Impeller Wear Diagnosis in Centrifugal Pumps Under Different Flow Rate Based on Acoustic Signal Analysis

Abstract

Centrifugal pumps are commonly used in pipelines with moderate head and discharge requirements for hydraulic transportation of liquids and solids over long distances. The performance characteristics of the pump and erosion wear are the most significant design and selection parameters. Mechanical wear can cause considerable damage to the impeller in the pump, reducing the pump’s lifetime and efficiency. This paper investigates the impeller wear of a centrifugal pump using an acoustic mechanism at different flow rates. As the peripheral velocity or circling radius at the impeller surface increases, a small amount of wear in the impeller inlet region rapidly develops. The uniform corrosive wear area is defined as the portion of the impeller where the impact velocity is less than the critical value, and it expands as the impeller velocity increases. In fact, wear mechanisms differ from one region to the next; when the tangential portion of the impact velocity is high, the impeller wears out faster. Because of the high capability of noise reduction when modulating the signals, modulated signal bispectrum (MSB) analysis is used for extracting the incipient fault signature. The experimental results show that the diagnostic features produced by modulated signal bispectrum allow for early detection of the initial impeller wear fault. Furthermore, the MSB study of acoustic signals demonstrates the efficacy of airborne sound-based monitoring. It offers a strong attestation of complete distinction between safe and defective conditions at various flow rates.