ALL ABOUT CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS

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Centrifugal Pump Installation Consideration

Figure 11-14 shows a typical mechanical flowsheet for two centrifugal pumps installed in parallel. It is presented to illustrate some of the considerations necessary for a good pump installation. Every installation has different objectives and very few will be exactly like this one. The suction piping is sized for about 2-3 ft/sec and the discharge piping for about 5-6 ft/sec. Although suction and discharge velocities are not as critical for centrifugal pumps as for reciprocating pumps, field experience indicates lower maintenance when the velocities are kept below this range.

Each pump has isolation valves to enable it to be maintained while the other is running. Because of the possibility that a discharge valve could be left open while a suction valve is closed, the suction line up to and including the block valve should be rated for discharge pressure. As an alternative, a relief valve could be installed in each pumps suction piping. A check valve is installed in each pumps discharge to prevent reverse rotation of the pump when it is not operating and its isolation valves are open.

A throttling valve (FCV) is installed to control flow without having to start and stop the pumps. It is also possible to start and stop one or both pumps based on level in the feed tank or to use a variable speed driver to control pump speed on level. Since it is possible for the throttling valve to close or for a pump to be started with a blocked discharge, a minimum flow bypass with an orifice (RO) sized to provide sufficient flow to avoid overheating the pump is installed. The bypass is piped back to the tank for further cooling, but this requires a valve on the bypass line that could be left closed, and it does not protect the pump from a closed suction valve. It would be possible to protect against these problems by piping the recycle directly back to the pump suction. The drawback of this type of bypass is that with the short loop from discharge to suction, the liquid will eventually overheat. The continuous bypass effectively reduces theefficiency of the pump. On large installations it could be attractive to install a pressure control valve on the pump discharge that would only bypass liquid when the pump discharge pressure approached the shut-in pressure. There is much debate on which scheme to use. It is common to install low- and high-pressure switches in the discharge line (PSHL). The low-pressure switch usually has a delay for start-up. If the pump starts against a closed valve, the pressure will reach the high setting, and the switch will shut the pump down and trigger an alarm that indicates the reason for the shutdown. If the suction valve is closed, the pump pressure will remain low until the low-pressure switch delay expires, and the pump will be shut down. If a large leak develops in the piping downstream of the pump and the pressure drops below the normal operating range, the low-pressure switch will sense the abnormal pressure and shut-in the pump. The pump is provided with vent and drain connections and a cone-type strainer (SP-1) for startup. Piping must be arranged to allow removal and replacement of the strainer and to allow easy access to the pump for maintenance.

Seals
Seals are necessary to prevent leakage at the point where the shaft enters the pump case. The most inexpensive seal is made of packing material that acts as a pressure breakdown device. Packing must be flexible and capable of being compressed for proper operation. Packing material may be made of flexible metallic strands with graphite or oil lubricant impregnation. Asbestos is another material that was common in the past, and though its use has decreased, there are applications where asbestos is the only choice, especially in very-high-temperature service. Besides low cost, packing has the advantage of being easy to replace. However, it has the disadvantages of requiring both some small leakage rate for proper operation, and continuous adjustment as it wears. Packing is generally limited to water service where leakage can be tolerated.

Mechanical seals provide a continuous contact between two flat sealing surfaces located on a plane perpendicular to the shaft centerline as shown in Figure 11-13. They have the advantage of essentially eliminating the leakage rate under normal conditions, requiring less frequent adjustment and maintenance, and no run-in time. Besides higher initial and operating

costs than packing, they have the disadvantage that when failure occurs it tends to be swift and with large leakage.

There are several types of mechanical seal arrangements. Unbalanced seals are used for pressures less than 150 psi. Balanced seals are used for pressures in excess of 50 psi. A throttle bushing is a restrictive bushing or sealing device designed to limit flow out of the seal in the event of failure. Since a leaking seal will increase pressure between the seal and throttle bushing, throttle bushings are used whenever a seal failure alarm is required. Tandem seals are used in critical service where leakage due to seal failure must be prohibited. They are constructed of two seal assemblies acting in series and separated by a buffer fluid at less pressure than the sealing pressure. Should the primary seal fail, the pressure or reservoir level in the buffer fluid system would increase, triggering an alarm. There is normally a throttle bushing and alarm downstream of the secondary seal to provide warning of secondary seal failure as well.

