Centrifugal Pumps in Series

Centrifugal pumps are used in series to overcome a larger system head loss than one pump can compensate for individually. As illustrated in Figure 13, two identical centrifugal pumps operating at the same speed with the same volumetric flow rate contribute the same pump head. Since the inlet to the second pump is the outlet of the first pump, the head produced by both pumps is the sum of the individual heads. The volumetric flow rate from the inlet of the first pump to the outlet of the second remains the same.

As shown in Figure 14, using two pumps in series does not actually double the resistance to flow in the system. The two pumps provide adequate pump head for the new system and also maintain a slightly higher volumetric flow rate.

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