Fault investigation of circulation pumps to detect impeller clogging

Abstract

Pumps have a wide range of applications. Methods for fault detection of motors are increasingly being used for pumps. In the context of this paper, a test bench is built to investigate circulation pumps for faults. As a use case, the fault of impeller clogging was first measured and then examined with the help of motor current signature analysis. It can be seen that there are four frequencies at which there is an increase in amplitude in case of a fault. The sidebands around the supply frequency are in particular focus. The clogging of three and four of a total of seven channels leads to the highest amplitudes at the fault frequencies. The efficiency is reduced by 9 to 15% in case of faulty operation. These results indicate that the implementation of fault detection algorithms on the pump electronics represents added value for the pump operator. Furthermore, the results can be transferred to other applications.