CENTRIFUGAL PUMP:IMPELLER

INTRODUCTION:

A centrifugal pump is a rotodynamic pump that uses a rotating impeller to create flow by the addition of energy to a fluid. Centrifugal pumps are commonly used to move liquids through piping. The fluid enters the pump impeller along or near to the rotating axis and is accelerated by the impeller, flowing radially outward into a diffuser or volute chamber (casing), from where it exits into the downstream piping. Centrifugal pumps are used for large discharge through smaller heads.

IMPELLER : The blade of a rotor (as in the compressor of a jet

engine)vane, blade - flat surface that rotates and pushes against air or water rotor - rotating mechanism consisting of an assembly of rotating airfoils; "there are horizontal rotors on a helicopter or compressor rotors in a jet engine"

WORKING
A centrifugal pump uses a spinning "impeller," which normally has backward swept blades that directly push water outward. The transfer of energy from the mechanical rotation of the impeller to the motion and pressure of the fluid is usually described in terms of centrifugal force,. The concept of centrifugal force is not actually required to describe the action of the centrifugal pump.

In the modern centrifugal pump, most of the energy conversion is due to the outward force that curved impeller blades impart on the fluid. Invariably, some of the energy also pushes the fluid into a circular motion, and this circular motion can also convey some energy and increase the pressure at the outlet.

TYPES OF IMPELLER
There are main three types of impeller. 1. Shrouded or closed impeller 2. Semi open impeller 3. Open impeller 1. SHROUDED OR CLOSED IMPELLER : In this type of impeller blades or vanes are covered with side plates on both sides as shown in fig. Such type of impeller provides smooth passage for the liquid. So that pump operates at high efficiency. This type of impellers only used for liquid. Which is free from dust and sandy element and has low viscocity? The liquid should be clean and low viscous like water, hot water and acids. A disadvantage of enclosed impellers is that the front and back shrouds, rotating in close proximity to the casing walls, generate disc friction that lowers the efficiency of the pump relative to that found in open impeller designs. Another disadvantage is that the enclosed impeller is more easily plugged. Large solids that might otherwise be broken up by the grinding action generated by a rotating open impeller and the stationary casing wall can easily become lodged in the eye of an enclosed impeller. This may create a mechanical or hydraulic imbalance that has the potential to damage the pump, or at the least causes a pre-mature outage to remove the blockage

Semi-open impeller 2. SEMI-OPEN IMPELLER: It has a plate on the back side and other side is opened. The semi open impeller is designed to handle liquid containing fibrous material like paper pulp, sugar molasses and sewage water. High axial thrust is the primary drawback of a semi-open impeller design. Axial thrust balance is manageable through design for both open and enclosed impellers. On a semiopen impeller, the entire backside surface of the shroud is subject to the full impeller discharge pressure. The front side of the shroud is at suction pressure at the eye of the impeller and increases along the impeller radius due to centrifugal action. The differential between the pressure profiles along the two sides of the shroud creates the axial thrust imbalance. This can be managed somewhat through the use of pump-out vanes on the back side of the shroud, but the vanes will start to lose effectiveness if the impeller is moved forward in the casing to compensate for wear. Some manufacturers have integrated an adjustable wear-plate into the casing design so that clearance adjustments can be made. Combined with hard materials or surface hardening treatments, this option provides a good design in lightly to moderately abrasive applications 3. OPEN IMPELLER: The open impeller vanes are open on both side, no side plates are provided as shown in fig. such pumps are used to handle liquid like, abrasive liquid mixture of water and sand particles and mixture of clay. The pump with open impeller used for rough duty. One drawback of the open impeller is that it is more susceptible to abrasive wear than a shrouded impeller. High velocity fluid on the impeller blades in close

proximity to the casing walls establishes rotating vortices that accelerate wear when abrasives are present. A tight clearance between the impeller and the front and back casing walls is necessary to maximize efficiency. As the impeller wears, these clearances open and efficiency drops rapidly. The tight operating clearances required on both sides of an open impeller for efficient operation precludes adjustment of the impeller axial position to compensate for wear.

OTHER TYPES OF IMPELLER :

Impeller types can be radial, mixed flow, axial and peripheral and are selected on the basis of the pump design and the application. The number of vanes will affect the efficiency; in general more vanes are more efficient. Also the number of vanes affect the steepness of the characteristic curve, see centrifugal pump tips for a graph on this effect. An impeller with a high number of vanes reduces the amplitude of the pressure pulses that are caused as the impeller tip passes by the cutwater. In certain applications these pressure pulses are undesirable such as a paper machine headbox pump which typically will be a double suction type with 8 or more vanes. The headbox is a large specialized nozzle that feeds a continuous stream of low consistency pulp on a traveling wire mesh which after drying produces a wide paper web. If the pressure pulses are too high compared to the average there will be a variation in the paper density which may affect printing quality and other operational factors.