ 10−4
outputpower(P out) = p ∗ g ∗ Q ∗ (Ht)

3
numberof revolutions = 10
timetakenf orrevolutionsof meterscale => t1 = 52s, t2 = 50s, t3 = 47s, t4 = 44s
inputpower(P in) = [n0.of revolutions ∗ 3600 ∗ 100]/[time(t) ∗ energyconstant]
ef f iciencyof pump = P out/P in ∗ 100
(1)

9 Results and Discussions

Table 2: Results
S no hs in N/m2 hd in N/m2 T otalhead Discharge input power output efficiency
power
1 13332.23 95139.8 8.33 6.9*10−4 369.2 56.5 15.32
2 13332.23 163096.8 15.26 6 ∗ 10−4 320 89.82 28.06
3 13332.23 203871 19.42 5 ∗ 10−4 266.67 95.25 35.71
4 13332.23 299010.8 29.12 4.09 ∗ 10−4 218.18 116.83 53.54

Power Delivered to the fluid = 89.6 J/s

Power Input to the Pump = 293.5 J/s
Average Efficiency of the Pump = 33.2

Following curves are drawn and efficiency is calculated.

• Discharge Vs Total Head

Figure 2: Discharge Vs Total Head

4
 • Discharge Vs Efficiency

Figure 3: Discharge Vs Efficiency

10 Precautions
1. Pump never run without flow of water.
2. Use clean water in sump tank.

11 Viva voice Questions

1. What is priming of a pump? Why it is necessary to prime a pump?
2. What is cavitation? Where does it occur in a centrifugal pump?
3. What are the main parts of a centrifugal pump?

4. What is the basic difference between a centrifugal and a reciprocating pump?

5. Why did you do this experiment?
6. What are the different types of pumps used?

7. Do the blade angles of impeller in a pump have any effect on the flow characteristics? What are they?