Means for Improving Pump Efficiency

The design of pumps has been mainly based on results obtained from experiments. Because there has been no detailed information concerning very complicated flow fields inside pumps, only by accident have some new ideas been found. At present, numerical modeling of the flow offers an opportunity to understand basic phenomena which make it possible to find new connections between hydraulic and geometric parameters. With the help of numerical modeling in a long-term project, new design instructions have been successfully developed. It seems that some existing ideas on how different factors affect pump performance should be re-evaluated. An important finding is that the effect of specific speed on efficiency is quite small. Also the efficiencies of existing pumps can be clearly improved with proper design.