Resumen

MARINO-ABARCA, Oswaldo Heriberto; GONZALEZ-BAYON, Juan José; DELGADO-GARCIA, Reinaldo  y  BORRAJO-PEREZ, Rubén. An update about Inlet guide vanes in centrifugal pumps. Ingeniería Mecánica [online]. 2019, vol.22, n.3, pp. 133-141.  Epub 24-Sep-2019. ISSN 1815-5944.

The flow rotation traditionally used in centrifugal compressors, have been useful for work regimes far from the nominal. This technique, is being applied in centrifugal pumps looking for the same effect. They are called inlet guide vanes and are employed to regulate the flow inlet. They are arranged at inlet of the turbomachine before the impeller, inducing a prewhirl of the flow field. That rotation is result of the angular deviation induced to the absolute speed of the fluid in the impeller. The circumferential velocity at the inlet of the impeller is related to the efficiency and head of a centrifugal pump, regulating its operating regime. Due to the surface friction over the profile, the vortices and flow obstruction, they limit the pump capacity to overcome cavitation. The literature shows that the use of pre rotators has not been investigated enough. Computational fluid dynamics is a very useful technique to made cheaper analysis. However, it is proved that using pre rotators located next to the inlet pump, with a given profile and some rotation angle, modify the flow pattern at the inlet of the impeller. As results the centrifugal pump efficiency working outside of design conditions could be improved.

Palabras clave : inlet guide vanes; prewhirl; centrifugal pump.

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