A Study on Performance Improvement of a Submersible Drainage Pump

Small submersible drainage pumps discharge leaking water and rainwater in buildings. In an emergency (e.g., heavy rain or accident), monitoring the flow rate in advance is necessary to enable optimal operation, considering the point where the pump operates abnormally when the water level increases rapidly. The final goal of this study is to develop an energy-saving, high-efficiency submersible drainage pump capable of responding to emergencies. In particular, this paper targeted a submersible drainage pump model used in the field. Before the development of driving mode-related technology capable of emergency response, we first tried to find a way to improve the performance characteristics of the existing submersible drainage pump. Rather than designing a new pump, we disassembled the current pump and reverse engineering. Then, numerical simulation was performed to analyze the flow characteristics and efficiency of the pump. Then, experimental measurements validated numerical results for the reliability of the pump. Results revealed that changing the cross-sectional shape of the impeller reduced the power and increased efficiency.