Diagnosing Centrifugal Pumps

The reliable and economic performance of centrifugal pumps is essential to Finnish industry. According to earlier studies about 10% of the total electrical energy produced in Finland is consumed by pumps. The economical and reliable performance of pumps enables significant savings because wear and even partial failures result in downtime, slower production and poor efficiency. A small laboratory test arrangement has been used for testing the effectiveness of a number of condition monitoring methods. The results have been used in the development of an expert system called CEPDIA which can be used for diagnosing the condition of a pump and its components. The diagnosis is based on information about maintenance actions carried out on the pump and its components and measurement results from the sensors. CEPDIA can also be used for the calculation of the efficiency of the electrical motor and the pumping. The diagnosis system has been tested in the plant environment and it can be configured according to the requirements of the pumps in question. Local fine tuning of the diagnosis database ensure correct fault definition and consequently appropriate maintenance actions