Types of reciprocating pumps:

Reciprocating pumps can be classified based on the liquid being

in contact with one side or both the sides of the piston or
plunger and based on the no. of cylinders provided:
A) Based on liquid being in contact with one side or both side
of piston
(i) Single acting pump
(ii) Double acting pump
 B. According to the no. of cylinders
provided:
(i) Single cylinder Pump:
Pump having only one cylinder; it may be single
acting or double acting.
(i) Double cylinder pump (two-throw pump):
• Consists of two single acting cylinders equipped with
one suction and one delivery pipe and appropriate
valve arrangements.
• Pistons are simultaneously driven by cranks set at
180°.
• Another alternative arrangement may be the one in
which: there is only one suction pipe, one delivery
pipe, and one piston for both the cylinders.
Types of reciprocating pumps…….continue
(iii) Triple cylinder pump or three-throw pump:
• Consists of three single acting cylinders each
equipped with one suction and one delivery
pipe with appropriate valves and separate
piston or plunger.
• All three pistons or plungers are driven
simultaneously by cranks set at 120°.
Types of reciprocating pumps…….continue
(iv) Duplex double acting pump:
• combination of either two double-acting
single cylinder or two double acting double
cylinder pumps.
(v) Quintuplex or five-throw pump:
• consists of five single acting cylinders driven
by a crank set at 72°.
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump:
(i) Single acting pump:
For one complete rotation of the crank, there is
one suction and one delivery stroke.
Let, A=X-sectional area of the piston,
a=X-sectional area of the piston rod
S=Length of the stroke
N=Speed of the crank (rpm)
There fore, No. of delivery strokes=N/min or
(N/60)/s
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump…….Continue
• Theoretical volume of liquid pumped per
stroke=(AxS)
• Theoretical discharge (Qth) of pump is given by
Qth=AxSxN/60……………….. (m3/s)
Since, S=2r, where r is the radius of the crank,
Qth=2ArN/60…………….. (m3/s)
• Now, if Hs=suction head and
Hd=delivery head
(Hs+Hd) is known as static head which is the net
total vertical height through which the liquid is
lifted by the pump
• Force acting on piston/plunger during suction
stroke=ϒ*Hs*A
• Force acting on piston/plunger during delivery
stroke= ϒ*Hd*A
• Theoretical work done by the pump=ϒQth(Hs+Hd)
• Wth=ϒ*A*S*(N/60)*(Hs+Hd)
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump…….Continue
• Therefore, the theoretical power required to
drive the pump could be given as:
Pth= ϒ*(ASN)*(Hs+Hd)/60
• Horsepower of the pump can be given by:
hpth=ϒ*(ASN)*(Hs+Hd)/(60*746); where the value
of ϒ is 9810 N/m3
• If ϒ is 1000kg/m3, then
hpth=ϒ*(ASN)*(Hs+Hd)/(60*76.04)
(Note: 1hp=746W=76.04kg-m/s)
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump…….Continue
(ii) Double acting single cylinder pump:
• For one complete revolution of the crank,
there are two delivery strokes.
• That is, No. of delivery strokes=2N/min; or
(N/30)/s.
• Due to presence of the piston rod on one side
of the cylinder, the volume of the liquid
delivered from both the sides of the piston
will not be equal.
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump…….Continue
• The volume of liquid pumped per
stroke={AS+(A-a)S}
• Theoretical discharge of the pump
Qth={ASN/60+(A-a)SN/60}
=SN(2A-a)/60
• If the effect of piston rod is neglected then,
Qth=2ASN/60; which is equal to twice the volume
of a single acting pump of same dimensions and
same speed.
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump…….Continue
• Force acting on the piston during forward
stroke={ϒHsA+ϒHd(A-a)}
• Force acting on the piston during backward
stroke={Hs(A-a)+ϒHdA}
• Theoretical work done by the pump,
Wth=ϒQth(Hs+Hd)
= ϒ(2A-a) SN (Hs+Hd)/60
Neglecting the effect of piston rod,
Wth= 2ϒASN (Hs+Hd)/60
 Power required to drive a
reciprocating pump…….Continue
• Therefore, the theoretical power required to drive the pump
could be given as:
Pth= 2ϒASN (Hs+Hd)/60
• Horsepower of the pump can be expressed as
hpth=2ϒASN (Hs+Hd)/(60*746); where ϒ is equal to 9810
N/m3
• hpth=2ϒASN (Hs+Hd)/(60*76.04); where ϒ is equal to
1000kg/m3

