Pump clogging is a well-known problem due to the increasing amount of nonwoven wet wipes in the wastewater system. In addition, the usage of water decreases which causes higher concentration of solids in the wastewater. Based on the high variation of sewage flow many operators of sewer systems and sewage pumping stations were motivated to act that the wastewater is pumped as needed. It means that with reducing costs of frequency-controlled motors the usage of pumps with speed variation became a more state of the art application.The current advice when speed variation in wastewater pumps are used, affects the minimum velocity in the pipes. What happens to the pump when speed variation is applied? Until now, there is no answer.The study investigates how speed influences the clogging phenomena of wastewater pumps. The pumps have been approved at a test stand in a laboratory that is designed for proving wastewater pumps. The test includes several speeds with different wastewater classes. Those tests have been done for a short-time performance test, in which the artificial wastewater has been pumped once and a long-time performance test, in which the wastewater is pumped in a loop for 60 Minutes. During the test procedure, nonwoven wet wipes have been used for the artificial wastewater, which are the most hazardous substances in sewage water for wastewater pumps.The dependency of speed variation on clogging of wastewater pumps could be proven in this study. However the effect on the pumps and their clogging behavior was very different. This difference depends especially on different pump types, which have different clogging characteristics.The study has been able to show that speed variation has an influence on the clogging of pumps. Therefore, it is even more important to use this knowledge for further applications in wastewater pumping stations.Keywords: Pumping Machinery Symposium, Wastewater pumps, Clogging, Pump blockages, Speed variation, Nonwoven wet wipes

Effect of Speed Variation on Clogging of Sewage Pumps

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/FEDSM/FEDSM2021/volume/85284

ASME 2021 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting (FEDSM2021)

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