Mašiny i Ustanovki: Proektirovanie, Razrabotka i Èkspluataciâ (Jun 2016)
System of Thermal Balance Maintenance in Modern Test Benches for Centrifugal Pumps
Abstract
The article “Systems of the heat balance maintenance in modern test benches for centrifugal pumps” makes the case to include cooling systems of a working fluid (heat setting) in test bench for impeller pumps. It briefly summarizes an experience of bench building to test centrifugal pumps, developed at the BMSTU Department E-10 over the last 10 years. The article gives the formulas and the algorithm to calculate the heat capacity of different types of impeller pumps when tested at the bench as ell as to determine the heating time of the liquid in the bench without external cooling. Based on analysis of the power balance of a centrifugal pump, it is shown that about 90% of the pump unit-consumed electric power in terminals is used for heating up the working fluid in the loop of the test bench. The article gives examples of elementary heat calculation of the pump operation within the test bench. It presents the main types of systems to maintain thermal balance, their advantages, disadvantages and possible applications. The cooling system schemes for open and closed version of the benches both with built-in and with an independent cooling circuit are analysed. The paper separately considers options of such systems for large benches using the cooling tower as a cooling device in the loop, and to test the pumps using the hydraulic fluids other than water, including those at high temperatures of working fluids; in the latter case a diagram of dual-circuit cooling system "liquid-liquid-air" is shown. The paper depicts a necessity to use ethylene glycol coolant in the two-loop cooling bench. It provides an example of combining the functions of cooling and filtration in a single cooling circuit. Criteria for effectiveness of these systems are stated. Possible ways for developing systems to maintain a thermal balance, modern methods of regulation and control are described. In particular, the paper shows the efficiency of frequency control of the circulation pump in the autonomous cooling circuit of the bench, as well as the feasibility of automated control of this circuit.
