Sensing Concept for Practical Performance-

Monitoring of Centrifugal Pumps

Bryan Bohn1, James Olson1, Bhushan Gopaluni2, Boris Stoeber1,3
Departments of Mechanical Engineering1, Chemical and Biological Engineering2, Electrical and Computer Engineering3
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Abstract—A sensing concept for quantifying the performance

of centrifugal pumps is proposed herein. The system uniquely
combines three measurement approaches: thermodynamic
Pressure Sensor
efficiency monitoring, vibration monitoring, and dynamic fluid
pressure analysis. The instrumentation comprises five Temperature Sensor
conventional sensors; two pressure transducers, two temperature
sensors, and an accelerometer. Pressure and temperature Accelerometer
measurements are collected at the pump intake and discharge, and
vibration data is collected on the axial face of the pump volute.
This study discusses the theoretical basis of the proposed system
and puts forth a method intended to quantify thermal efficiency,
the extent of impeller wear, and the presence of cavitation,
vortexing, or flow recirculation. In practice, the proposed sensor
system could be employed as a static installation or a portable tool.
The sensing approach is suitable for a variety of pump p1 T1 a T2 p2
configurations, fluid compositions, and operating conditions.
Feature Generation
Keywords—centrifugal pump, performance monitoring, wear
detection, vibration monitoring Thermal Vibration Dynamic Pressure
I. INTRODUCTION Efficiency Spectral Content Spectral Content
Centrifugal pumps are universal in industrial processes. As
primary workhorses in bulk fluid-moving operations, they are Performance Feature Extraction
also a major contributor to electrical power consumption.
Studies have shown that centrifugal pumps account for between
25% and 60% of the total electrical motor energy consumed in Thermal Cavitation Flow
processing plants of various industries [1]. It has also been Efficiency Recirculation
demonstrated that 40% to 60% of pumps currently operating Impeller
across industries are performing inefficiently in their respective Wear Vortexing
Outputs
application [2]. The pervasiveness, economic impact, and
environmental effects of inefficient operation of centrifugal Fig. 1. Block diagram of the propsed performance-monitoring system
pumps have created a significant need for reliable, accurate
performance monitoring. II. BACKGROUND
‘Performance-monitoring’ can convey a variety of meanings
Commercial systems for monitoring the performance of with respect to centrifugal pumps. For the purposes of this
centrifugal pumps are not uncommon [3, 4, 5]. However, in research, ‘performance’ is comprised of three elements; a)
practice, these systems are not extensively used. The primary thermal efficiency, b) the extent of impeller wear, and c) the
barriers include procurement costs, associated technical labor, presence of cavitation, vortexing, or recirculating flow. Though
and difficulty in scaling the systems to suit extensive or diverse these phenomena can be discussed individually, in practice, they
pumping applications. Practical challenges in managing are intrinsically related (e.g. impeller wear can generate
proprietary software, analysis tools, and sensors compound the cavitation, which, in turn, affects thermal efficiency). Individual
issue further. These concerns underpin the pressing need for methods for characterizing these performance features have
more affordable, practical, and flexible systems for been extensively studied, both analytically and experimentally.
performance-monitoring of centrifugal pumps. It is the objective of this research to develop a unique method
This research is supported by the Energy Reduction in Mechanical Pulping that captures these performance elements with a single
(ERMP) program at The University of British Columbia. Supporting partners comprehensive, yet practical sensor system.
of the ERMP program are: Alberta Newsprint Company, AB Enzymes, Andritz,
BC Hydro, Canfor Pulp, Catalyst Paper, FPInnovations, Holmen, Meadow A diagram of the proposed system is shown in Fig. 1. The
Lake Pulp, Millar Western, NORPAC, NSERC, Westcan Engineering, and system combines three instrumentation concepts:
Winstone Pulp International. This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to
funding from the Canada Research Chairs program.

XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE

978-1-7281-1634-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

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i) thermodynamic efficiency monitoring, ii) vibration
monitoring, and iii) dynamic fluid pressure monitoring.
i) Conventional thermal efficiency measurement utilizes
pressure, flow rate, and power measurements to determine
pumping efficiency as the ratio of output fluid power to input
power. This sensing approach is applied frequently in literature
[6, 7, 8]. In industry however, obtaining reliable flow rate
measurements can be problematic, particularly in applications
with diverse pumps moving different media under varying
conditions. A. Whillier describes a thermodynamic method for
efficiency determination that utilizes only pressure and
temperature measurements, eliminating the need for a flow
sensor [9]. The approach is experimentally demonstrated by
both A. Cattaert [10] and F. Papa et al. [11] in their respective
studies. Whillier’s technique does not, however, provide an
explicit measure of impeller wear, flow conditions, or any other
forms of mechanical pump degradation. As such, it is not
independently sufficient for making broad determinations of
pumping performance.
ii) Vibration monitoring with accelerometers has proven as
a useful method for observing fluid and mechanical phenomena
in centrifugal pumps, as demonstrated in research by Abdulaziz
et al. [12] and Birajdar et al. [13]. The applications discussed do
not, however, independently provide a suitably complete
measure of pump performance to meet the objectives of this
research.
iii) Dynamic pressure monitoring utilizes pressure
transducers to observe fluctuations within the working fluid and
allows the user to analyze the dynamic content of the resulting
signal. Though not widely used in performance-monitoring of
centrifugal pumps, it enables refined characterization of fluid
conditions, as shown by Yao et al. [14]. However, like the
previous methods, dynamic pressure monitoring is not
independently capable of establishing pumping performance.
It is proposed that by combining and correlating the
thermodynamic method for efficiency determination, vibration
monitoring, and dynamic pressure measurement, a practical and
comprehensive measure of centrifugal pumping performance
can be achieved. This novel sensing arrangement has potential
to yield unique avenues for evaluating fluid and mechanical
parameters that impact the performance of centrifugal pumps.
III. OPERATING PRINCIPLE
A. Thermal Efficiency Measurement
The thermal efficiency of a centrifugal pump is
conventionally determined as the ratio of output fluid work
to pump input power ,
= = = ,
where is the fluid density, is the acceleration of gravity, and
H is the head added by the pump, which corresponds to the
pressure change across the pump Δ . is the volumetric flow
rate. Instrumenting a centrifugal pump to employ this efficiency
measurement approach requires four sensors; pressure sensors
at the pump intake and discharge to determine Δ , a flow rate
sensor to measure , and a wattmeter to determine the input
power . For an individual centrifugal pump, applying this
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efficiency determination method is straightforward. However,
in a typical industrial plant, where there may be hundreds of
pumps operating in ever-changing configurations, the challenge
of affordably determining flow rate presents significant barrier.
Thermal efficiency can also be determined by the deviation
between the input power for the actual pump and that required
for an idealized, isentropic centrifugal pump [9].
= / (2)
In an isentropic compression cycle of a fluid with average
specific volume ̅ from pressure to and mass flow rate ,
where the pressure rise − = ∆ , the input power is
= = ̅∆ = ∆ , (3)
where is the average fluid density. Even in an ideal pump,
there is a small temperature increase ∆ when the liquid is
compressed. If it can be suitably assumed that heat loss from
the pump to the atmosphere is negligible, total temperature rise
between the pump intake and discharge ∆ is the sum of the
expected temperature increase from ideal compression ∆ and
the additional thermal energy resulting from pumping
inefficiency ∆ ′. That is,
∆ =∆ +∆ ′. (4)
Using the specific heat at the constant discharge pressure ,
wasted power can be equated to the increase in enthalpy beyond
the ideal compression such that
− = ∆ ′. (5)
Combining (2) through (5), the efficiency can be determined by
= . (6)
( )/( )
Equation (6) serves as the basic model for the proposed
monitoring system’s efficiency determination [9]. There are
again four measurands, however flow and electrical power
measurements are no longer necessary. Instead, this method
utilizes temperature sensors at the pump intake and discharge.
Practically speaking, the method measures waste heat, rather
than total power. It can be considered as a direct measurement
of inefficiency. A. Whillier discusses considerations for
amending the model to for non-negligible heat transfer into the
environment [9].
B. Vibration Measurement
Vibration monitoring is the application of accelerometers for
