The BPMA has worked with Europump and has published a guide to good system design. This guide has been created to assist users in evaluating new and existing systems to become more energy efficient.

To design an energy efficient pump system all of the following criteria should be taken into account:

Basic plant layout

Pipe work configuration and restrictions

Liquid velocity in pipe work

System characteristics and pump selection

Pump/System control

These areas are explained in more detail within the guide.

 One of the major factors why energy inefficient pump systems are commonplace is the incorrect selection of pipe work diameter. The situation is also often exacerbated by bad plant layout and the consequential inefficient routing of pipe runs.

These elements increase frictional resistance which necessitates the selection of larger pumps to push liquid to the required service.

Inefficient pipe work sizing is caused by two major criteria.

The Initial capital cost of the pipe work and associated fittings.

Capital cost of pipe work systems will always be a major issue but in these days when energy costs increasingly important the higher capital cost of pipework and fittings can quickly be repaid and lower velocities will reduce the erosive wear to these, extending system life.

Pumps are generally designed with relatively small branch sizes and high liquid terminal velocities. This is to minimize the cost of production and to meet dimensional standards. This often leads to the bad but common practice of matching pipework to branch size which means that the resultant system frictional resistances are high. If pipework is selected using the simple liquid velocity criteria detailed in the guide, using increasers/decreasers on the pump branches to join to correctly selected pipe work, lower frictional heads will be applicable and low head pumps using less energy will suffice.

The Europump System Guide includes software which enables the system designer to quickly check the different liquid velocities and frictional resistances of pipe work systems in a variety of materials and sizes. It is therefore very easy to select the most energy efficient pipe work system without being involved in comprehensive technical evaluations.