Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-4, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
Evaluating the Performance of Electric Submersible
Pump under Various Speeds of Operation
Dhanasekaran1 A & Kumaraswamy S2*
1 Research Scholar, Turbomachines Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai – 600 036, Tamilnadu, India,
2 Former Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Madras, Chennai – 600 036, Tamilnadu, India,
Abstract: Electric submersible pumps (ESPs) are
widely used in agricultural, petroleum and various
other industries. These pumps are mostly driven at a
constant speed since an ac motor is normally used as
the drive. However, ESPs can also be operated at
various speeds by the use of a variable frequency
drive (VFD). The scope of this study is to
experimentally investigate the performance
characteristics of a multistage electric submersible
pump with its power supply through a VFD. First a
load test was conducted on the motor alone as per
relevant Indian Standard at various supply
frequencies. The data of load test on motor was used
to evolve a novel method to calculate slip of the
motor from the input power. This was applied to the
test results of pump obtained at various frequency
settings to determine its performance at different
speeds.
1. Introduction
Three phase induction motors are the most widely
used drives in several mechanical systems. When
combined with variable-frequency drives (VFDs)
they offer energy saving opportunity in pumps, fans
and compressors. The power output of these motors
can be precisely estimated by using a tachometer
together with slip vs power output curves supplied by
manufacturer of the motor. When these motors
coupled with centrifugal pumps and installed at the
surface, the output power of the drive as well as the
efficiency of the pump can be measured easily by a
torque meter or a dynamometer. However in case of
Electrical submersible pump (ESP) systems where
the motor and pump are assembled as a single unit
and installed at depths ranging from few meters to
several hundred meters unlike pumps used on the
surface, the motor output power cannot be measured
directly. But in order to improve the performance of
ESP systems the actual speed of operation is
necessary. Therefore to calculate the slip of the
motor where its actual speed cannot be measured
directly a non-intrusive method was adopted in
which the slip can be obtained from motor
characteristics.
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Several investigations have been conducted on the
centrifugal pumping systems to determine their
performance and to understand the response of such
systems under variable speed operation to enhance
their behaviour. Fiaschi et al.[1] have analyzed deep
well solar pumping systems to find a method for
improving the performance of these pumps under
variable rotational speed and modular number of
working stages and found significant improvement
in the performance if modular number of working
stage with optimized shaft division was adopted.
Zhou et al. [2] have performed numerical simulations
and conducted experiments of a deep-well
centrifugal pump with different diffusers. The results
have indicated that the performance of the pump with
three-dimensional surface return diffuser was better
than that of the traditional cylindrical return diffuser
under all operating conditions. Shojaeefard et al. [3]
have proposed a new method to estimate
performance parameters for centrifugal pumps which
were used to pump industrial oils. The results have
shown sudden rise in the head which was also
observed experimentally and numerically in several
literatures. Davel et al. [4] have investigated the
energy conservation in centrifugal pump with
variable frequency drive. It was found that flow
control by VFD has offered a very good response to
pumping system since it consumed less power and
thus saved energy. Luo et al. [5] have analyzed
current signature of an induction motor which was
used to run a centrifugal pump. The current signature
obtained from the motor when the pump was in
loading condition was analyzed. The results have
indicated that motor current signature analysis was a
feasible and cost-effective method for the condition
monitoring of centrifugal pumps. It was observed
from the review of literature that a detailed
experimental study of multistage ESP under variable
speed operation has not been reported.
In this present study the performance
characteristics of an ESP pumping system with
variable frequency operation was investigated. A five
stage electric submersible pump having a discharge
of 420 lpm and total head of 60 m (rated at 50 Hz)
having impellers of diameter 121 mm and a width of
14 mm at outlet was selected for this intended
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-4, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

purpose. This Pump was assembled with a motor of Table 1. Instrumentation used for load test
15 kW rating to enable its operation at higher speed Sl. Accurac
settings. Instrument Range
No. y
A 25 HP variable frequency drive having a
frequency range up to 600 Hz was selected to Digital slip
1 0-9999 rpm ±5% rpm
conduct the tests at different speed settings (N). Load speed meter
tests were conducted at four different speed settings
from 40 to 55 Hz. The data of load test on motor was Wattmeter
2 0-750 W ± 3.75 W
used to develop a method to determine slip of the (2 Nos.)
motor from the input power. This was applied to the
3 Ammeter 0-10 A AC ± 0.05 A
test results of ESP to evaluate its performance under
variable speed operation. 4 Voltmeter 0-600VAC ±3V
2. Experimental Setup
2.2 Determination of Actual Speed of
2.1 Load Test Operation
The schematic diagram of load test set up is shown in From the load test conducted on motor at four speeds
Figure 1 Tests were conducted at four different the output power (Pout) of the motor was calculated
frequency settings of 40, 45, 50 and 55 Hz as per IS and the curves of input power of the motor (P in) vs
4029(1967) [6]. The input power was measured with output power (Po) and Po vs slip of the motor were
two wattmeters. Current was measured with an drawn. Figures 2 and 3 show these curves
ammeter. The signal to the wattmeters and ammeter respectively at all speed settings. A linear variation
were routed through current transformers of between the input power and output power of the
appropriate range. Voltage was measured with a motor shown in Figure 2 indicated that the motor
voltmeter and the speed was measured with a digital efficiency was constant in the range of input power
slip speed meter. Table 1 shows the instruments at that speed.
used for conducting the load test with their accuracy.
A submersible pump was used as the load. Thus the
range of loads that can be applied at any speed was a
function of the power required by that pump. Speed
was set by using VFD. At each speed setting the
input power, current, voltage and speed were
recorded for different valve positions of the pump
from shut-off to full open. Shaft power (output
power of motor) was obtained using motor loss
analysis method.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of load test on motor