Double seals are used in toxic services where a pressurized clean seal fluid is designed to leak into the lower pressure process should there be a failure in the primary seal. A throttle bushing and alarm downstream of the seal between the clean fluid and the atmosphere is normally installed to warn of failure of this seal. In order to clarify seal type descriptions with a concise and brief technique an API Seal Classification Code is used. It is a five-letter code described by: First Letter B = Balanced U = Unbalanced Second Letter S = Single D = Pressurized dual (double) T = Unpressurized dual (tandem) Third Letter P = Plain end plate seal gland T = Throttle bushing seal gland Fourth Letter Gasket material, see Table 11-2 Fifth Letter Face material, see Table 11-3

For example, a BTPFL seal is a balanced, tandem seal with plain end plate, fluoroelastomer O rings, a carbon steel seal ring, and a tungsten carbide-1 mating seal ring. API 610 establishes standard piping systems for mechanical seals. These systems provide a flushing fluid across seal faces, establish flow paths for various seal configurations and establish location for components (e.g., coolers, reservoirs, pressure switches). Table 11-4 is a general guide to seal usage to provide a starting point for making a cost-benefit decision for any installation.

Bearings
Ball bearings transmit a load from a rotating surface to a fixed surface via a series of rotating balls. They are generally inexpensive, do not require any separate lubrication system, and can be designed to be selfaligning. However, they have limited ability to handle thrust, high loads, or high speeds. Roller bearings transmit load from a rotating surface to a fixed surface via a series of rotating cylinders. They have high thrust capability, and do not require any separate lubrication system. However, like ball bearings they have a limited load/speed capability. Hydrodynamic sleeve bearings (journal bearings) transmit the load through a thin oil film between a rotating shaft and a fixed bearing surface. They are particularly well suited for high load/speed applications. API 610 requires them on all barrel pumps when the product of the bearing diameter in millimeters times the pump speed in rpm exceeds 500,000 or when the product of pump rated horsepower and pump rpm exceeds 5.4 million. Sleeve bearings have long lives because there is no rubbing between surfaces and they provide some degree of vibration dampening. However, they require a continuous, contaminant-free oil system and have no thrust capability. Hydrodynamic thrust, or Kingsbury bearings, are the most expensive. The load is transmitted through a thin oil film between a rotating shaft and a fixed bearing surface that consists of multiple pads that tilt. These bearings have all the advantages of sleeve bearings, but in addition they have high thrust loading capability.

Centrifugal Pump Codes and Standards

The two common codes used for centrifugal pumps are API-610 Centrifugal Pumps for General Refinery Services and ANSI B73.1 Specifications for Horizontal, End Suction

Centrifugal Pumps for Chemical Process. The API is more stringent in design requirements and quality control and is normally used for critical services where reliability is important. Table 11-1 shows a comparison of some of the major requirements of these two standards. It can be seen that the API requirements are more stringent. ANSI pumps, or ANSI type pumps for pressure ratings in excess of the 150 Class, are less expensive and much more readily available. Wherever service conditions allow, considerable savings and time are possible by specifying an ANSI pump.

Centrifugal Pump Specific Speed

In comparing similar centrifugal pumps it is often useful to use a parameter called specific speed. For similar designs major pump dimensions are proportional to specific speed. Thus, if the performance curve is known for one pump, it can be estimated for another pump of similar design but different impeller diameter. The specific speed is given by the following formula:

A pumps specific speed is always calculated at its point of maximum efficiency. It is not a dimensionless number, so that it is critical that the units used in calculating the specific speed be known. Specific speed is used by pump designers to help determine the required impeller geometry. The lower the specific speed, the more the impeller shape will approach true radial flow. The higher the specific speed, the more closely the impeller needs to approach true axial flow. Specific speed is also useful in estimating maximum attainable pump efficiency. This is done from Figure 11-4, which is published by the Hydraulic Institute. This figure is useful to help estimate brake horsepower and to help validate vendors quoted efficiencies.

Multipump Pump Installations

In designing multiple centrifugal pump installations it is necessary to keep in mind the interaction between the pump curves and the system curve. That is, throughput cannot be doubled by adding an identical pump in parallel, and head is not doubled by adding an identical pump in series.

The effect of adding two identical pumps in parallel can be seen in Figure 11-1. Curve A is the pump curve for one pump. Curve B is constructed by doubling the flow rate at a given head to show how the pumps behave in parallel operation. Curve C shows a system curve where the addition of the second pump adds only about 50% to system throughput. Curve D shows a steeper system curve where the system throughput is only increased about 20%.

Figure 11-2 shows the effect of installing two pumps in series. Curve A is the head-flow-rate curve for one pump. The combined curve for both pumps, B, is constructed by doubling the head of Curve A at each value of flow rate. The benefit of the additional pump can be seen by inspecting the intersection of the system curves, C and D, with the pump curves.

The choice of whether to add an additional pump in series or in parallel is illustrated by Figure 11-3. If the system curve is shallow, more throughput is obtained from parallel

operation. If the system curve is steep, more throughput can be obtained by series installation.