Diagnosis of centrifugal pump faults using vibration methods

Pumps are the largest single consumer of power in industry. This means that faulty pumps cause a high rate of energy loss with associated performance degradation, high vibration levels and significant noise radiation. This paper investigates the correlations between pump performance parameters including head, flow rate and energy consumption and surface vibration for the purpose of both pump condition monitoring and performance assessment. Using an in-house pump system, a number of experiments have been carried out on a centrifugal pump system using five impellers: one in good condition and four others with different defects, and at different flow rates for the comparison purposes. The results have shown that each defective impeller performance curve (showing flow, head, efficiency and NPSH (Net Positive Suction Head) is different from the benchmark curve showing the performance of the impeller in good condition. The exterior vibration responses were investigated to extract several key features to represent the healthy pump condition, pump operating condition and pump energy consumption. In combination, these parameter allow an optimal decision for pump overhaul to be made [1].