Deepwell Pumps

Deepwell pumps normally have the driving motor fitted directly above the drive
shaft. The motors are usually electrical, though hydraulic drives are sometimes
fitted. The motor is coupled to the pump shaft through a flexible coupling.

The drive is transmitted through the bearing arrangement. This is arranged to take
the heavy weight of the shaft line and pump element, which it must support, as well
as thrust from the liquid being pumped during operation. When the pump is not
being run, the shaft should be turned every day to prevent the thrust bearing from
suffering indentation (or “brinelling”). The thrust bearing is usually contained in an
oil or grease filled housing; it is essential to check it is lubricated correctly in
accordance with maker’s instructions.

Between the bearing housing and the cargo tank penetration, the shaft passes
though a mechanical seal arrangement. This is to prevent cargo leaking to
atmosphere. The mechanical seals usually run in an oil or hydraulic fluid bath. The
friction generated by the seal faces is significant, and some form of cooling is
usually provided for the seal housing. In this case, the spacer between the seals
has a system which circulates the relatively small amount of oil within the
chamber; the spacer itself is made of aluminium to conduct the heat effectively.
The chamber is cooled by an air draught caused by a small fan arrangement fitted
to the drive coupling. The temperature of the seal chamber may rise by 50ºC or
more during operation – so it is essential that it is full of fluid and that no air
pockets exist.

In this pump design, there is a “cofferdam” in the housing, under the seal chamber,
to trap any oil that may leak past the lower seal, which could otherwise
contaminate the cargo. Before starting check the drain valve in this chamber to
ensure it is clear.

The drive shaft then passes though a “neck bush” arrangement and goes into the
discharge pipe inside the tank. The neck bush is a labyrinth arrangement and
cannot be liquid-tight, otherwise the shaft would seize. It is lubricated by the small

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amount of liquid passing through the labyrinth which enters the neck bush housing
and is returned to the tank via a drain connection. For common LPG cargoes, for
example, this drain could lead to the vapour phase of the, as most of the liquid will
“flash off” into gas in any case. Liquid chemicals such as propylene oxide, for
example, do not evaporate and are extremely heat-sensitive. So deepwell pumps
used for propylene oxide must have a return pipe from the neck bush housing, to
take the returned liquid back to near the bottom of the cargo tank. In practice, this
is usually done through a small line (say 50 mm diameter) fixed to the outside of
the discharge pipe column, and terminating near the pump cylinder.

Inside the cargo tank, the drive shaft runs through the centre of the pump
discharge pipe. The pipe is supplied in standard sections of about 1.4 metres long,
with a special “closing length” fitted to the top of the pipe stack in way of the neck
bush. Each pipe section is flanged, and guide bearings are fitted at each joint. The
drive shaft itself is made up from sections the same length as the pipe pieces.
These shaft sections are joined by threaded muff-type couplings. The drive shaft
has stellite-faced sections where it passes through the intermediate bearings to
reduce wear. The bearings are made from carbon, and have a spiral grove running
through them. Lubrication is provided by the cargo itself, so the pump must not be
run dry.

The pump shaft is connected to the pump cylinder itself by another coupling which
enables the pump to be dismantled inside the cargo tank if necessary. The pump
impellers are of special design to give high efficiency with liquefied gases. A
number of stages may be fitted to the pump, according to the maximum discharge
pressure required. Wear rings are fitted above and below the impellers to maintain
clearances within the range of operating temperatures specified for the pump.

Liquefied gas pumps all have to operate with a fluid that is “boiling” (i.e. changing
phase from liquid to vapour). This is a serious problem at low tank level, so some
form of inducer is usually fitted to assist the flow of liquid into the pump to prevent
pressure loss and “gassing up”. The inducer can be an Archimedes spiral or a
simpler four blade arrangement. The main purpose is always the same – namely

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to keep the liquid flow into the pump at low tank level so the tank can be stripped
as dry as possible.

The pumps are usually made mostly from stainless steel. The cargo tank is often
of a different material – for example, carbon-manganese alloy aboard LPG ships –
and these metals have different expansion and contraction properties. So the
installation must allow for this, as well as for fixing the pump cylinder to the tank.
The normal arrangement is to fit the pump into a sump to maximise the cargo out-
turn, and to fit the guide arrangement shown at the sump; this allows the pump to
expand and contract vertically relative to the tank, but prevents if moving laterally.
The guide usually has a PTFE-type slide bearing.

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