• Since the rate of doing work is called power, Wth can

represent the Pth required to drive the pump
Plunger pump
 Plunger pump…….continue
• It is just a piston pump with a plunger replacing the
piston and piston rod.
• It is usually used for rough work and it can build up a
very high pressure.
• It can be either single acting or double acting type.
• Discharge, forces acting on the plunger and the
horsepower of the pump can easily be determined as
in the case of a piston pump discussed earlier.
(Piston pump: piston is shorter than stroke length,
packing is inlaid on its rim.
Plunger pump: plunger is longer than stroke length,
packing is inlaid on the cylinder.)
 Coefficient of discharge and slip of a
reciprocating pump
• Coefficient of discharge:
• Because of leakage and imperfect operation of the
valve, the actual discharge of a reciprocating
pump is always slightly less than the theoretical
discharge.
• The ratio of actual discharge to the theoretical
discharge is called coefficient of discharge and is
given by,
Cd=Qa/Qth
 Coefficient of discharge and slip of a
reciprocating pump…………continue
• Slip:
• It is defined as the difference between the
theoretical discharge and the actual discharge and
given by,
Slip=Qth-Qa
• Percentage slip={(Qth-Qa)/Qth)*100= (1-Cd)*100
 Coefficient of discharge and slip of a
reciprocating pump…………continue
• Negative slip:
• For most reciprocating pumps, Qa is less than Qth. Hence Cd
of the pump is less than one and the slip is positive.
• However in practice, sometimes the delivery valve opens
before the suction stroke is completed, thus delivering
greater volume of liquid than the volume actually swept by
the piston.
• In this case Cd will be more than one and the slip will be
negative, which then known as negative slip.
• Negative slip may happen in the case of pumps having long
suction pipe and low delivery head, especially when the
pumps are running at the higher speed.
 Operating Characteristics Curves for
reciprocating pump
• Under ideal conditions, the discharge of a reciprocating
pump operating at constant speed is independent of
the head developed by the pump.
• However, in actual practice it is observed that the
discharge of a reciprocating pump slightly decreases as
the head developed by the pump increases.
• Further, the input power for a reciprocating pump
increases almost linearly beyond a certain minimum
value with the increase in the head developed by the
pump.
• The overall efficiency of a reciprocating pump also
increases with the increase in the head developed by
the pump as in the figure in the next slide.
• In addition to the above noted constant speed
characteristic curves, sometimes variable speed
characteristic curves of a reciprocating pump are also
plotted.
• For this, the pump is operated at different speeds and
its discharge corresponding to a constant head is
plotted against the speed.
• It is observed that the discharge of a reciprocating
pump increases almost linearly with increase in the
speed of the pump, which is in accordance with the
expression for the theoretical discharge derived.
 Indicator Diagram
• The indicator diagram for a reciprocating pump is
defined as the graph between the pressure head in the
cylinder and the distance travelled by piston from inner
dead center for one complete revolution of the crank.
• As the maximum distance travelled by the piston is
equal to the stroke length and hence the indicator
diagram is a graph between pressure head and stroke
length of the piston for one complete revolution.
• The pressure head is taken as ordinate and stroke
length as abscissa.
 Ideal Indicator Diagram
• The graph between pressure head in the cylinder and
stroke length of the piston for one complete revolution
of the crank under ideal conditions is known as ideal
indicator diagram.
• The figure shows the ideal indicator diagram, in which ef
represents the atmospheric pressure head equal to 10.3
m of water.
• Let Hatm=atmospheric pressure head =10.3 m of water.
L=length of the stroke.
Hs=suction head.
Hd=delivery head.
• During suction stroke, the pressure head in
the cylinder is constant and equal to suction
head (Hs), which is below the atmospheric
pressure head (Hatm) by a height of Hs.
• The pressure head during suction stroke is
represented by a horizontal line cd which is
below the line ef by a height of Hs.
• During delivery stroke, the pressure head in
the cylinder is constant and equal to delivery
head (Hd), which is above the atmospheric
head by a height of (Hd).
• Thus, the pressure head during delivery stroke
is represented by a horizontal line ab which is
above the line ef by a height of Hd.
• Thus for one complete revolution of the crank,
the pressure head in the cylinder is
represented by the diagram a-b-c-d.
• This diagram is known as ideal indicator
diagram.
We know,
Work done by the pump per second
= ϒx(ASN)x(Hs+Hd)/60=KxS x(Hs+Hd)
S(Hs+Hd)
From fig, area of indicator diagram =abxbc
=abx(be+ec)
=Sx (Hs+Hd)
Substituting this value in above equation,
Work done by pump per second area of indicator
diagram
Fig. Ideal Indicator Diagram
Solve problems on reciprocating pumps