Investigating the Operational Parameters of a Centrifugal Pump used in Reverse Mode as Turbine for Electricity Generation
For thousands of years human beings have used the power of flowing water for various activities. However, there are several other ways we can generate energy using the power of water. This paper tends to demonstrate by experiment that the best efficiency point of a centrifugal pump both in direct and reverse mode can be investigated and used to determine electricity generation in a micro hydro scheme to power rural areas that might not be connected to the national grid. Investigations were done to test and measure the fuel rate of consumption of the centrifugal pump running in pump mode. The results demonstrated that the efficiency is indirectly proportional to the fuel level. The pressure and velocity head were also determined. The maximum velocity of flow was 𝟑𝟑 ∙ 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟗 𝐦𝐦⁄𝐬𝐬 at a pressure gauge of 𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑 𝐩𝐩𝐩𝐩𝐩𝐩. Investigations were also done by testing the centrifugal pump in the pump mode to determine its best efficiency point (BEP) which was𝟕𝟕𝟏𝟏%. In the pump mode investigation, the measured parameters were flow rate (𝟖𝟖 ∙ 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝐦𝐦𝟑𝟑⁄𝐬𝐬), speed (𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑 𝐫𝐫𝐫𝐫𝐫𝐫), power output (𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏∙ 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟗 𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖), power input (𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏∙ 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖𝐖) and velocity flow (𝟑𝟑 ∙ 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟗𝐦𝐦⁄𝐬𝐬). The investigation shows that for the generation of electricity the centrifugal pump can be used as an alternative to a turbine.
