Parallel Centrifugal Pump

Parallel combine of two centrifugal pump in parallel will result a higher volumetric of pumping capacity. As shown on the drawing below, inlet and outlet of each pump are at identical points in the system. Each pump will produce same pump head, the head combination will same as single pump head, the total flow rate in the system will same with the sum of individual flow rates for each pump.

Actual condition of centrifugal pump that are combined in parallel will shown slight different with the theory. On the system characteristic curve is considered with the curve for pump in parallel, the operating point at the intersection of two curves represents a higher volumetric flow rate than for single pump and also will have greater system head loss. A greater system head loss occurs with the increase of fluid velocity resulting from the increased volumetric flow rate. Due to the greater system head loss, the volumetric flow rate is actually less than the flow rate achieved by using a separate two single pump.