OVERHAULING CLARIFIER SUPPLY PUMP (1-BRAVO)

Reviewed By: Yusaf Razi Clarifier supply pump at LalPir is a double suction volute pump, having its suction port and delivery port in the same horizontal plane. The pump is designed such that it can be divided in its horizontal plane containing shaft center into two parts so as to facilitate disassembly and reassembly work without disconnecting the both suction and discharge pipelines. The pumps motor is controlled by a VFD and is the most used of the three pumps. Hence a complete overhaul of the pump to ensure maximum running time without failure is economically viable.

Figure 2 Old Pump Rotor

The impeller of the pump had undergone pitting, and hence had to be replaced. Other major components of the pump were replaced as well and the list of those components is shown below.

Figure 1 Pitting on Previous Impeller The radial clearance between the casing wear ring and impeller need to be adjusted to allow proper sealing without the two of them making contact with each other. The design diametrical clearance needs to be 0.5-0.6mm. We installed the impeller onto the shaft and let the wear rings rest on it. Then using a feeler gauge, we checked for the clearance between the impeller and the wearing at the bottom. This reading came out to be 0.5mm (diametrical). The wear ring was slightly machined to increase the clearance to 0.6mm. Once the radial clearances were adjusted, the rotor was assembled in MMD workshop, then taken to the site. The rotor was lifted and placed on top of the pump lower housing.

Figure 3 Determining Radial Clearance

The casing halves, bearing housings, coupling hubs and other components were thoroughly cleaned. The area which supports the casing wear ring was cleaned using a scrapper to aid the wear ring in setting properly. To center the shaft on the pump casing, bearings were used. The bearings were heated to 110oC using bearing heater to allow them to press fit on the shaft. As the bearings sit on their respective position in the bearing housing, the shaft aligns itself axially on the pump.

Figure 4 (Left) Installation of Rotor

(Right) Central Aligning of the Impeller

After the shaft was axially positioned, the impeller was aligned centrally inside the volute casing using the shaft nuts (slacking on one side and tightening it the other). It was made sure that the gap between the impeller and the wall of the volute is same on either sides of the impeller. Once the impeller was in center, the shaft nuts were secured in position using the grub screws. The radial clearances were verified after placement of the rotor. The pumps upper half was lifted and placed on top of lower half. This was done in order to check for free rotation of the pump rotor. In the first attempt, the rotation of the rotor did not occur easily using hands. This was because of the contact formed between the casing wear ring and the impeller wear ring. To rectify the problem, the pump casings area where the wear ring settles was thoroughly cleaned again with a scrapper to make sure the wear ring does not touch the impeller and seize it when the casings upper half is placed. After fixing the issue, the upper casing was finally placed on top.

Figure 5 Placing Top Casing Once the pump was assembled, the coupling hub was installed on the shaft on the pump. The coupling gap between the pump and motor was small, hence the motor had to be lifted and moved away before the coupling hub could be slid on to the shaft. The coupling hub was heated to 200oC. Finally the alignment was performed between the pump and motor shaft.

Figure 6 Packing

Figure 7 Alignment in Progress

Pump/Motor Shaft Alignment Date & Time = 12th Dec, 2013, 10:00 am 12 Oclock = 0.00 mm

9 Oclock = 0.02 mm

3 Oclock = -0.01 mm

6 Oclock = 0.01 mm Figure 8 Radial Alignment

12 Oclock = 0.00 mm

9 Oclock = -0.01 mm

3 Oclock = -0.01 mm

6 Oclock = -0.02 mm Figure 9 Axial Alignment