A Method to Optimize the Operation of Pumping System

Abstract

There are many pumps working in generating plant for pumping water in the cooling system. The pumps consume a big amount of electricity especially in large generating plant which operates continuously for long time. Therefore, the electric power cost will increase with increasing of operation cost of the pumping system. It is very important to minimize the operation cost of the pumping system to optimize the use of generating plant assets. In order to optimize the operation of pumping system the method of adjusting pump rotation speeds are often adopted. The fundamental factor of optimizing pump operation is to obtain the operation performance. Theoretically the affinity law (special modeling Equation) of pumps can be applied to convert the performances of pumps under rated speeds to variable rotation speeds. However the affinity law can only be applied in the region of pump operation around Best Efficiency Point with an acceptable precision. Also the affinity law derived from the Modeling Equation can only be valid to pump or pump bowl rather than pumping system. In this paper a method was conducted to determine the performances of pumping system based on the computational and experimental results. The principle of optimizing the pumping system is discussed. Finally the optimizing operation alternative of the pumping system is presented.