Practice & Operations The Power of Wear Rings Robert Aronen, Boulden International Puma Understand the Lomakin Effect nil abe ce apa wa: ppg R irre nn Ee ot Non Amer a ov than 20 yes ade makes Ue sas fp ain iat De cua Spor pela te 97 tprothetakofinacing requestor i ecco ne mpl upgade har can be pred athe dn of epi theimaaono ronment reduedGearnce With 50 percent of the API recommended minimum standard. This change increases pump reliability, ficiency and safery Pare 1 ofthis series will address the reliability benefits. Pare 2 will address efficiency gains, and Pare 3 will address safey. This upgrade is not new; bur during the pase few years, installing nonmetallic wea ings has becomea standatd upgrade for many proces plants. After nearly two decades of field experience, nonmecallic wear tings have become part of che industry standavd, APY 610 1th Edition (190137082009) Curia Pamper Paro, Prchemta aed | LP Ps [Natural Gut Industries, cecognizes the use of nonmetallic weat tings with reduced clearance. Flow velocity (v) | The Lomakin Effect Reducing the wear ring clearance in a centrifugal pump is a signi cant reliability upgrade because it increases rotor damping and sifness | Jn the pump. In more practical vem decreases vibration and shafe deflection s, reducing wear ring clearance The relatiouslifp betwocr shalt deflection and reliability: ie chaicly dearance fe) known, Unfortunately tha wasn aways tre. The pump design of the 1960s, 19706 and 1980s didnot anticipate curent standards for reliability and mechanical seal performance. The main problem with these older pumps is thatthe shafis are typically to lang, too thin and - 100 flexible. ‘This results in excessive shaft deflection and inadequate ‘mechanical sel life. The members of the APC G10 committe recognized the Nave of older designs and from API 610 7ch Edition onward have imple- Eau ‘mented design requirements to minimize shafé deflection. For new Tock ol eo de rene the wear rings. PUMPS & SYSTENS reprint ‘wwe pump-zane. V2) results ee er res ee ete omens 2 mance 2011 ‘warpump-zone.corn '@ PUMPS & SYSTEMS reprintCase Studies “The reliability impact ftom reduced wear ring. | clearance has been documented in numer ‘ous case studies during the past two decades. | A recent scudy looked at repair data, vibra tion daca and seal leakage data for 61 pumps installed in a North American refinery The data was compiled for several years before the instalation of composite wear tings with reduced dlearance and for an equal period after the conversion (Aronen, Boulden, Russck). “The results are shown in Table 1. ‘After the coaversion to composite wear sings with reduced clearances, the pumps were significantly more reliable, ran with lower vibra- tion and experienced fewer seal leaks. Several cother individual ease studies have shown simi- Jar results. Studies of older pumps have shown [Ea overall vibration levels reduced by as much as 90 percent (Komin, 1985). Other studies have shown increased life and/or reduced vibrations in hydrocarbon (Pledges), boiler feed water (Aronen, Phiaier, Sinclait) and condensate services (DuPont) matin Sites Coofient 000 ono 02 0030 0.040 0050 0060 Figure 4 Inverse relationship of Lomakin stfiness coefficient to wear ring clear = ‘07 0089 0050 0100 Wea Ring clearance inches) “This upgrade can be of particular benefic with older designs. A 1997 paper highlighted the upgrade of sev- | ‘eral two-stage overhung pumps. The results from these upgrades showed increased performance, reduced vibra tion and increased mean time berween repair (MTBR) (Puanps and Sytems). Even though the «wo-stage over hung design is now considered obsolete, many of these pumps continue wo operate because replacement with a between-bearings design is cose prohibitive Cost of Upgrade Upgrading with composive wear rings is pos- errr Se Annual Repairs erry 45 percent decrease in repairs sibly the most cost-effective way to improve the rliaility of existing pumps. The upgrade | Tovey ‘Average Overall Vibration 25 percent decrease in overall vibration ‘can be performed as part of a standard repair, does not eypially require additional machin- ery modifications and should not add sub- services) ‘Annual seal leaks (VOC. 67 percent decrease in recorded seal leaks stantial time or complexity to the repat. ‘The upgride cost of composite wear rings is primarily the added expense of an advanced composite material in place of a traditional mats~ tial, such as 400 series stainless steel, case iron or bronze, The cost varies widely based on the type and size of the pump. For example, the added cost of composite material fora small, single-stage pump should be less chan $1,000. Whereas, for a large, multi-stage pump, a composite material upgrade can cost more than $15,000. Keeping in mind chs huge variation, experience suggests thac the average cose of a composite wear ring upgrade i the range of $3,000. At this price, a large process facility, such asa refinery oF petrochemical plant, could upgrade 50 pumps ‘Table 1. Results from Refinery Study of 61 Pumps per year for about $150,000. Afera few years, the facility will have upgraded several hundred pumps and have much more reliable purmping capability. ‘Compare this tothe price of the other upgrade options that can increase shaft siffness,new pumps oF major mechani- cal retrofits («ypically provided by che OFM of 2 qualified Independent puinsp shop). These other aematives can sub- stantially increase pump reliability and in certain situations they ate absolutly necessary. Unfortunately, they cost much ‘more than an upgrade with composite wea rings, limiting the numberof servies where these upgeades are justified. Part One continues on page 6 2 PUMPS & SYSTEMS reprint ‘wer pump-zone-com MARCH 2011 3Ca Practice & Operations _ The Power of Wear Rings: Efficiency Robert Aronen, Boulden International With a 50 percent decrease in clearance, efficiency is increased by 2 to 4 percent. Second of Three Parts pump reliability by increasing rotor stabilisy—reduc- ing vibration and shaft deflection—thereby increas- ing the life of the mechanical seals. Parc Two examines the impace of pump wear ring clearance on pump efficiency. For decades, pump designers have known that increas ing wear fing clearance leads o a loss of efficiency. However, pe One of this series discussed how wear rings impact with metal wear rings, even the minimum clearance a speci- fied by APIG10 is subseantal, Because the clearance cannot be reduced bervicen ro metal ings without an increased risk of pump seiaure, metal wear rings limit pump efficiency Using non-meallic wear rings, the metal-ro-metl inter: faces within the pump can be eliminated, and wear ring clea ance can generally be reduced by 50 percent. This chang produces a significant improvement in pump efficiency Pump Efficiency Impact Wear tings act asa sal between the high-pressure and low- pressure regions within a pump. Leakage past the wear rings (Q) tecieculates within the impeller as shown in Figure The operators only see the Raw coming out of the pump (Q). The tol energy consumption of the pump, however, isa function of Q + Q—the total low through the impeller (Lobanoff, Ross). Obviously, if we reduce the wear ring clearance, we reduce Q, and therefore reduce the power required to obtain the same foe (Q) from the pump. As we wll se, Q is often a substantial percentage ofthe total flow within the impeller. The relationship beeween Q and Q. is a function ofthe ‘pump specific speed (N), which describes the hydraulic per formance of a pump. The calculation i Ny, = RPM x (GPM He Where RPM. = rotations per minute GPM = gallons per minute low at best eciency point (BEP) HH = Pump head in feec at BEP eed Pumps with low specific speed values are said to have ‘radial ow” impellers. These pumps pur up high heads at relatively low flow rates—such as boiler fed water pups. Conversely: pumps with high specifi sped values ae sid to have “aval flow” impellers. These pumps put up love heads with large flow rates—for example, eooling water pumps. The relationship beween eficiency, wear ting clar- ance and specific speed has becn well documented. In 1946 Stepanof published a chare showing the effieney loss fora single-stage, double-suction pump with a doublin ring clearance as function of specific speed. In 19 published a similar char fora single-suetion pump show ing the efficiency loss when wear rng clearance increased for pumps of various specific speeds Tf we take this data and use i 0 estimate the effictency gain from a 50 percent reduction in elearance, we can plot the data on a curve (Figure 2). Next, we can compate ret data and field studies to the chat, Several studies provide enough information to ealeu- Jate the pump specific speed, show the degree 10 which the clearance was reduced and quantily che effcieney gain, Some of these studies are field case studies, and