Development of a stand for hydrodynamic testing of a low-flow centrifugal pump

Modern centrifugal pumps are widely used in various industries, including energy, water supply, oil and gas sector and chemical production. The efficiency and reliability of systems and devices are in direct correlation with the quality of their design, manufacture and testing. Testing allows you to evaluate the main operational characteristics of the pump, such as flow, pressure, power, efficiency, as well as identify possible design or assembly defects. This paper presents a stand that was designed and created specifically for conducting hydrodynamic tests of the flow parts of low-flow centrifugal pumps. To carry out such test’s, specialized equipment is needed – a test bench, which must ensure accurate measurement of parameters, operational safety and compliance with regulatory requirements. The design of the stand includes the selection of measuring equipment, the development of a control system, the design of a pneumohydraulic circuit and the provision of the necessary testing modes. This stand uses high-precision measuring devices and complexes that make it possible to achieve the minimum measurement error necessary to verify and confirm the correctness of the developed methodology for calculating and analyzing the hydrodynamic parameters of the flow elements of turbopump units intended for use in advanced liquid rocket engines and low-flow pumps as part of spacecraft temperature control systems. In the process, advanced technologies were used: the parameters were processed using an industrial controller that created time charts and automatically recorded the results. The pump parameters are investigated in a low-pressure environment.