A pump is a mechanical device that is used to move fluids.

It transfers mechanical energy from a prime mover into fluid energy to produce the flow of liquids. There are three major types of pumps each with names that describe its method of moving a fluid: direct lift, displacement and gravity pumps. A centrifugal pump is an example of dynamic pump. It is also the most commonly used pump to move liquids through a piping system. There are two major components of centrifugal pumps: Impeller consists of curved blades attached in regular pattern to the side of a circular hub plate that connects with the rotating driveshaft. The blades shears through the liquid and the rotational speed maintains a fluid pressure corresponding to the established centrifugal force The casing is a stationary shell that covers the impeller and supports the rotating drive shaft

The working principle of a centrifugal pump is interesting. When the prime mover rotates the driveshaft, impeller fluid is drawn axially through the center opening of the casing. The fluid then makes a 90o turn and flows outward in radial motion. When centrifugal action and actual blade force is added to the fluid by the rotating blades, the pressure and velocity of the fluid increases until the fluid reaches the outer tip of the impeller. The fluid then enters the volute-shaped casing. The increased flow area of the casing causes the velocity of the fluid to decrease. This subsequently leads to a decrease in kinetic energy and an increase in pressure. The casing also provides a continuous increase in flow area in the direction of flow to produce a constant velocity as fluid moves around the outer portion of the casing and discharge opening. As the result of this, the flow rate output reduces as external resistance increase. It is even possible to completely stop the flow rate output by closing the system valve. Closing the system valve will not damage the pump unless it is done over an extended period of time with resulting excessive fluid temperature build up. In the first part of the experiment, the system was operated under variable flow rate. The flow rate was increased by approximately 5 LPM in every attempt. The speed of the pump almost entirely maintained the same (around 2000RPM) throughout the whole operation with only very minor differences. However, as the flow rate reaches 100 LPM, the speed has already been reduced to 1987 RPM. The power of the pump also showed no particular pattern whatsoever as far as flow rate and the speed of pump is concerned. It recorded the average pump power of 263.1 Watt with the range of 26.4 Watt. The pressure recorded in PT1 and PT3 both can be seen to decrease as flow rate increases. This is expected from the centrifugal pump. The highest and lowest pressure recorded in PT3 is 1.8 bar and 1.3 bar respectively. The pump head also experiences a decrease in value as the flow rate increases since pump head is related to PT1 and PT3. An interesting observation can be made about the decrease in power fluids as the flow rate increases. This is also expected and therefore shouldnt come as a surprise. The overall efficiency of the system varies accordingly as the average efficiency turns out to be 29.17%. The highest calculated efficiency is 32.60% and the lowest 25.19%. The two graphs from the first part of the experiment shows the relationship of pump head/efficiency with respect to the flow rate. In the first graph (pump head vs flow rate), the overall statement that can be concluded is that as flow rate increases, the pump head decreases. However,

this does not entirely reveal the true picture. As can be seen in the graph, the line gives a decliningstaircase pattern that with every increase in flowrate, the pump head decreases by a small amount, stays remotely constant, before decreasing again. The pattern happens throughout the experiment with variable flow rate. In a larger scale, the graph would be a curve. Notice that as the external system resistance decreases (opened system valve), the flowrate increases at the expense of reduced pump head. The second graph (efficiency vs flow rate) does not show a similar pattern. Instead, it creates a slanted-zigzag line that decreases as flow rate increases. The efficiency calculated falls somewhere between 32.61% and 25.19%. In the second part of the experiment, the system was operated under variable pump speeds. The pump speed was decreased by approximately 100RPM in every attempt. Unlike the first part of the experiment, this time the flow rate actually decreases as well when the pump speed is lowered. It decreased as much as 51.2LPM after the final values were accumulated. The power of the pump also decreases dramatically when between 9 attempts, the highest and lowest power of the pump turned out to be 361.8 Watt and 74.4 Watt respectively. The values of PT1 are seen to increase but the same cannot be said about PT3. Instead, the values of PT3 decrease along with the speed of the pump. Like the first part of the experiment, the pump head also decreases although this time due to variable pump speeds. The highest and lowest pump head values recorded were 5.107m and 1.021m. The two graphs from the second part of the experiment shows the relationship of flow rate/pump head with respect to the pump speed. In the first graph (flow rate vs pump speed), the graph is seen increasing as pump speed increases. This shows that both flow rate and pump speed are linearly proportional to each other. The second graph (pump head vs pump speed), also shows a rise in pump head values as pump speed increases. However, like the pump head vs flow rate graph, the line gives a staircase shape although this time it is increasing instead of decreasing. As the pump speed increases, the pump head increases to a small amount before remaining constant and then increases again. The pump head vs flow rate and pump head vs pump speed graphs both gives an interesting glimpse of the relationship between them. The experiment was conducted without encountering any serious problems and the values recorded at the end of the session was checked and approved by the lab instructor. It was deemed that the values recorded were in range of possible right values. However, should there be any possible source of error within the conducting of the experiment, it could be during the changing of flowrate and pump speed. During the activity, it was noted that some meters did not have a constant value. It varies easily with respect to time therefore it was necessary to note down the highest and lowest value before taking the average as the experimental value. This being the second last experiment, the reading of values on the meters can no longer be a source of error because a lot of experience were gained from previous experiments which makes the values that appear on the meters to be accurately observed by now. A safety precaution that was taken is being fully focused in achieving the objective of the experiment without being in harm because the experiment set up consisted of water and electronic devices that could be dangerous if not taken seriously.