some are from pamp test stands, The data is shown in Table 1 4 AeRL2011 w sv pump-2ane €om ' PURIPS & SYSTEMS reprintTo compare this data to the plot shown in Figure 2, the last three values muse be adjusted to approximate ‘what would occur with @ 50 percent reduction in clear- ance, Because leakage flow is mostly linear with clearance, wwe can approximate the effcieney gain at a 50 percent reduction in clearance by using a linear extrapolation of the efficiency gain. For example for che data poine Test Stand 2, 2 50 percent reduction in clearance should produce neatly double the elicency gain of the 27 per- «ent reduction in clearance which was used in the actual test, Making these adjustments, the cure fiom Figure 2 matches quite well wich the fed and tese stand data (Figure 3). Bear in mind that Figure 3 shows the efficiency gain from a 50 percent reduction in wear ring learance com- pared to the API minimum clearance for pump running | SUre® Pump Specific | % Reduction | % Efficiency ar BEP. Several other situations exist in which efficiency epee | Enicieerances| Eee gains wll be substantially larger, such ast Field Study A 1,000 50% 5% * Mulkistage pumps, which have multiple leak paths in [Field Study 8 1.500 50% 22% aidion to he wei sings and xing he cewanceat Peet Sta 71.500 20% 25% + Pumps forth the wear igelerancecanbe (Test Stand ce i ae reduced by more than 50 percent Test Stand 3 500 78% 70% + Pumps for which reducing the clearance also mitigates cs Savings Reducing the wear ring clearance to 50 percent ofthe API stan- dard will save a plane a substantial amount of money. Consider a a population of pumps with toca online horsepower of 25,000 oaumes hhorsepower—typical for 2 100,000-barrel-per-day refinery. A parents 3 percent efficiency gain over the entire pump population wil ei decrease power usage by 4.9 million kilowate hours. Annual Tent? savings will be a function of the local cost of power (Table 2). . —= “rma “These swings do not include local incentives for reducing power onsumpion or oder ving cht avidng the need for a new substation, Cavitation Reducing the internal leakage within the pump also reduces the net positive suction head required (NPSHR). Therefore, pumps wich redueed wear ring clearance are ls likely to eavi- tate, This was the topic of an entire article in Props ¢ Sens, July 2009, (Henshaw). The arsele included a complete pump, ‘curve showing the impact of reduced clearance on all aspeets of | ‘pump performance (Figure 4), ‘At BER, the NPSHR was almost 10 fect lower after the wear ring clearance was reduced. For most pumping, systems, the only other way to create such a large amoune of addivional NDSH margin is to increase the height ofthe suction vesel. Conclusions For typical process pumps, reducing wear ing clearance by 50 percent will produce an efficiency gain in the range of 2 «0 4 eee ed ee $0.05 $245,000, 80.075 $367,000 $0.10 $490,000) 30.125 ‘$612,000 percent, The exact gain will be related to the pumps specific speed, the pump type, how much the clearance ean be reduced and where the pump operates on the curve, In addition co the clfceney gain, che pump will also have a lower NPSHR at most low rates, reducing the rsk of cavitation, which will pro- vide additional reliability and efficiency improvement. 1 PUMPS & SYSTEMS reprint ‘we pump-zonecom| ‘apa 2011 5cs Practice & Operations 7a So far, his series has explored the reliability and efficiency benefits of using non-metallic wear rings with reduced clear- ance. Nexe month, Part Three (the last installment) will exam- ine the safety aspects of upgrading pumps with non-meralli ‘wear rings Reference: ‘Ameria Perle Ine, AP Standard 610 1th Ein, (1S013709), (Cofgal Pap for Peele, Pate, Nato! GPa is Seprembee 2010 Azone, Re Pst, D. and Sint D,“Buldng Bete Boer Feat ump” Pans aS, Nocnber 207 Block 1.2: Gate EK Pca Nui aneemet fi Pe ‘Pr, dne 4 Ngo Pres Eien aan pa, alt Paling, Howcon 185 ‘Gren Tuced,Rubpurp, 203 “Cae Sid: Pap Sons” Heya, "Ele of ternal Clesnces on STAR” Pp oad Ste Jul 203 Komi RP, 129 Inpsoving Pup Rely in Ligh Hyco nd ‘Condens Serice Wit Net Filed Graphite Wi Tura” Peng fie Sct rail Pop Use Span. Tuhamachiney {aiaton, Tass A&M Une, Clg Suton, Teas p95 Laban VS: Rom RR: Cofigt Pomp Den a dpi: Sead aio, Gi ashing Hosen, 192 Mancini M20, "ncesing Pup Relay nd f(a 2° Pag ‘nd Sey, Jamia 309. Peds J Tnprving Pun Pemance 8 Ecky with Compote “War GConpanents Wo op Speer 00 Papa Scns "New