Bearing arrangement of a pump and method of operating

Abstract

A bearing arrangement of a centrifugal pump includes at least one rolling-element bearing configured to support an impeller shaft of the centrifugal pump and to support an axial load, an axial force sensor configured to measure a present axial force acting on the impeller shaft, a rotation speed sensor configured to measure a present rotation speed of the impeller shaft, a memory storing relationship data between each of a plurality of known volumetric flow rates at a plurality of known rotation speeds of the impeller shaft and a plurality of known axial forces acting on the impeller shaft, and a controller configured to determine a present volumetric flow rate through the centrifugal pump from the relationship data and the measured present axial force and the measured present rotation speed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.