Instrumentation for Process Control – Basic Requirements

Introduction Centrifugal pumps basically consist of a stationary pump casing and an impeller mounted on a rotating shaft. The pump casing provides a pressure boundary for the pump and contains channels to properly direct the suction and discharge flow. The pump casing has suction and discharge penetrations for the main flow path of the pump and normally has small drain and vent fittings to remove gases trapped in the pump casing or to drain the pump casing for maintenance. Figure 1 is a simplified diagram of a typical centrifugal pump that shows the relative locations of the pump suction, impeller, volute, and discharge. The pump casing guides the liquid from the suction connection to the center, or eye, of the impeller. The vanes of the rotating impeller impart a radial and rotary motion to the liquid, forcing it to the outer periphery of the pump casing where it is collected in the outer part of the pump casing called the volute. The volute is a region that expands in cross-sectional area as it wraps around the pump casing. The purpose of the volute is to collect the liquid discharged from the periphery of the impeller at high velocity and gradually cause a reduction in fluid velocity by increasing the flow area. This converts the velocity head to static pressure. The fluid is then discharged from the pump through the discharge connection.

INTRODUCTION : 1.1 Why water treatment? Pure water [H2O] is a colourless, odourless and tasteless liquid. It plays a huge part in everyday life: 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water in the form of oceans, and the rest of the planet has large quantities of water in the form of lakes, rivers and watercourses, ice and snow, and humidity, as well as the principal element of animal life (>50%) and plants (approx. 80%). When we talk about water in general, we usually mean water for some specific purpose, e.g. drinking water or process water for industry. This is where the term water treatment comes into the picture, as the available water resources or that provided by nature is not always of a suitable quality for immediate use for the specific purpose. Drinking water must be pure, and should preferably taste good too, and it must not contain substances that could cause problemswith daily use. Process water, which is water that forms a direct and important part of a process or product in industry, must have a chemical composition and temperature that is precisely suited to the specific requirements.