Lif Ol ape Pog nd Se May ar Robert Aronen is managing director for Boulden Imernaional in Exrope and the Middle East. He bas worked with nonme- talc wear ring since 198, frst as rotate Bing equipment engineerin a California 4 a ‘refinery and forthe past several years repre- senting DuPont Vopel CR-6100. He hs BSME, 1991 from Rase-Hulman Insitute of Tecnology “He can be reached as robert @bouldencompanycom. Part One continued from page 3 Conclusions Upgrading centrifugal pumps co composite wear rings with reduced clearance is a major reliability upgrade that can be exe- ‘cuted at the time a pump is repaired, The reduction in cleat= ance results in increased shaft stiffness addressing one of the :major problems wich many pumps, particularly older designs, Case studies have shown this upgrade to resale in fewer repairs, lower vibration and fewer mechanical seal leaks, ‘Compared ro other upgrade methods thac improve roror stiffness, composite wear rings offer a cost-effective method of improving reliability for a large population of pumps. Furthermore, this investment pays off nor only in terms of reliability but in reduced energy consumption. The efficiency benefits of this upgrade will be the ropic of Pare 2. Pes References American Peleus. API Sedard 610 11h Eon, (1801370). ‘CefgalPamps or Plea, Perches. and Narra Ge Indra Sepremier 2010, ‘Aone, Ry Boulden, B. and Rusch, M., 207, "Driving Pm Rely Forwaal wich Advanced Compose Wer Ring” Pein ofthe 3rd Inurnarianal Pap Cen Spsiam, Tahomachinry Laboratory, Tess ASEM Unie, College Station, Texas. 1519. Aronen Ry Pitt, Dad Sinclaz D, 2007, Balding a Br Ble Feed Pup.” Ban and Sen, November 287. Daiont, “Tough Compost Bstngs Prove Thee Value Power Man” El 4 Pont de Nemours &¢ Ca, 2008 Fler, 2005 “How to Ensure Old Pumps Hp che Environment." Pimp hgh, Newson Pp Teco. Sms an Servis, Fis Quatet 2005 Komin, RB 1990, “Inpeoving Pump Rll in Light Hydrocarbon and ‘Condensate Service With Me Filled Graphite Wes Parts” Proce ofthe Scene eration! Pap Uses Spi, Taomachnsy Laboratory, Tras A&M Univer, Cle Satin, Teas, p 49-5, Mancini M. 2008, “Inrasing Purp Rely and Life (ar 2)" Pps ‘and Sun, aary 2009 Marche, WD, 2007, "An End Use Guide o Pap Rorondynamiss” Praceding of the 23rd laterionl Pup User Spain, Tarbomachinery Labortoy, Teas ABA Univer, Calle Sain, Tena p. 69483, Pledge J Bs 2001 "Temproving Purp Peformance 8 Eien with ‘Composite Wear Componcs Ward Pars, Number 420 Paar sd Syms, "New Life for OM Pap Alay 1997 Robert Aronen is managing director for Boulden Incemational in Europe and the Middle East. He has worked with nonmeallic wear rings since 1998, first as «4 roxating equipment engineer in California refinery and for the past several years representing DuPons” Vespel” CR5100. He bas a BSME, 1991, from Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology. He ca be reached at robertebouldencompany com 6 MARCH & APRIL 2011 wor pump-zone.com | PUMPS & SYSTEMS reprintThe Power of Wear Rings: Safety Robert Aronen, Boulden Company Nonmetallic wear rings can increase safety by reducing the risk of pump s Third of Three Parts x Oncof hiss aes pct eli Pisin tom a ee real ele eae ae celae clearance. In ¢his fin the safety impact of nonmeallc rings with reduced clearances is examined. ‘Whether a plane uses meral wear rin look at pump wear rings, metallic wear rings, it has a responsibil the necessary safeguards in place ro ensure safe ‘operation. This obligation does nor go away wich nonmetallic wear rings. However, under certain circumstances, nonmetallic wear rings can mitigate the damage from off-design events Pump Seizure are the primary interfice between nd normal operatin ae the wear rings, However, hard contact rings when the pump experiences off-design conditions such as dey running, zero-low operation or an external event—such as a fale beatin berween metal and nonmecllic weae tings. rionary parts in the pump. Under conditions, litle contact occurs ‘occur at the wear These circumstances can expose the difference Metal With metal wear tings, an inherent tsk of seizure exists—high- speed contact between rotating and stationary parts, welding the parts together Seizure isan uncommon failure mode but is highly unde- sirable. When a pump seizes, the rotor often stops abruptly. This can cause broken shafts, failed seals, broken couplings, release of product ro atmosphere and all the other negative con- sequences chat can stem from product release 8 