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ecfed
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Alright everyone, I know this is a huge question, but I've done enough homework to at least have informed ignorance on the subject. I posted a similar topic here, but that question was more conceptual and this definitely is much more of an applied use question.
(Edit: I realize that the above post was made on a newer account; issue of using multiple emails throughout the years. I may jump onto that account for replies for continuity purposes)
I'm interested in designing an extremely basic, "proof-of-concept" centrifugal pump; it need not be energetically-efficient nor anything good enough to make it to a professional-level design; it simply needs to be able to supply fluid at the given flow rate and head that I need for the application, regardless of power input and efficiency (once I have a simple design, then I'll evaluate the feasibility). To make this somewhat easier, I'm willing to accept a wide measure of "tolerance" in the end specifications; it doesn't have to meet up. What I'm looking to gain out of this is the design practice, something I haven't been able to learn elsewhere.
The reason why I decided to ask this here is that I've looked up many centrifugal pump resources, and I can't for the life of me seem to find a resource approaching them from a component-level design perspective. Most resources out there seem to be geared towards educating engineers or teams in the basics well enough to prepare them to be able to select the proper pump for an application, but no documents I consulted really broke down the design elements. I've found documents about impeller design (velocity triangles, etc.), but these don't account for the volute, of which I haven't been able to find any documents on. Even then, the impeller design docs I found don't tie the impeller specs into the pump specs (head, flow rate, etc.) very well so even if I could make a simple impeller, I don't feel like I could make a very good pump. All of this feels like a very "black art" to me at this point.
So, how would one go about designing a pump? Obviously, the operating conditions must first be quantified, so head and flow-rate, but how do these then get turned into impeller design considerations? I know the volute plays a role, but what is the math behind it? I suppose, if nothing else, I'm looking for some spirited discussion so that way I can know where to look better.
(Edit: I realize that the above post was made on a newer account; issue of using multiple emails throughout the years. I may jump onto that account for replies for continuity purposes)
I'm interested in designing an extremely basic, "proof-of-concept" centrifugal pump; it need not be energetically-efficient nor anything good enough to make it to a professional-level design; it simply needs to be able to supply fluid at the given flow rate and head that I need for the application, regardless of power input and efficiency (once I have a simple design, then I'll evaluate the feasibility). To make this somewhat easier, I'm willing to accept a wide measure of "tolerance" in the end specifications; it doesn't have to meet up. What I'm looking to gain out of this is the design practice, something I haven't been able to learn elsewhere.
The reason why I decided to ask this here is that I've looked up many centrifugal pump resources, and I can't for the life of me seem to find a resource approaching them from a component-level design perspective. Most resources out there seem to be geared towards educating engineers or teams in the basics well enough to prepare them to be able to select the proper pump for an application, but no documents I consulted really broke down the design elements. I've found documents about impeller design (velocity triangles, etc.), but these don't account for the volute, of which I haven't been able to find any documents on. Even then, the impeller design docs I found don't tie the impeller specs into the pump specs (head, flow rate, etc.) very well so even if I could make a simple impeller, I don't feel like I could make a very good pump. All of this feels like a very "black art" to me at this point.
So, how would one go about designing a pump? Obviously, the operating conditions must first be quantified, so head and flow-rate, but how do these then get turned into impeller design considerations? I know the volute plays a role, but what is the math behind it? I suppose, if nothing else, I'm looking for some spirited discussion so that way I can know where to look better.