A centrifugal pump converts the input power to kinetic energy in the liquid by accelerating the liquid by a revolving device - an impeller. The most common type is the volute pump. Fluid enters the pump through the eye of the impeller which rotates at high speed. The fluid is accelerated radially outward from the pump chasing. A vacuum is created at the impellers eye that continuously draws more fluid into the pump.
The energy created by the pump is kinetic energy according the Bernoulli Equation. The energy transferred to the liquid corresponds to the velocity at the edge or vane tip of the impeller. The faster the impeller revolves or the bigger the impeller is, the higher will the velocity of the liquid energy transferred to the liquid be. This is described by the Affinity Laws.
Pressure and Head
If the discharge of a centrifugal pump is pointed straight up into the air the fluid will pumped to a certain height - or head - called the shut off head. This maximum head is mainly determined by the outside diameter of the pump's impeller and the speed of the rotating shaft. The head will change as the capacity of the pump is altered.
The kinetic energy of a liquid coming out of an impeller is obstructed by creating a resistance in the flow. The first resistance is created by the pump casing which catches the liquid and slows it down. When the liquid slows down the kinetic energy is converted to pressure energy. • it is the resistance to the pump's flow that is read on a pressure gauge attached to the discharge line
A pump does not create pressure, it only creates flow. The gauge pressure is a measurement of the resistance to flow.
In fluids the term head is used to measure the kinetic energy which a pump creates. Head is a measurement of the height of the liquid column the pump could create from the kinetic energy the pump gives to the liquid. • the main reason for using head instead of pressure to measure a