A pump with infinite power

Fluid Mechanics Review

Please Read this Question:
Lets say you want to pump water up through a pipe vertically as shown in the diagram to the left. The body of water that is being pumped from is at sea level and exposed to atmospheric pressure. How high could you pump the water if the pump has infinite power? (The pump is not the limiting factor)

Gravity h

If you tried this same experiment in Lake Tahoe would you get a taller, shorter or same height column of water?

Atmospheric pressure at sea level is around 14.7 PSI Pool of Water

Fluid Mechanics Review

A pump with infinite power
0 PSIA A pump works by creating a smaller pressure, relative to atmospheric pressure, at the inlet of the pump. So theoretically the smallest pressure the pump can create would be 0 PSIA (lb/in^2 absolute) or in otherworld's a vacuum. Our pump with infinite power can do just that. Lets pretend the pump is working full throttle; creating a vacuum at its inlet. So now we have a tube standing vertically with 14.7 PSIA at the bottom and 0 PSIA at the top. The atmospheric pressure literally pushes the fluid up the pipe. But how far will it go?

Gravity

Atmospheric pressure at sea level is around 14.7 PSI Pool of Water

Fluid Mechanics Review

A pump with infinite power
As the water travels up the pipe more and more of it gets above the pool water level, increasing its potential energy. Here is a relationship that describes the pressure of a water column at a given height. g h = pressure 0 PSIA Gravity The water will equalize when the pressure it produces at the bottom due to its height equals the atmospheric pressure. So reworking the equation to solve for this height: h = atmospheric pressure / h = 33.9 ft Atmospheric pressure at sea level is around 14.7 PSI Pool of Water g

Fluid Mechanics Review

Now the second portion of this question. Would the water column be larger if this experiment was done in Lake Tahoe (Elevation: 6225 feet above sea level)

We know that at higher elevations the atmospheric pressure is less. The water column will be less high because the atmospheric pressure is less. San Jose (sea level) What does this mean? 33.9 ft When you design for fluid pumps at height elevations you must take the elevation into account. The lower Lake atmospheric pressure will play a negative role on Tahoe NPSH. (We will talk about this soon) 27.0 ft Pool of Water IMPELER PUMPS WILL NOT AND DO NOT WORK IN SPACE!

ASI NPSH Calculator Application for Designing HVAC Hydronic Open Systems

Air Systems Inc. Dimitrii Pokrovskii August 10th, 2007

Presentation Overview
Basic fluid mechanics overview Possible Applications of the ASI Fluid Flow Calculator Define NPSH and why it is important in hydronic system design Perform a example calculation using the ASI Fluid Flow Calculator

2 NPSH Terms to Know

NPSHA Net Positive Suction Head Available
Determined by the fluid system configuration

NPSHR Net Positive Suction Head Required

This depends on the type of pump and flow rate The NPSHR value is taken from the pump performance curve

The definition of NPSHA (Net Positive Suction Head Available): NPSHA = (1) Static head + (2) surface pressure head (not zero for open systems) (3) the vapor pressure of your product (4) the friction losses in the piping valves and fittings (down stream of the pump)

(4) the friction losses in the piping valves and fittings (2) Surface pressure (1) Static head
liquid level

(3) Liquid vapor pressure (depends on temperature and pressure)

NPSHR Net Positive Suction Head Required

This is the minimum pressure allowed at the inlet of the pump to prevent cavitation.

Cavitation
When the pressure drops lower then the vapor pressure of the liquid causing it to boil. (Change phase from Liquid to Gas) Its exactly like boiling water on the stove except you achieve boiling by bring the pressure down instead of raising the temperature.

Cooling Water Tower 1

Cooling Water Tower 2

90 Ell

20 Pump

10 800 gpm 25 Tee 10 800 gpm 1600 gpm

10

800 gpm 20 3200 gpm

20

90 Ell

The pump is 5 ft above the water level in the cooling towers

10 800 gpm

Cooling Water Tower 3

Cooling Water Tower 4

Cooling Water Tower 1

Cooling Water Tower 2 3

90 Ell

20 Pump

10 800 gpm 25 Tee 1 10 800 gpm 2

10

800 gpm 20 3200 gpm

20

1600 gpm 10

90 Ell
The pump is 5 ft above the water level in the cooling towers

800 gpm

Cooling Water Tower 3

Cooling Water Tower 4