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 1333

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-4, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
Figure 2. Input power vs output power of the load
test conducted at various speed settings
During performance testing of the pump the range of
input power may be lower than range in the load test.
So, extrapolation of these results will be necessary.
This was done considering the fact that the motor
efficiency will not be constant. This can be achieved
by a curve fitting using a quadratic equation. The
equation connecting Pin and Pout is determined as,
Pin  AP2out  BPout  C
Where,
Pin - input power of motor
Pout - output power of the motor
A, B and C - coefficients of the equation (1)
Figure 3 shows the variation of output power and slip
of the motor for the load test conducted at all speeds.
Figure 3. Output power vs slip of the load test
conducted at various speed settings
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
From the curve fitting mathematical model which
relate Pout and slip of the motor was obtained at
various speeds. The equation is as follows,
% of slip  DP2out  EPout (2)
Where,
N s  N act
% of slip - 100
Ns
Ns - synchronous speed
Nact - actual speed
D and E - coefficients of the equation (2)
The input power of motor and slip of the motor were
recalculated using equations 1 and 2. Then, the curve
of Pin vs slip of the motor for a speed setting was
drawn. Curves of Pin vs slip of the motor for the load
test conducted at all speed settings is shown in
Figure 4.
Figure 4. Input power vs slip of the load test
conducted at various speed settings
A curve fitting of Pin vs slip was carried out and the
equation which relates slip and Pin was obtained. The
equation is as follows,
% of slip  FP2in  GPin (3)
Where,
F and G - coefficients of the equation (3)
(1)
This equation was used to calculate the slip of the
motor from the input power taken from the
measurement at that particular speed setting.
2.3 Performance Test
The pump used for conducting the experiment is
shown in Figure 5. The performance test was
conducted in a recirculating-water test loop as per IS
9137[7]. Clear water at room temperature was used
as the working fluid. Submergence was maintained at
1.51 m. Tests were conducted at four speed settings
of 40, 45, 50 and 55 Hz. Delivery pressure was
measured with a digital pressure transmitter and an
analog pressure gauge. Turbine flow meter was used
to measure the discharge (Q). The photograph of
experimental set up is shown in Figure 6. Three
phase power analyser was used to measure input
power (Pin). Gate valve was employed to control the
flow rate. The range and the accuracy of the
instruments which were used for the performance
test are given in the Table 2.
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-4, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

3. Results and Discussions

The total head (H), Output power (Pout) and the
Overall efficiency (ηo) were calculated using the
equations,
P V2
H  z (4)
 g 2g
Where,
P - delivery pressure in N/m2
ρ - density of water (=1000 kg/m3)
g - acceleration due to gravity (=9.81 m/s2)
Q
V - velocity in m/s ( V= )
A
Q - discharge in m3/s
  d p2
A - area of pipe (= ) in m2
4
dp - diameter of pipe in m
z - height of pressure gauge from water level
in m
 gQH
Pout  (5)
1000
Pout
o  100 (6)
Pin
The performance curves were drawn for all the speed
settings and shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9.

Figure 5. Five stage ESP for experiments

Figure 6. Photograph of the experimental set up

At each speed setting, the discharge from the pump

was varied from shut-off to full open position of the
valve and the readings of discharge, delivery
pressure and input power were recorded. Analog
pressure with correction was used to calculate the
head (H). The uncertainties established for the
measured and calculated hydraulic parameters at the
BEP when the ESP was operated at rated speed
setting of 50 Hz are Q: ± 2.44%, P in: ± 2.02%, H: ±
3.55% and overall efficiency (ηo): ± 4.76%.

Figure 7. Head vs discharge curves

Sl.No. Instrument Range Accuracy
Pressure Gauge 0-25
1 ± 0.05 kp/cm2
(Analog) kp/cm2
Pressure Gauge
2 0-20 bar ± 0.0025 bar
(Digital)
Turbine Flow
3 0-16.67 lps ± 0.016 lps
meter
Three phase
4 0- 20 kW ±1W
Power Analyzer

Table 2. Instruments used for performance test

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-4, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

3.1 Performance Characteristics of ESP

Considering Slip

From the calculated slip value of the motor from

the equation 3 and synchronous speed at that speed
setting, the actual speed of operation of ESP at
various valve positions at various speed settings were
calculated. The hydraulic parameters and input
power were then determined at the constant
synchronous speed using the model law. The
performance curves were redrawn for all the
synchronous speeds. Figures 10, 11 and 12 show
performance curves of ESP at all speeds considering
slip of the motor.

