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External Head (Energy) Required For Pump (Or Fans/ Blowers)
External Head (Energy) Required For Pump (Or Fans/ Blowers)
This external head is also called the TOTAL DYNAMIC HEAD (TDH) and is the necessary head or
necessary energy required to do work on the fluid (usually liquid) to raise it from one location (usually at
a lower elevation to a much higher elevation) into another by considering the three (3) forms of head/
energy prevailing in a flowing fluid.
This “TDH” has units of meter (m) or feet (ft) of the flowing fluid which is usually water and is
the main basis for the determination of the power rating of the prime mover (electric motor/ fuel
engine) of the pump (fans/ blowers).
Pressure head (suction & discharge pressures), velocity head (inlet and outlet speed), Elevation
head (suction & discharge heads/ elevation), and frictional head losses (due to friction, bends,
turbulence, etc..)
Z2
Z1
TDH = ( P2 - P1 ) + ( 2 2 - 1 2) + ( Z2 - Z1 ) + HL12
γfluid 2 go
= Δ Hp + Δ Hk + Δ Hz + HL12
where:
Δ Hp -- change in pressure head, m or f
P1 -- atmospheric pressure value if suction/ source is open to the atmosphere,
kPa or psi
-- negative (-) if pressure mentioned is suction/ vacuum pressure, kPa or psi
P2 -- atmospheric pressure value if the discharge reservoir is open to the
atmosphere, kPa or psi
** At sea level, atmospheric pressure ranges from 14.7 psia or 101.325 kPaa or
0 psig or 0 kPagage
Useful notes:
1. There are cases wherein not all types of heads would reflect upon a given problem statement…
2. In the actual computation of the TDH to determine the pump motor rating, the “velocity head”
could be neglected because they are usually too small.
VARIATIONS OF THE “Z1” IF THEY ARE EITHER A SUCTION LIFT/ SUCTION HEAD:
BP = γfluid ( V ) TDH
Pipe fluid
friction
2. A pump is to deliver 150 gpm of water at a head of 120m. If this pump has an efficiency of 70%,
what is the horsepower rating of the motor required to drive the pump?
A. 40.44 hp C. 38.44 hp
B. 25.66 hp D. 21.33 hp
3. What power is used to drive a boiler feedwater pump delivering a mass of 35 kg m/ sec at a head
of 500m?
A. 356.56 kW C. 456.64 kW
B. 354.54 kW D. 171.67 kW
4. A certain pump is used to deliver 150 gpm of water having a relative density of 0.9803. The
suction and discharge gage reads 4 in. Hg vacuum and 25 psi respectively. The discharge is 2 ft
from the pump centerline. What is the motor output, if the pump efficiency is 75%?
A. 3.24 hp C. 5.45 hp
B. 2.67 hp D. 6.89 hp
5. The discharge pipe of a pump is 400mm in diameter where water is discharged at the rate of 0.5
m3/ s. Discharge pressure is maintained at 100 kPa where the end of this discharge pipe is
located 32m above the pump centerline. What power is needed to drive the pump?
A. 211 kW C. 340 kW
B. 480 kW D. 240 kW
6. A pump driven by an electric motor moves 25 gpm of water from a reservoir requiring a total
head of 245 ft. The efficiency of the pump and motor are 64% and 84% respectively, what size of
motor is required?
A. 5 hp C. 4 hp
B. 3 hp D. 7.5 hp
7. Water from an open reservoir located 5m above the pump centerline is pumped into a tank 85m
above the pump centerline. Discharge is made through a 900mm diameter cast iron pipe at a
pressure of 1 kgf/ cm2. This pump has a positive suction head of 5m and pump rate of 1.5 m 3/
sec. If frictional losses amount to 3m, what is the power output of the pump?
A. 1,372 kW C. 1, 234 kW
B. 1,523 kW D. 1, 723 kW