Affinity Laws for Variable Speed Centrifugal Pumps

Jayanthi Vijay Sarathy, M.E, CEng, MIChemE, Chartered Chemical Engineer, IChemE, UK

The world is becoming more conscious of effective. But VSD’s are mostly suitable for
greenhouse gases (GHG) & it’s estimated that pumping applications where the pump
nearly 10% of the electricity usage is from duty is not expected to be constant.
operating pumps ranging from domestic 2. Noise & Vibrations are reduced when
pumps, sewerage pumps, air conditioning and running at lower speeds.
in every other industrial application. The
3. Consumers that use only a small portion of
mechanical aspect of centrifugal pumps have
rated flow during varying loads would
changed fairly little in the last 5 decades, but
have the pump running at full load speed
what has brought a vast change in pump
corresponding to full load power. In such
performance is the control system based on a
situations, VFD’s help alter the speed to
variable frequency drive (VFD).
consume less power during operation.
A centrifugal pump consists of an impeller in 4. VFD’s reduce the risk of a motor burnout
a casing that raises the fluid’s head for a given during start-up from excessive in-rush
speed & discharges liquid at a desired current & increases the longevity of the
pressure. For applications that require
equipment.
attending to a variable flow scenario, a flow
control valve is installed at the pump When VFD’s Are Not Advantageous
discharge that throttles fluid pressure to 1. VFD’s are not to compensate for an
achieve the desired flow. But such methods improperly selected pump.
cause a loss of energy that was initially used 2. In systems with high resistance like boiler
to raise the fluid’s pressure in the pump. feed water (BFW) pumps where the pump
has to generate high starting torque to
With the advent of variable speed drives
overcome the static head, VFD’s do not
consisting of a pressure sensor & piece of
offer much in terms of providing high
circuitry that alters the frequency of the
start-up torque.
electric current, the pump’s speed parameter
can be altered to achieve the required flow & 3. Performance curves that cause the
also avoid throttling using a flow control operating point to fall off the Q vs. H curves
valve. VFD’s although tend to cause a cause the operating point to operate closer
temperature rise in the circuitry, sometimes to the stall region at lower speeds which
require ventilation systems being can cause cavitation. In such situations, a
incorporated for cooling purposes. new pump with a discharge throttle valve
is required to push the operating point into
Advantages of Variable Frequency Drives
the operating envelope which defeats the
1. VFD’s when newly fitted or retrofitted to
purpose of retrofitting with a VSD.
rotating machinery such as pumps are
referred to as variable speed drives (VSD). 4. At lower speeds, though noise & vibrations
For applications where the duty is are reduced, chances exist for structural
expected to be constant without much resonance that can compromise the
variation in process conditions, a fixed integrity of the bearing house and support
speed drive (FSD) should be more cost structures.

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Selection Process - New Pumps Performance Curves for VSD Retrofit
1. For new pumps its common to oversize the Centrifugal Pumps that run on a fixed speed
pump but this is not recommended as it are characterized by a single Q vs. H curve. In
adds higher initial cost & higher life cycle the event of a retrofit with a VFD, the pump
costs. can operate at various other speeds &
2. When selecting a rotodynamic pump in correspondingly would have their respective
combination with a VSD for a system with Q vs. H curves.
some static head, a pump should be chosen To estimate the Q vs. H curves at other
such that the maximum flow rate is slightly speeds, Fan Laws a.k.a Affinity Laws can be
to the right-hand side of the best efficiency used. Affinity Laws are used under the
point (BEP). The exception is for a constant premise that
flow regulated system, in which case the 1. Liquids are largely incompressible and
recommendation is to select a pump that their density [] remains fairly constant.
operates to the left hand side of BEP at
2. Frictional losses due to impeller & casing
maximum pressure. This approach
construction as well as bearing losses exist
optimizes pump operating efficiency.
at lower speeds but are considered to be
3. Some operating profiles may be satisfied lower than the losses experienced at 100%
best by installing multiple pumps, which speed.
could be fixed or variable speed. On/off
As per Affinity Laws, Pump speed [N] is
control can be used to vary flow rate for
related to the Pump Flow [Q], Pump Head [H]
systems in which intermittent flow is
& Pump Hydraulic Power [P] as,
acceptable.
𝑄 = 𝑘1 𝑁 (1)
Selection Process - Retrofit Pumps
1. Often a contingency of 20% - 25% on the 𝐻 = 𝑘2 𝑁 2 (2)
required system head is added. Therefore 𝑃 = 𝑘3 𝑁 3 (3)
retrofitting with VSD’s could match pump
Where k1, k2, k3 are constants.
systems to actual system requirements
more accurately to save considerable Once the constants k1, k2, k3 are estimated for
amounts of energy. the rated curve [100% speed], the Q vs. H
curves can be estimated for other speeds, i.e.,
2. When adding a VSD to an existing electric
90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%. It is to
AC motor, the electrical characteristics of
be noted that the pump efficiency for a given
the motor & the frequency converter must
flow range and for various speeds would be
match. Variable frequency drives work on
fairly constant and these are referred to as
the principle of altering the frequency of
Constant Efficiency [] lines.
the incoming current using a frequency
converter that produces a change in the To demonstrate the use of Affinity Laws to
synchronous speed of the motor for a given derive Q vs. H curves for various speeds, a
number of poles. Therefore frequency case study is shown. A motor driven
converters that give smaller levels of centrifugal pump operating at 50 Hz, delivers
harmonic current distortion is to be chosen water from 5 bara suction pressure to 10 bara
to avoid over heating the motor windings discharge pressure. The process parameters
and avoid the risk of premature failure. & performance curves are as follows,

