Patent ID: 6648606
Filing Date: 2003-11-18
Classification: F04D

Abstract:
A method of determining degradation of the performance of a centrifugal pump, the method comprising the steps of:obtaining, at a first pump speed and a first impeller diameter, the pump's typical, non-degraded maximum continuous flow, minimum continuous flow, and continuous flow at a point between the maximum and minimum continuous flow; obtaining, at the first pump speed and the first impeller diameter, the pump's typical, non-degraded total dynamic head at each of the flows; determining brake horsepower at each of the flows and corresponding total dynamic heads; determining pump torque from each brake horsepower; determining, at one of a second pump speed and a second impeller diameter, a flow using each of the flows obtained at the first pump speed and first impeller diameter; determining, at the one of the second pump speed and the second impeller diameter, a total dynamic head using each of the total dynamic heads obtained at the first pump speed, wherein the obtained and determined flows and total dynamic heads define expected performance values of the pump; measuring an actual pump parameter of the pump at a known torque and a known speed of the pump; and comparing the measured actual pump parameter to the expected performance values of the pump to determine if the measured pump parameter is a deviation from the expected performance values of the pump, the deviation being indicative of the degradation in the performance of the pump.