Inducer for a submersible pump for pumping a slurry containing solids and viscous fluids and method of designing same

An inducer for a submersible slurry pump configured to pump a slurry containing solids and viscous fluids, the pump including an impeller having an impeller blade height, the solids having a maximum diameter equal to the impeller blade height of the pump, the inducer configured to be positioned within a casing of the pump and mountable to a drive shaft of the pump so as to be adjacent to and immediately upstream of the impeller mounted on the drive shaft, wherein the inducer and impeller are rotated on the drive shaft in a direction of rotation, the inducer comprising:

• a hub,
• at least two and no more than four inducer blades mounted to and extending axially along the hub, the inducer blades extending outwardly from and wrapping helically around the hub, the hub and the inducer blades thereby defining a plurality of channels, each channel of the plurality of channels bounded by the hub, the inducer blades, a plurality of impeller blades and an inner surface of the casing,
• wherein a trailing edge of each blade of the inducer blades is configured so as to be positioned snugly adjacent to and in fluidical alignment with a leading edge of each corresponding blade of a plurality of impeller blades of the impeller when the inducer is mounted on the drive shaft of the pump, such that a velocity curve of the slurry is substantially smooth as the slurry travels from a leading edge of the inducer blades to the leading edge of the plurality of impeller blades.