PUMPS IN PARALLEL CONNECTION PROBLEM - AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH.

The problem of pumps connected in parallel can be easily solved by means of graphical method, but it becomes very time consuming when dealing with multiple scenarios. An analytical approach offers the possibility of implementing a software program that can significantly reduce this time and also adds further features. The mathematical algorithm used is dealing with a nonlinear equitation system and with polynomial fitting functions. A very special issue that is addressed in this paper is about the errors given by the very small values of flow rates. Since the algorithms assume that every physical measure is expressed in SI units, then the unitless values of flow rates are at least 10-3 magnitude order compared to other values (pump head for example). This in turn leads to very poor fitting polynomials and the end results are far from the truth. The key for solving this particular issue resides in constructing the inverse functions of H(Q). Once the algorithms were sort out, they were implemented in LabVIEW in order to create a software application. This final product offers both accuracy of the calculations and user friendly interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]