the purpose of evaluating the characteristic vibrations that
propagate through the pump’s mechanical structure. These
(1) vibrations result from both mechanical and fluid phenomena.
This study focuses on fluid-borne phenomena that impact
efficient pump operation, so a vibration transducer is affixed on
the pump volute, at the fluid discharge, closest to the fluid
phenomena of interest.
Using a vibration signal to characterize the presence of
certain phenomena can range from trivial to complex, depending
on how the behavior manifests. For example, examination of
the lower frequency content of a centrifugal pump in typical
 RF
BPF
0.5 × RF 1.5 × RF 3 × RF
Fig. 2. Example of the frequency spectrum of an accelerometer measurement
taken at the volute of a centrifugal pump operating under minimal fluid load.
The sample is collected at 5 kHz. The rotating frequency (RF) is 26 Hz and the
blade-passing frequency (BPF) is 52 Hz – a factor of two. The spectrum also
identifies lower energy peaks at 0.5, 1.5, and 3 times the RF. These are likely
the result of a mechanical irregularity within the pump.
Fig. 3. Time domain signals for pressure measurements at the pump discharge
(green) and intake (blue). The samples are collected at 5 kHz.
operation readily yields the rotating frequency (RF) and blade-
passing frequency (BPF) in the form of two prominent peaks in
the spectrum. An example for a 40-horsepower, two-bladed,
open-impeller centrifugal pump operating at 1560 rpm is shown
in Fig. 2. The normalized sample is assessed in the frequency
domain using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm.
More complex features, like the presence of cavitation or
vortexing, can be extracted using a variety of analysis methods,
including machine learning algorithms like Support Vector
Machines (SVM) [15] and decision trees [16].
C. Dynamic Pressure Measurement
The proposed system utilizes pressure sensors for dual
purposes. The static averages of the pressure measurements
supply the values necessary to implement the thermodynamic
method for efficiency determination discussed previously. The
dynamic content of those same pressure signals is utilized as a
fluid-borne vibration measurement, much like a hydrophone.
This approach yields two significant benefits for performance
monitoring: a) the ability to more clearly discriminate fluid
phenomena from mechanically induced vibration phenomena
and b) the means to compare fluid pressure fluctuations between
the intake and discharge without additional instrumentation. An
example of intake and discharge pressure sensor waveforms is
shown in Fig. 3. To accurately capture the dynamic character of
the fluid pressures, the transducers must have a response time
faster than one half of the shortest period of dynamic pressure
interest.
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RF BPF
4 × RF
Fig. 4. Comparison of frequency spectra for the accelerometer (red) and intake
dynamic pressure (blue) measurements.
The difference between the average pressures at the intake
and discharge provide the Δ term for the efficiency calculation
in (6). It is observed that the intake pressure signal in Fig. 3
displays a dynamic character. Fig. 4 shows the intake pressure
data after conversion to the frequency domain using FFT. The
frequency content is overlaid with the normalized accelerometer
frequency spectrum from Fig. 2 for comparison.
The comparison demonstrates significant correlation
between the dynamic pressure content and the vibration
measurement, but with different magnitudes. This suggests that
dynamic pressure analysis could be used to supplement
vibration analysis for certain phenomena. The dynamic pressure
measurement also identifies a new energy peak at four times the
RF, which would not have been revealed by vibration
monitoring alone. The higher energy BPF peak in the pressure
signal suggests that dynamic pressure analysis is well-suited for
identifying fluid-borne phenomena.
IV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
A sensing concept for practical performance monitoring of
centrifugal pumps is presented herein. The system comprises
pressure and temperature sensors at the pump intake and
discharge, and an accelerometer on the volute casing. Using this
sensor configuration, a novel, three-component approach to
performance-monitoring can be applied. The approach employs
a) a thermodynamic method for pump efficiency determination,
which eliminates the practical challenges of utilizing flow
sensors b) an analysis of the vibratory emissions from the
pump’s structure, and c) an evaluation of the dynamic pressure
behavior of the working fluid, which allows for improved
differentiation between fluid- and structure-borne vibration.
This approach is expected to enable a wide range of performance
features to be analyzed with straightforward instrumentation.
The required scope of feature generation and extraction
algorithms for identifying more complex elements of pump
performance will be evaluated and implemented. In addition,
the system parameters required for practical implementation of
the thermodynamic method for efficiency determination need to
be more thoroughly characterized.
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