METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE VISCOSITY OF A CONVEYING FLUID CONVEYED BY MEANS OF A PUMP

Abstract

A method for determining the viscosity of a conveying fluid conveyed by a pump, in which an operating value is detected and is fed to an evaluation unit. The method includes providing a reference fluid, recording a reference performance curve resulting from the reference fluid during test operation of the pump at a predetermined operating parameter of the pump, recording an operating performance curve resulting from the conveying fluid during conveying operation of the pump at the predetermined operating parameter of the pump, determining the viscosity of the conveying fluid from a deviation of the operating performance curve from the reference performance curve by a viscosity correction algorithm stored in the evaluation unit.

Claims

1. A method for determining the viscosity of a conveying fluid conveyed by a pump, an operating value being detected and fed to an evaluation unit, the method comprising: providing a reference fluid; recording a reference performance curve resulting from the reference fluid during test operation of the pump at a predetermined operating parameter of the pump; recording an operating performance curve resulting from the conveying fluid during conveying operation of the pump at the predetermined operating parameter of the pump; and determining the viscosity of the conveying fluid from a deviation of the operating performance curve from the reference performance curve by a viscosity correction algorithm stored in the evaluation unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reference fluid is water.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conveying fluid is a highly viscous fluid.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operating value is at least one of the power of the pump, a rotational speed of the pump, a pressure of the fluid conveyed, a volume flow of the fluid conveyed, a density of the fluid conveyed, and a temperature of the fluid conveyed.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising detecting the operating value with a sensor.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the operating value is detected at a frequency of up to 1 minute.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the viscosity of the conveying fluid is carried out periodically, hourly.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the viscosity of the conveying fluid is carried out if required, in particular with short-term change of the operating value.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined operating parameter is at least one of a power of the pump, a rotational speed of the pump, and a volume flow of the fluid conveyed.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is a data processing unit.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the data processing unit is integrated into the pump.

12. A pump for performing a method according to claim 1, wherein the pump comprising: a sensor configured to detect an operating value and an evaluation unit with a viscosity correction algorithm and the detected operating value capable of being fed to the evaluation unit.

13. The pump according to claim 12, wherein the evaluation unit is a data processing unit.

14. The pump according to claim 13, wherein the data processing unit is integrated into the pump.

15. The method according to claim 5, wherein the sensor is at least one of a speed sensor, a pressure sensor, a volume flow sensor, a density sensor and a temperature sensor.

16. The method according to claim 7, wherein the determination of the viscosity of the conveying fluid is carried out daily or hourly.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The invention will be explained in more detail hereinafter with reference to the drawings.

[0034] FIG. 1 is a diagram from which the method according to the invention comes out, and

[0035] FIG. 2 show pump performance curves of a conveying fluid relative to a reference fluid.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0036] According to FIG. 1, the method according to the invention has the following steps:

providing a reference fluid (step 1)
recording a reference performance curve resulting from the reference fluid at a predetermined operating parameter of the pump (step 2),
recording an operating performance curve resulting from the conveying fluid at the predetermined operating parameter of the pump (step 3),
determining the viscosity of the conveying fluid from a deviation of the operating performance curve from the reference performance curve by a viscosity correction algorithm stored in the evaluation unit (step 4).

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a diagram with reference performance curves (H.sub.W, Eta.sub.W) and corresponding operating performance curves (H.sub.V, Eta.sub.V) at a certain rotational speed of the pump. The performance curves are plotted above the flow rate (Q). The curves H.sub.W and Eta.sub.W result from step 2 according to the invention and the curves H.sub.V and Eta.sub.V result from step 3 of the method. The viscosity can be inferred by the viscosity correction algorithm from the deviation of curve H.sub.V from curve H.sub.W or curve Eta.sub.V from curve Eta.sub.W (step 4).