When repairing centrifugal and axial flow pumps, axial thrust is a concern. An understanding of the causes and the mitigating provisions of various pump designs will help repair technicians to ensure those provisions work properly.

It’s common to find pump impellers with significant surface damage. The three most common causes of surface damage are erosion, corrosion and cavitation. For each of these there are characteristics which will help indicate the primary cause of the damage.

Es común encontrar impulsores de bombas con daños significativos en la superficie. Las tres causas más comunes de daño superficial son la erosión, la corrosión y la cavitación. La apariencia del daño en las superficies del impulsor refleja las características de cada uno de estos tres fenómenos.

As with most other machines commonly repaired in EASA service centers, dynamic balancing on pump impellers is an important concern. Excessive imbalance imparts forces on bearings, reducing their lives and subjecting machine mountings to vibratory energy that deteriorates foundations.

Al igual que con la mayoría de las otras máquinas reparadas comúnmente en los centros de servicio de EASA, el balanceo dinámico de los impulsores de las bombas es una cuestión importante. El desbalanceo excesivo imparte fuerzas sobre los rodamientos, reduciendo su vida útil y sometiendo los soportes de las máquinas a una energía vibratoria que deteriora las fundaciones.

Whether it is a simple re-application of a pump from 50 Hz to 60 Hz (or vice versa), the repurposing of an existing pump, or the application of a new pump to an existing application, determining the proper trim for an impeller can be challenging.

If you work with electric motors and pumps, you’ll eventually encounter a pump curve and one of its key parameters — best efficiency point (BEP). The BEP is the point on the curve where the pump operates most efficiently. Unique to each pump, the BEP is a product of both impeller design and several related pump curve parameters.

The impeller is generally the most difficult pump component to repair and the most expensive to replace. This paper looks at case histories of failed pumps and the steps to determine the cause of failure.