Article: Going Beyond Efficiency Standards Part 1
Colorado Springs, Colo., USA -- June 23, 2020 -- Modern Pumping Today magazine's June issue features an article by AFT's Ben Keiser where Ben discusses why you should focus on improving reliability to not only minimize repair costs, increase profits,
etc., but to naturally improve pump efficiencies. The July issue of Modern Pumping Today will feature Part 2 on how to improve reliability as well as efficiency.
Pumps, fans, and compressors account for about 60 – 70% of total electrical energy usage by U.S. manufacturers [1]. Inefficient operation leads to higher energy costs. However, goals to improve pump efficiency and reduce energy costs may not carry a high priority to owners and operators when their primary focus is to keep operations running smoothly. Owner/operators are more interested in improving reliability, minimizing repair costs and downtime, and increasing profits. A systemwide approach to an efficient and reliable design and operation of a piping system is much more effective than a component by component approach (i.e., only addressing the pump itself).
A quality flow analysis software tool provides engineers and operators a better understanding of their system. This empowers them to make more well-informed decisions on how they could concurrently improve efficiency and reliability while reducing energy, repair, and maintenance costs, minimize downtime, and increase profits. Before we get into the benefits of flow analysis software, let’s discuss efficiency.
In this article, we are going to focus on liquid piping systems and pumps.