Figure 8. Input power vs discharge curves

Figure 10. Head vs discharge curves

considering slip

Figure 9. Overall efficiency vs discharge curves

The speed used for the tests were set at VFD i.e., at
the input side of motor. But the pump will be driven
at lower speed compared to the synchronous speed
due to slip which is a function of the load on the
motor. This performance characteristics of ESP
shown in Figures 7,8 and 9 were drawn without
considering the speed variation due to the change of
load when the valve position was varied from shut-
off to full open i.e., speed of the pump was not
constant during the operation. However these curves
are useful for application engineers in proper choice
and use of this pump since the performance has been
found at near actual operating conditions. Figure 11. Input power vs discharge curves
considering slip

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-4, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
Figure 12. Overall efficiency vs discharge curves
considering slip
It was observed from the performance curves of
ESP considering the slip of the motor that the
magnitude of parameters are having higher values
when the slip of the motor was taken into account as
could be expected. The head vs discharge curves
obtained from various speeds shown in Figure 10
were compared with the trend of head vs discharge
curves drawn in the cavitation studies of centrifugal
pumps by Kumaraswamy [8], in the study on return
flow and cavitation behaviour of radial flow pumps
at off-design conditions by Subbaramaiah [11] and in
the performance characteristic curves obtained at
various operating speeds for a multistage centrifugal
pump from experiments and numerical simulation of
Rakibuzzaman et al. [10]. The study has shown that
there was a good agreement in the shape of these
curves as the speed was varied. The characteristics
curves obtained after considering slip will be useful
for the design engineers to improve the performance
of the pump and for the numerical prediction.
4. Conclusions
A load test was conducted on the motor at various
speed settings and a novel non-intrusive method was
evolved to obtain slip of the motor from the motor
characteristics to determine the actual speed of
motor. This method can be used for determining the
performance characteristics of centrifugal pump
systems where it is not feasible to measure the speed
directly. Hydraulic performance of a five stage
electric submersible pump was investigated under
variable speed operation. Analysis on the
performance test has indicated that the head vs
discharge characteristic of pump was stable at speeds
from 40 to 55 Hz. The performance curves were
drawn for the case of without and with consideration
of slip of the motor. While the curves drawn without
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
considering slip will be useful for the application
engineer, the ones obtained after considering slip will
be needed for the design and analysis engineer.
5. Acknowledgement
The ESP required for this work was assembled as
a special product and supplied by M/S Flowell
Pumps Hyderabad.
6. References
[1]. Fiaschi, D., Graniglia, R., and Manfrida, G.,
“Improving the effectiveness of solar pumping systems by
using modular centrifugal pumps with variable rotational
speed”, Solar Energy, 79, 2005, pp.234-244.
[2]. Zhou, L., Shi, W., Lu, W., Hu, B., and Wu, S.,
“Numerical investigations and performance experiments of
a deep-well centrifugal pump with different diffusers”,
ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering, 134, 2012.
[3]. Shojaeefard, M. H., Rizi, B.S., Khalkhali, A., and
Tahani, M., “A new method to calculate centrifugal pump
performance parameters for industrial oils”, Journal of
Applied Fluid Mechanics, 8, 2015, pp.673-681.
[4]. Davel, P., Mokariya, K., and Patel, V., “Energy
conservation in centrifugal pump with variable frequency
drive including SCADA, PLC and HMI”, International
Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering
and Technology, 2, 2013.
[5]. Luo, Y., Yuan, S., Yuan, J., and Sun, H., “Induction
motor current signature for centrifugal pump load”, J
Mechanical Engineering Science, IMechE Part C, 230
(11), 2016, pp.1890-1901.
[6]. IS 4029:1967 Guide for testing three-phase induction
motors, Bureau of Indian Standards.
[7]. IS 9137: 1978 Code for acceptance tests for
centrifugal, mixed flow and axial pumps - class C, Bureau
of Indian Standards.
[8]. Kumaraswamy, S., Cavitation Studies of Centrifugal
Pumps, Hydroturbomachines lab, Indian Institute of
Technology Madras, Doctoral thesis, 1986.
[9]. Subba Ramaiah, S.V., Study on Return Channel Flow
and Cavitation Behaviour of Radial Flow Pumps at Off-
design Condition, Hydroturbomachines lab, Indian
Institute of Technology Madras, Doctoral thesis, 2001.
[10]. Rakibuzzaman, Suh, S., Wuk, K., Kim, H., Cho, M.,
and Yoon, I., “A study on multistage centrifugal pump
performance characteristics for variable speed drive
system”, Procedia Engineering, 105, 2015, pp.270 - 275.
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