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The Hidden Dangers of Shaft Stiffness

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The pump shaft is the central component of the rotating element and is responsible for transmitting energy to the rotating components. The shaft carries the impellers, sleeves and couplings for the rotating element assembly. The stiffness of the combined assembly is responsible for ensuring that the pump stationary components do not come into contact with the rotating components.

Unfortunately, this is not always achieved and many pump rotors cannot be described as classically stiff. This can have dire consequences for machine reliability, particularly if, during the rotor build process, the technicians are not aware of the subtleties of the machine design.

Source: https://www.pumpsandsystems.com/hidden-dangers-shaft-stiffness

Meet Centaur, Hydro’s Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution

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Hydro, Inc. introduces Centaur, its Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution. Centaur provides users with remote monitoring allowing for operators and engineers to observe equipment performance in real-time enabling predictive analytics, vibration monitoring, and temperature readings to optimize critical asset maintenance strategies.

Centaur offers advanced data analysis support, backed by Hydro’s diversified and unbiased pump knowledge base, which spans across a broad spectrum of manufacturers and designs. With highly customized dashboards and automated alarm notifications, Centaur can alert users before a critical asset experiences a failure or previously unforeseen event.

The benefits realized with Hydro’s Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution are:

  • Real-time data – not dependent on the next route cycle
  • High-frequency data collection – no more missed events or issues
  • Increased safety resources available for data analysis – reducing in-field data collection time increases availability for analysis
  • Customizable alerts and alarms give users the assurance to operate their machines without concern
  • Maintenance schedules can be optimized based on machine condition

For over 50 years, Hydro has been providing customers with creative engineering solutions to complex pump problems. Now, Hydro offers 360° support for customers’ rotating machinery with Centaur: Hydro’s Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution.

Do you have concerns regarding your critical asset reliability? Visit https://hydroinc.com/centaur or call 1-800-223-7867 to learn more about Hydro’s suite of services.

Hydro Australia Opens Pump Repair Service Centre in Darwin

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Hydro Australia - Reverse Engineering & ROMER Arm

Hydro Australia provides a wide range of reverse engineering capabilities and services

Hydro Australia, a Hydro, Inc. company, opened its new pump repair service centre this April, in Darwin. The service centre is located at 23 Beresford Road, Yarrawonga NT 830.

Open from 7:00 AM – 3:30 PM, this service centre joins a team of worldwide pump refurbishment centres. At Hydro’s Darwin location, customers can rely on engineers to help with a wide range of pump challenges.

Do you want to minimize downtime? Do you need engineering consulting? Would you like your pumps to run more efficiently? If yes, Darwin’s service centre is ready to support you with any, and all, pump issues.

For more information, contact Darwin’s Service Centre, at +61 0419 551 911 or visit them online at, hydroaustralia.com.au.

 

Introducing: Hydro Australia from Hydro, Inc. on Vimeo.

How to Diagnose Thrust Pad Failure

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thrust pad failure

Many high-energy multistage machines use thrust compensation devices to limit the amount of axial thrust a bearing must accommodate.

The BB3-style machine (axially split pump) uses its opposed impeller construction to limit thrust, while a BB5 machine (radially split pump) uses a balance drum or disc arrangement to fix the issue.

At the higher end of the pump energy spectrum, despite the use of thrust-limiting devices, there is a need to employ a sleeve tilting pad thrust bearing and lubrication system to handle the axial thrust.

Source: https://www.pumpsandsystems.com/hidden-dangers-shaft-stiffness

Full Refurbishment for Island Refinery

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The process of reopening the plant had uncovered more than 500 pumps that needed considerable refurbishment and repair. The most important of these was a critical jet pump used for hydraulic decoking. It was badly damaged and sent to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for inspection. The OEM recommended that the refinery replace most of the pump parts, as well as a costly repair that would require 35 weeks to rebuild.

Viable alternative

Instead, the refinery sent the pump to global aftermarket pump service provider, Hydro, Inc. in Chicago, where it was refurbished for just over half the cost of the OEM proposal. The time involved was also significantly improved to just eight weeks by using a non-destructive evaluation and rebuild process at a 46,000 ft2 facility where Hydro develops and implements engineering modifications for improving the performance of critical pumps and then verifies that performance in their Hydraulic Institute certified test lab.

Significant reopening

The original refinery opened in the mid-1960s. In the early 1970s, it was re-rated at 650,000 barrels per day. It had been one of the largest refineries in the western hemisphere, so the impact of reopening the plant would be significant. In this case, Hydro was tasked to work with the critical highenergy pump to prepare for its reopening. The new owners began the process two years ago and it is expected that the plant will be open for operation in the first quarter of 2020. Once restarted, the plant will be able to process up to 210,000 barrels per day of oil, a fraction of the 1,500- acre (607-hectare) plant’s peak capacity in the 1970s of 650,000 bpd.

When the plant was shut down, the pumps and other equipment in the refinery were either left in place or went into storage where they were kept in poor condition. Time constraints prohibited proper preventative maintenance before the refinery shut down. The tropical climate is hot, salty, humid, oppressive, and several hurricanes occurred during this time. All of these extreme conditions can contribute to the deterioration of heavy rotating equipment. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 72°F to 88°F and is rarely below 68°F or above 90°F. Continue reading →