The Time Has Come: Pump Systems Do Matter - Pump Systems Problems, Pump Repair, Pump Installation, Pump Help & Resources

The Time Has Come: Pump Systems Do Matter

Written by Robert Asdal, Pump Systems Matter, Inc.

Page 2 of 2

An increasing number of PSM sponsors, as well as the U.S. DOE, are offering end-users audits of their plant operations to identify potential energy savings and areas for process and/or performance improvement. Further, PSM is creating guidelines on how to conduct audits, establishing quality benchmarks and guidelines on what pump users can expect. (see http://www.pumpsystemsmatter.org/ for more information).

The bottom line is that by 2015, PSM sponsors hope "end users will understand the value of - and the demand for - pump system optimization services, and that the supply chain will understand the value of offering these services on a competitive basis." PSM invites those who share this vision to participate with the organization to achieve this outcome.

All About Optimization

PSM already offers tools and educational programs to accomplish this goal. The Pump System Improvement Modeling Tool (PSIM) is a freely available downloadable program that provides pump systems engineers with a glimpse into how modeling tools can reduce cost and conserve energy. Users are able to calculate pressure drop and flow distribution in straight-path and simply branched or looped pumping systems. Obtaining the PSIM tool simply requires registration on the Pump Systems Matter website.

Users can also explore net present valve concepts and build models of pumping systems with PSIM (see Figure 3). They can focus on system hydraulic calculation, centrifugal and positive displacement pumps, pump energy usage and cost over time, pump efficiency and BEP evaluation, variable speed pumps, flow and pressure control valves, impeller trimming, automatic pump curve viscosity corrections, NPSH calculations, and pump vs. system curve generation.

PSIM users build pumping systems models with drag and drop icons on a graphical workspace

Figure 3. PSIM users build pumping systems models with drag-and-drop icons on a graphical workspace. Users enter pipe, pump and component data by double clicking the displayed pipe run or icon. A range of input fields permits them to simulate a wide range of pump system behavior. Users can select fluid property data from the provided library or enter their own fluid data. Output reports and graphs can be customized.

PSIM is only one of the tools available for engineers to understand the intricacies of pump system behavior, and is intended for educational purposes. PSM makes available the Department of Energy's Pump System Assessment Tool (PSAT), which helps users assess energy savings opportunities in existing pumping systems. This tool requires field measurements, and is supported by U.S. DOE training programs.

PSAT relies on field measurements of flow rate, head, and motor power or current to perform the assessment. Using algorithms from HI standards (http://www.pumps.org/) and motor performance characteristics from the U.S. Department of Energy Motormaster database, PSAT estimates existing pump and motor efficiency and calculates the potential energy/cost savings for a system optimized to work at peak efficiency.

Since the launch of the http://www.pumpsystemsmatter.org/ website last year, PSIM has been downloaded over 7,000 times by interested end-users and engineering consultants. To educate users on the importance of looking at total life cycle costs of the system, PSM offers numerous resources. In addition to courses and PSM sponsors speaking at conferences, the Hydraulic Institute e-learning course on centrifugal pumps covers typical applications of centrifugal pumps, types of pumps, centrifugal pump construction, fundamentals of fluid mechanics, centrifugal/vertical pump performance characteristics, and pump selection and application. A new course on fundamentals of positive displacement pumps is planned to launch in 2008.

Future PSM courses that are planned include a Facility and Pump Systems Optimization webcast for managers, Facility and Pump Systems Optimization for management, Pumping System Fundamentals, and Pump System Engineer Foundation courses. Two HI/Europump guides are currently available: Pump Life Cycle Costs: A Guide to LCC Analysis for Pumping Systems and Variable Speed Pumping: A Guide to Successful Applications. A new HI/PSM Systems Optimization Guidebook is planned for release by mid-2008 to support other PSM educational courses planned.

Implementing Efficiency Programs

PSM works with several different efficiency programs and utilities for the propagation of wise energy practices.

For example, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) and Xcel Energy are two current efficiencies programs working with PSM. The Industrial Efficiency Alliance of NEEA is the Northwest market transformation initiative for the industrial sector. The initiative works to encourage business practices among Northwest manufacturing companies to make energy efficiency an integral part of both corporate and plant operations.

The Industrial Efficiency Alliance of NEEA is currently focusing on the food processing and pulp and paper industries markets. According to Susan Hermenet, NEEA's director of business services, "Any large-scale market transformation effort requires collaboration to be successful. Through PSM, we're able to work cooperatively with industry to change the way pumping systems are sold and purchased."

Xcel Energy, an electric and natural gas utility who offers an industrial process efficiency program to promote conservation, collaborates with PSM sponsors to learn more about their experiences in energy efficiency and works with PSM to, as product portfolio manager Tami Gunderzik of Xcel Energy describes it, "...leverage our efforts in developing market awareness, educational tools and industry standards that will help drive energy efficiency."

PSM also works closely with current utility efficiency programs. BC Hydro (Vancouver, BC) has implemented a Power Smart Program to decrease energy usage. The company hopes to assist customers in implementing a Sustainable Energy Management Program in support of the stepped rate. Initiatives include an industrial energy manager; energy studies and audits; motor management planning; monitoring, targeting and reporting; and employee awareness.

Parminder Sandhu, industrial market manager of BC Hydro's Power Smart business unit, says, "BC Hydro looks forward to working with PSM to create educational resources and tools to train users and engineering consultants on the most effective use of pumps to save energy and ensure that such systems operate more reliably and at their Best Efficiency Point." Two day-long PSM courses have already run in 2007 jointly with BC Hydro in their service territory.

The Wisconsin Focus of Energy initiative teams up with PSM to "provide a strong platform for securing this energy reduction for the state's businesses," comments John Nicol, industrial program director. Wisconsin's industrial program offers new construction incentives, prescriptive/direct incentives, custom incentives, an RFP program, technical support, and information and education. Specific pump systems initiatives, including rebates and a recent PSM training program, were launched in 2007.

The average energy savings potential through the implementation of economically viable pumping system optimization projects is approximately 20 percent. If all facilities in the U.S. implemented such measures, the savings would equal over 28,000-GWh/year, based on a midrange estimate (DOE 1998).

Next month, part two of this series will explore in detail how some companies have optimized their pumping systems and experienced consequent energy and cost savings and process improvements.

References

Asdal, Robert, John Nicol, Kevin Wallace, and Joananne Bachmann. "Pump Systems Matter Update & Opportunities." Presentation at ACEEE Summer Study Industrial Energy Efficiency, White Plains, NY. July 25, 2007

Pump Systems Matter. "Market Research & Analysis." HI & PSM internal planning documents

---. "Pump System Improvement Modeling Tool." PSIM literature and downloadable tool from PSM website

---. "Pump Systems Matter: Vision, Long-Term Goal, Mission, and Essential Elements." June 4, 2004.

Tutterow, Vestal, Robert Asdal, and Aimee T. McKane. "Making Pump Systems Matter." Presentation at ACEEE Summer Study on Energy and Industry. July 20, 1995.

"The Escalating Cost Crisis: An Update on Cost Pressures Facing U.S. Manufacturers" National Association of Manufacturers, a study by Jeremy Leonard, Published by the National Association of Manufacturers and MAPI. September 2006.

Robert Asdal is the executive director of the Hydraulic Institute and Pump Systems Matter and is a member of the board that directs the National Association of Manufacturers Council of Manufacturing Trade Associations. For more information: Pumps Systems Matter, 9 Sylvan Way, Parsippany, NJ 07054, 973-267-9700 ext. 13, http://www.pumpsystemsmatter.org/.