Improving reliability and energy efficiency of three parallel pumps by selecting trade-off operating points

Abstract

Reliability, along with energy efficiency, is an important characteristic of pump units in various applications. In practical pump applications, it is important to strike a balance between reliability and energy efficiency. These indicators strongly depend on the applied control method of the pump unit. This study analyzes a trade-off method for regulating a system with three parallel pumps equipped with only one frequency converter (multi-pump single-drive system). A typical operating cycle of a pumping system with variable flow rate requirements is considered. The proposed trade-off method is compared with the traditional regulation, when a change in the operating point of the pump is achieved only by changing the rotation speed, and with the method for maximum reliability. It is shown that the proposed trade-off method makes it possible to ensure sufficient reliability of the multi-pump system operation without a significant increase in energy consumption. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.