The pumps widely used in industry, and by commercial buildings and municipalities, can almost all be classified as either centrifugal pumps or positive displacement pumps.  The general components and operating characteristics of these two types of pumps are covered in this course, along with discussion of corrective and preventive measures for various pumping problems. This course is intended for mechanical, industrial, civil, chemical, and environmental engineers.  An attendee of this course will gain basic knowledge about centrifugal and positive displacement pumps. In this course, you need to review the material in the study guide, ‘Centrifugal and Positive Displacement Pump Basics,’ which is the DOE Fundamentals Handbook (DOE-HDBK-1018/1-93), Mechanical Science, Module 3 , Pumps.  Once you complete your course review, you need to take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of fifteen (15) questions to earn 3 PDH credits. The quiz will be based on the entire document.

Learning Objectives

• Functions of the following centrifugal pump components: impeller, volute, diffuser, packing, lantern ring, and wearing ring.
• Causes, symptoms and corrective measures for cavitation in a centrifugal pump
• Meaning of and measures to prevent gas binding, deadheading, and pump runout for centrifugal pumps
• Differences in operating characteristics between centrifugal and positive displacement pumps
• Nature of operating curves for centrifugal and positive displacement pumps
• Meaning of the term "slippage" as applied to positive displacement pumps
• Different types of positive displacement pumps
• How positive displacement pumps are protected against over-pressurization