In handing ifficult stares, the process can trequcntly be ii proved by eliminatiig the need for seal water in the stuffing box Jn the production of water-soluble ‘pulash, Jor example, any add ional waler introduced in the course of processing the ore: rhust eventually be temoved, 1a Ing the cost of the already expensive chemical compound. Even where dilution of the prodbel with Mash water is 90 special concern, clean water may be hard to come by. And packing may fail quickly tora abraswe slutty particles making their way into the stufting box eel Expeller slurry pump: sealed without water. widso cp BYSEy Davidson For trese reasons. a waterless seal would be a very welonme ‘adaition 10.4 shuey pump line. OF Course, improperly lished me- Ghanical seals have very hited ite expectancy in an abresive fenviconment. But whal about a fhydrodynemic seal in which seal ing pressure is created by an expeller? Ths concept rela fiely simple but oesignng @ ractical seal f0 work over @ Tangs of heads and capacities 6 ‘nore complicated, 1a hs article, Considerations inthe develoo: iment of Worthington’ hydro) ‘namical sealed expelier pump are described Gary Davidson is supervisor of research al Worlhinglon Canada, Inc. Branttora. ras been working for several years to perfect a practical system of expeller shaft sealing. The resut: a series of hydiodynainically sealed TMX" expeller pumps has bes added to our service-proved line of hard-melal slurry pumps. Presently, "MIX" slurey pumps are available in sizes trom 2/2- 10 12-inch (60 mn: 10-300 mm) disc! capacities to 10, mem) and heads to 300 (96 feet (50m), No-water, low-maintenance seal A hydrody 1 has distinct advantages over conventianal 8 cli for a continu fous flush water supply to purge the stuffing box of ingressing solids and ‘contaminants, it also elmminates the ssociated seal water supply sy3- lem, including purip, mator, 00 lols. valves, piping, and fittings The clean water which is not ur for flusbing is available lor othec process use. And, of course, there sna product dilution, and so no additional dewatering is required at the end of the proce: A second group of advantages relates to maintenance. The hard meta: expeller is designed as an integral part of the pump, wilh the same reliability and dependability as ofner components. White me chanical seals do rol lend them selves to abrasive slurry service and packing must frequentiy be adjusted or repl el works maintena verely worn, Maintenance for the pump is therelore limited to oeca- sional impeller axial clearance adjustments or the replacement ‘of worn parts, A Principle of operation. The physics governing expeller operation are straightforward. AS the expeller rotates within, a con: fined cavity, the vanes itopart forces (6 the mixiure of fluid-and solids ‘within the cavity, causing if fo rotatesome radial ameter within thy 12 ‘about the shat ina manner similar “te alorced vortex, Contnfugal ac fion assosialed aith this roition figs the more outward. but tbe “bxpeller housing boundaries con- ‘ine the eutward motion ‘The net resuiit of this action is the creation of a low-pressure ares. - about the shaft. Air ils the region” “of fow pressure, and a concentric. ‘niulure-Gas interlace is formed at “bépelier vanes. This interface Sssential, asi forms a distinct ‘Barer between the modure ania shalt oiects the stale Sa ‘Yom expsaure to abrasives duting pump operation The interface may form at various radial distances from the shat, ce pending on the concitions of ‘operation, since ils diameter is de- termined by a halance of pressures, ie. the sealing pressure generated by ihe expeller and the opposing pressure generated vathin the pump Casing, The interlace diameter can be determined from a knowledge of expeller geometry, speed of rt fion, density of the mixture, and pressure to be sealed In Figure 4, the mixture to be sealed has a pressure P,, atthe hub Othe impeller back shroud. AS the mixture floods the smooth face of the foiating expeller a pressure rise occurs because of viscous pump ing action attributable lo disk friction. The mixture pressure Is in- creased to a value P, at the tip radius of the expeller. Pressure P, is balanced by permitting the mixture to partially flood the vaned side of the