With nearly 120 years operations in the United Kingdom, we have considerable experience in the supply, installation, refurbishment, testing and commissioning of drive motors, pumping equipment and gearboxes for a wide variety of applications within the Water, Power & Industrial sectors.
We are constantly looking for ways to improve the plant availability, efficiency and reduce the total cost of ownership for our clients. We also continually look for innovative solutions to increase the efficiency and performance of all pumping assets. This case study demonstrates the benefits of re-engineering ageing pumping assets.
Background
Our client’s pumping station in London has 8 drywell storm pumps. The pumps are over 60 years old and saw issues with bearing failures leading to oil contamination of the inlet sump. Our client approached us to re-design the top thrust bearing arrangement to include the introduction of grease-lubricated roller bearings, a split mechanical seal and additional composite radial bearings.
Workscope
The scope of work for our client involved the re-design of the existing 60-year-old white metal thrust bearing, which also included new bearing thrust calculations for a set of bearings with a service factor of one and an asset life of 20 years. This also included a 3D solid works model and a full set of new component drawings to assist the re-engineering of the existing assets. We also re-profiled the existing impeller and included new stainless steel wear plates. We also introduced a radially split mechanical seal and a composite radial bearing, and an abrasive resistance efficiency coating.
Benefits
Our client saw a vast range of benefits from our re-engineering projects, with the main benefit being an elimination of any environmental pollution incidents, which in turn saw an increase in health & safety. Mechanically, our client saw increased hydraulic efficiency from their pumps, and of course, increased reliability and pump availability. And as part of our commitment to reducing total cost of ownership, increasing operational efficiency and reducing operating costs, our client saw reduced maintenance costs and a reduced total cost of ownership.