SYSTEMS reprint n.pump-zone.com Figure 1. Impeller after incident To avoid seizure with metal wear rings, API61O recom: mends minimum clearances and “a difference in Brinell harness number of at last 50 unless both [wear] rings have a Brinell hardness number of at least 400, These guidelines reduce but do not eliminate the tsk of Nonmetallic With the use of nonmetallic wear rings, the ordinary metal-co- ctl interfaces within the pump can be eliminated, and clear ances can be reduced. Extensive industry experience has shown. thae nonmetallic materials do not seize in the same manner as metal parts. Therefore, a rapid stopping of the pump rovor Is highly unlikely May 2011 7Practice & Operations a Figure 2. Composite material case wear ring after incident Example Gonsider the impeller shown in Figure 1. A fori object entered the process steam and lodged itself Impeller. The event created very high vibrations and extreme impact loads on the wear rings. Forcunately, this pump was ited with stationary compos- ite wear rings as shown in Figure 2. The operators heard the noise, shut the pump down and put the spare pump into ser- vice without incident. The pump did nor seize. No damage to the major pump components occurred except forthe impeller, and hazardous produce was nor released ro the atmosphere. Wear Ring Clearance Wich metal wear rings, a common practice when faced with pump seizure is to increase the wear ring clearance. As discussed inthe first ovo parts ofthis setcs, increased clearance reduces the reliability and ficiency of the pump. Increased clearance can also lead to “exesive vibration, driver of pump beating failure, shaft breakage, driver overloading and possible total pump destruction,” (Bloch 8¢ Geir, p. 38) ‘Conversely, with reduced sie ring clearance, as discussed in Pare One of this series, the pump rotor will benefic from additional sitfaess and damping, which can seduce vibrations shafe deflection; and the related loads on the cxxcal pump components sich as the bearings, drivers and sels. Material Selection ‘When selecting 2 nonmetallic wear ring material, users should consider what happens to the wear rings during off-design operation. Heavily loaded concace between rotating and sta- tionary parts is likely. As inthe example above, the rings could experience impact loading, I che pump runs dry, heat wil be generated, and potentially, thermal shock may ‘occur when the liquid Row is restore. “To withstand these forces, some ofthe mate~ rial properties wo consider are wear resistance, impact resistance, thermal shock resistance and the coefficient of thermal expansion. No mate- vial is indestructible, but with consideration of the above factors, nonmetallic wea rings should remain intact during ll but che most exteme off- design events Conclusions Centrifugal pumps are generally safe. However, ‘ff design operation can sometimes lead o excen- sive damage due to scizure at the metal weat rings. ‘With metal wea ings, the tradicional sokution has beeen to increase the clearance at the expense of reliability, efficiency and rotor stabil. Nonmesllie materials allow the user co climinate the metako-metal interfaces within the pump and reduce the clearance. This upgrade improves reliability and efficiency, while mini- mizing the risk of seizure and mitigating damage to the pump during off-design events. Conversely, if a plane avoids one ‘major event through the use of nonmetallic wear rings, che sav~ ings from thar one event can easily justify the upgrade of hun- dreds of pumps PEs References American Peokum Inwiut, API Sta 610 1 1¢h Elon, (9013705), (Cnr! Par for Pele, Perch ana Nel Gt nda ‘Sepmber 2010 Bloch HIP & Budi AR, Prop Uy Hob Lift Erin, The Faimone Ps, 2003, Bloch, LR & Gein EK, Pratl Mecinry Menage for Pies ‘len, Vluae 4 Majer Proc Eipment Malaonance and Repair Gull Pblshing, Houson, Tes 1985 ems TEs of lcernl Cleanse on NPSHR Papa Sy, “ly 2005 [Marcin ML “Tncnnsng Pap Relinity nd Life (Pare 2)" Paps aad Sj Janay 200. Mancher WED, "An End User Gide ro Pump Rorodynams” Pcediage (fe 25rd eral Pap Cie Spon, Tarbomachinty Tabor Tous ARM Unies, College Satin, Teas pp 9-83, 2007 ee Boulden International in Europe and the Mids Doe br era eh nome allie wear rings since L998, first as a rosar- ip cee gan el calor A reget te ae ale eed senting Dabo Vope CR S100. He baa ASME, 1991, fom Hse Hulman rin of Tena Has Iori wile tesa & May 2011 wwecpump-zane com ' PUMPS & SYSTEMS reprint