expeller to a racial location r Presence of a gas pressure (nor mally alirosphenc}, along the shat ‘on the vaned sice of the expeller, ‘completes the pressure balance. The sum of the interface pressure P, and the pressure rise developed in the rotating ing of mixture on the vvaned side of the expeller must equal the lip pressure P, in equi Notium coneitions. The location of the mixture-gas interface alr, ean Expeller operation at a glance. | El. An orpaier 6 a hyatoayname sealig doves tonestna oh ‘avant disk ropllg an the parip shall. wich generates @ | Pothoe seal head acfoas ta vanes The expeller s _Boslioved in arpelal hovsing fosated befina the convention ‘Bump mipelerand the tran wall oF he housing separates the Saxpelet cay torn the pimp casing The action cl te {ofeing expelet vanes forces al tquid-aid sok matenats in ‘ha housing aay Yorn he shalt mantaring ay atea abou tha shail essentially a pump scat “The explo the pomary sealing device, and as fond as the Patnp operating, Keeps Ih shat ynonwcally Sealed ‘A packed siuling bor acts at a seconslary stahe Soal fe ‘PIB laakage wiion Ihe piup shut down13 G Fore 3 phe bbe altered by changing P,, for a po given seal geometry and a fixed muling.oecnead © totational speed, pte wosrpiate : : __ Designing a working seal. ro eee ‘ The primary task in designing Strand paras Bach set gla a hydrodynamic seal for a particular ort stekc ane osuand io sees pumpapplcation thal of evaluat. ae ing the pressure rise devalopad on both the smooth andi vaned sicles of the expeller for a predesignated| rmixture-gas interlace diameter This is accomplished by ana Iy2ing all of the external forces acting on an elernental fluid volume dV, between two consec: tive otting vanes. By ecuating pessuste forces to fugal ‘orces exerted on the fluid ele: ment, an ordinary differential ‘equation is obtained, the solution of which yields: {PrP iI where: density of fluc or mixture angular velocity of shaft g = gravitational constant F = racial distance fom shaft centerline ‘This is an expression for pressure rise across the vanes for an ideal hid and neglects the effects due to the rotating inner annulus of ait. To ac count for real fluid elfects and devia: tions from sale) boay rotation, a vane coefficient based ypon experimental data is nftoduced. The actual pressure rise across the annulus of rotating mixture on the vaned side of : the expeller becom PPh = Ke pot x (2-2) 2a eae The vane coefficient K,, is an be indication of vane eltectveness ex: pressed as the amount of “tlic Sip er ‘This is often denoted as (Bie) Some toueing ‘where B is the actual iuid angular veloaiy in the expaller cavity, For ‘he Worthington expeller io is very lose fo the ideal value of unity Similatly, the pressure rise actos14 Figure 2 — Distribution of sealing pressure developed by impelter and expeller vanes. the flooded smooth side of the expeller may be expressed asi [P,-P,Jsmooth=K, pu? x (rn? ~n2) disk 3g Once again, K, is determined experimentally and is considerably less than Ke, The total pressure P.., generated by the expeller is the difference between the pressure generated on the vaned side and the smooth side, Expeller power requitements can be calculated from shaft speed, torque (via a torque coetticient related to the height of the vane} ‘and the ratio of interlace radius to expeller tip radius Optimizing the seal. ‘An important question for design ot the specific pumps is. "To what outer vane diameter should the ex. peiler be restricted?” The pressure ranges the expeller must seal against need Io be clearly estab~ lished in order to keep the interface within a realistic range of radii — especially since the energy needs ct the expeller are proportional to the fifth power of tip radius. Figure 2 illustrates the distibution 6 pressures arising trom the impel. lerand expeller vanes, Ina pump, the expeller must seal agains! the pressure al the hub of the back shroud of the impeller. This pressure is transmitted through the mixture, along the shalt to the smooth face of the expeller. Jn conventionally sealed pumps this would be called the stuffing box pressure (SBP). Its magnitude de- pends on several factors. such as the suction head (6.4). the (otal ° developed head (TO. j, which is a function