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 Table 1. Pump Process Parameters =
𝑄×𝜌×𝐻
(7)
𝑃
Parameter Value
Tabulating the Q vs. H values for the 100%
Service Water
speed case, the values of k1, k2 & k3 are,
Operating Capacity 372 m3/h
Table 3. Fan Law Constants for 100% Speed
Pump Head 52.4 m
Q H P K1,100% K2,100% K3,100%
Rotational Speed 1493 rpm
[m3/s] [m] [kW] [m3/s/rpm] [m/rpm2] [kW/rpm3]
Suction Flange Pressure 5.0 bara
0.024 51.1 34.9 1.60E-05 2.29E-05 1.05E-08
Discharge Flange Pressure 10.0 bara
Liquid Density 973.6 kg/m3 0.039 53.3 40.5 2.61E-05 2.39E-05 1.22E-08

0.049 54.0 45.0 3.29E-05 2.42E-05 1.35E-08

0.067 54.3 53.7 4.50E-05 2.44E-05 1.61E-08

0.085 53.9 62.4 5.68E-05 2.42E-05 1.88E-08

0.090 53.7 64.9 6.02E-05 2.41E-05 1.95E-08

0.095 53.4 67.4 6.36E-05 2.40E-05 2.03E-08

0.100 53.1 69.9 6.70E-05 2.38E-05 2.10E-08

0.105 52.7 72.3 7.04E-05 2.37E-05 2.17E-08

Figure 1. Pump Performance Curves 0.110 52.4 74.6 7.36E-05 2.35E-05 2.24E-08
Pump speeds chosen for retrofitting are,
0.120 51.3 79.5 8.07E-05 2.30E-05 2.39E-08
Table 2. Electric Motor Speeds
0.131 50.1 84.1 8.79E-05 2.25E-05 2.53E-08
Speed [%] Speed [rpm]
0.152 47.1 92.4 1.02E-04 2.11E-05 2.78E-08
100 1493
90 1344 0.202 37.2 104.1 1.35E-04 1.67E-05 3.13E-08

80 1194 Using 100% speed k1, k2, k3 values, Q, H, P, 

70 1045 for other speeds shown in Table 2, are,
60 896 𝑄90% = 𝑘1,100% × 𝑁90% (8)
2
𝐻90% = 𝑘2,100% × 𝑁90% (9)
Design Methodology
3
As described previously, fan constants k1, k2, 𝑃90% = 𝑘3,100% × 𝑁90% (10)
k3 are estimated for each volumetric flow rate 𝑄90% ×𝜌×[𝐻90% ⁄102.04]
90% = (11)
(Q) & corresponding head (H) for 100% 𝑃90%

speed. Using these k values, Q vs. H curves is 𝑄80% = 𝑘1,100% × 𝑁80% (12)
calculated for various speeds [Table 2]. 2
𝐻80% = 𝑘2,100% × 𝑁80% (13)
𝑄
𝑘1,100% = 1493 (4) 3
𝑃80% = 𝑘3,100% × 𝑁80% (14)
𝐻 𝑄80% ×𝜌×[𝐻80% ⁄102.04]
𝑘2,100% = 14932 (5) 80% = 𝑃80%
(15)
𝑃
𝑘3,100% = 14933 (6) 𝑄70% = 𝑘1,100% × 𝑁70% (16)
2
The hydraulic efficiency is estimated as, 𝐻70% = 𝑘2,100% × 𝑁70% (17)

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 3 𝑄60% ×𝜌×[𝐻60% ⁄102.04]
𝑃70% = 𝑘3,100% × 𝑁70% (18) 60% = 𝑃60%
(23)
𝑄70% ×𝜌×[𝐻70% ⁄102.04]
70% = 𝑃70%
(19)
With the above set of calculations made, for
𝑄60% = 𝑘1,100% × 𝑁60% (20) each calculated values of Q, H, P,  for speeds
2 of 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, the pump
𝐻60% = 𝑘2,100% × 𝑁60% (21)
performance curves at constant efficiency are
3
𝑃60% = 𝑘3,100% × 𝑁60% (22) as follows,

Figure 2. Performance Curves at Constant Efficiency for Various Speeds

References
1. https://southernswater.com.au/variable-
speed-pumps/
2. http://jmpcoblog.com/hvac-blog/modern-
pump-selection-part-4-why-you-should-
never-over-head-a-variable-speed-pump
3. “Variable Speed Pumping - A Guide to
Successful Application”, US Department of
Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy
4. https://product-selection.grundfos.com

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