Abstract
Water collection based on groundwater abstraction has a high energy consumption that depends primarily on the operation and performance of submersible well pumps. The fact of the matter is that these machines still work with a global energy efficiency of less than 50%, and further investigations of the energy aspects in well pumps are needed. The present study introduces measures to increase the global efficiency of submersible well pumps linked to electrical energy savings. Common submersible pumps with asynchronous motors (ASMs) were compared with innovative permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) technology in real well fields in Berlin and Hamburg waterworks. This study confirms that PMSM pumps showed a 6.8%-points higher global efficiency compared to ASM pumps at optimal working points. The investigation of the impact of well field operation on local pump efficiency offers an additional increase in the global efficiency. In this context, the influence of variable speed control on the global efficiency and the energy consumption was analyzed. Global efficiencies of over 70%, and potential energy savings of up to 20%, were determined for the speed-controlled PMSM pump. This offers water suppliers new incentives to optimize their water collection systems for less energy consumption.
Highlights
The average specific energy consumption in the German water supply companies amounts to approximately 0.5 kWh/m3 [1]
The objective of the present study is to quantify global energy efficiency increases and real electrical energy savings that are currently achievable with state-of-the-art submersible pumps in a groundwater well, to give advice to water suppliers on increasing their global energy efficiency in water collection systems
Submersible well pumps working in groundwater wells are the main reason for high energy consumption in water collection systems
Summary
The average specific energy consumption in the German water supply companies amounts to approximately 0.5 kWh/m3 [1]. This results in a total share of primary energy consumption of about. 70% of the German water supply originates from groundwater. According to an internal analysis, water collection systems require 35–40% of the total energy demand in the water supply [3]. The amount of water to be abstracted from groundwater wells depends on the local water demand. The common widely applied strategy for controlling the well field flow conditions is by shutting on, or off, the required number of submersible well pumps
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