of speed and capacity, and the elfectiveness of the back shroud pump-cut vanes at generating a sealing pressure (®,,,.). A value for P, can be determined from an equation of the following form: P= (Constant xTDH, + SH) xp ~ Pra where the constant is a fraction whish can be determined experimentally or any pump geomety This means thal when all ther parameters remain constant:@ 1. As capacity is decreased at a fixed operating speed, the pres- sure which the expeller must seal against is increased, 2. As suction pressuite is increased, the total pressure wich the expel ler must seal agains! is increase 3. As pump-out vane etectiveness deteriorates due fo vane wear and impeller axial clearance adjust ment, the expeller must seal againsl a orealer pressure. ‘These were some of the param. ters requiring definition, to assure a satislactory seal against all stuffing box pressutes which might be met in service, The resulting optimized expeller to impeller ciameter ratio results in_a purnp tine that maintains a functional seal over a wide pressure range—even under high-suction pressures—with lowast possible expenditure of eneray. © Part of a proven pump fine. The expeller pump was designed tose the greatest number of exist- ing pump pats, fo take advantage of the well-proved reliability and efficiency of Worthington slurry ppump ling, and fo maintain interchangeataliy, AS a result, the ‘Worthington expeller package can ready be ettaties inthe field and served ftom the same basic spare paris inventory. Figute 3 is a sectional view of the ‘expeller shury pump. The expeller fils ewer the shaft and is mounted on the end of the shaft sleeve. The impeller is then tveaded onto the ‘eng of the shall, securing the expel ler femly in place, The expeller housing is a single piece casting which mates with the: easily replaceable expeller wear plate. The housing fis ever the expeller and into the sting box head. The stuffing box head, which can house an optional grease-lu- Caled static seal system, tts into the bearing frame flange, and the casing bots tightly clamp the entire assembly in piace The entie liquid end, bearing 15 come stoncad | Sem expaler vase Effect of expeller unit on 3-inch slurry pump performance.16 Figure 5— New expelter pump undergoes fests in the lab at Brantiord. ime, and bearing cartridge sembly are the same as the standard, service-proved type M slurry pump. The expelier packs is very easily installed in the pump. Each standard bearing rame has tho samo size expeller fori liquic-end options, and the greatest sealing pressure is ablained by selecting the smallest figuid end of that frame size. Wear-resisting materials. All expeller components subject lo wear are made from hard metal ranging ftom 800 ta 600 Briel to provide the greatest resistance to abrasive wear which results from low-angle particle impingement Tiie material has been proved in conventional slurry pumps for many ‘The expeller parts have sufficient ‘wear allowance to ensure a service lite comparable with ar better than the liquic-end parts to avoid need for premature disassembly Efficiencies stay high. Of course. you don't get some: thing or nothing. While saving on flush water and associated pump ing costs. plus dewatering and it energy costs, an expeller pump is slighty reduced in overall ellicienoy pecause of the small ammount of additional power required to m: tain an effective seal, As Figure 4 ilustrates, the addition of the e peller has no ettect on the head: capacity curve. Expeller pawer con sumption is minimized by optimiz. ing vane shape, vane height, rt bor of vanes, and expeller diameter. The small debit to efficiency should quickty be reclaimed in overall lenance savings, reduced dow time, and elimination of flush water supply and associated equipment Process applications. Worthington’s hydrodynamically sealed slurry pump offers the best of both worlds: a new and improved seal system, combined with proved dopondiabilty of our existing suc- cessful slurry pump line. The expeller pump should he consic ered for any application where abrasive partic frequent upply is limited, and where dilution of the pumped mature cannot be tolerated. I shouls find many ap- plications in the potash, coal, and ‘copper processing industries,