Centrifugal Pumps

Centrifugal Pump Operation

Centrifugal pumps are a type of rotodynamic pump that use a rotating impeller mounted on a shaft inside a casing. The fluid enters the eye of the impeller where it rotates with the impeller and generates more force as it passes through the volute, the outer circular feature that converts the velocity of liquid into pressure. The volute controls the fluid as it is then discharged from the outlet of the pump.

Centrifugal pumps are the most common types of industrial pumps and cover a very wide flow range capable of low volume processes of 2 gallons per minute (gpm) up to hundreds of thousands of gpm. Centrifugal pump systems are most commonly used for low viscosity fluids, particularly water transfer applications.

Centrifugal Pump Applications

Centrifugal pumps are one of the most common types of pumps found in a wide range of industrial process applications. They’re offered in a broad range of materials with numerous options, making them ideal for many applications such as:

• Water and chemical transfer
• Wastewater transfer
• Raw water supply from lakes and rivers
• Pressure boosting
• Flow and level control
• Petroleum transfer
• Boiler feed
• Filtration
• Reverse osmosis
• Industrial heat transfer
• Industrial cooling towers
• Closed loop circulation
• Food and beverage plant washdown
• Machine tool coolant feed

Centrifugal pumps provide many advantages to all industries with the ability to transfer a high volume of low viscosity fluids at a fast rate of speed. With a wide range of types and capabilities, IPE can help you find the right type of centrifugal pump to optimize your application with the most efficient performance.

Centrifugal Pump Features and Benefits

IPE offers many styles of centrifugal pumps from the top manufacturers with the engineering features to provide the most benefit to your application. Your process pump solutions should be low maintenance, highly efficient and easy to operate. The majority of centrifugal pumps are end suction, with the liquid entering the end of the pump and exiting the top or side. They may be single stage, or multi-stage with more than one propeller, vertical or inline with the discharge occurring on the same horizontal plane.

Centrifugal pumps can be submersible design, meaning the entire pump including the motor is submerged. These pumps are beneficial in applications like pumping water from a well or waste water from a sump or pit. Immersible pumps, commonly used for machine tool coolant, are only partially submerged; the impellers are below the liquid level while the motor is above.

Sealless magnetic drive couplings are available on centrifugal pumps to provide reliable, long term performance while reducing maintenance needs. Many rotating pumps feature a mechanical seal or packing which can wear over time. Sealless magnetic drive pumps increase reliability and offer improved safety when pumping hazardous, flammable, or hot liquids. The fluid is contained within the pump housing by a containment shell or can that is sealed with a static O-ring. Magnetic force between the drive and driven magnet assemblies provide the torque needed to rotate the impeller.

IPE offers sealless magnetic drive pumps manufactured by Flowserve Innomag, Pulsafeeder (Isochem), Price Pump, and Finish Thompson.

IPE centrifugal pumps offer these features and benefits from the most trusted brands in the pump industry. We differ from other pump processing suppliers with a holistic approach to solving your processing needs with full system design, troubleshooting, repair, and replacement services.