Efficiency improvement and evaluation of a centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser

Abstract

In order to enhance the efficiency of centrifugal pump, the structure of a centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser, whose specific speed is 190, was numerically improved by trimming back-blades of impeller and smoothing sharp corner in annular chamber. The energy performance, the internal flow field, the axial force, the radial force, and the pressure pulsation of the pump were analyzed. Results show that efficiency of the improving scheme 1 under the design flow rate is 77.47%, which can balance 69.82% of the axial force, while efficiency of the improving scheme 2 under the design flow rate is the maximum, which could still balance 62.74% of the axial force. The pressure pulsations of the improving scheme 2 at the typical monitoring points are less than that of the improving scheme 1 and the original scheme. The difference of the radial force peak between the improving scheme 1 and the improving scheme 2 is very small. The vector distributions of the radial force of the improving scheme 1 and the improving scheme 2 are more uniform than that of the original scheme. Considering the efficiency, pressure pulsation, and axial force, experiment measurements on the improving scheme 2 were carried out to verify the effectiveness of the improvement result. Results of energy performance experiment show that efficiency of the improving scheme 2 under the design flow rate is 76.48%, which is 5.26 percentage points higher than that of the original scheme.