Centrifugal pumps are used in a variety of applications throughout the world and these pumps rely on mechanical seals to prevent the process fluid from being released into the environment. In order to get the highest level of performance from the seals, auxiliary systems are used to condition the seal operating environment and monitor the systems and detect failures. Current standards exist that recommend seal auxiliary systems based on certain pump operating conditions, and are widely accepted in the industry both among seal end-users and vendors. Seal vendors are also commonly relied upon to provide recommendations on designs and the actual equipment for the auxiliary systems.
The auxiliary systems rely on a number of components selected based on the seals, the operating conditions, and the requirements of the end-user’s facility. Therefore, accurate details for the range of operating conditions of the pump and the product must be supplied to the vendors; that way the vendors can properly recommend the seal and the required auxiliary systems. For example, if the product is expected to have considerable contaminants, a filter/separator may be recommended to prevent the contaminants from depositing on the seal faces. If the product will be considerably high in temperature, the recommendation may be to include a cooler to reduce heat build-up in the seals. However, regardless of how well the seal environment is conditioned, it is still expected that the seals will experience wear and ultimately fail. Additional auxiliary components can also be selected that will attempt to collect and control the amount of product released during operation and in failure events. Monitoring components can also be used to determine seal system health and avoid unplanned seal failure.
To provide an additional resource for the selection, maintenance, and operation of seal auxiliary systems, this project collected input from end-users surveys on current practices relating to seal auxiliary systems, on interviews with seal vendors, and a review of current standards and available technologies. Monitoring and trending of operating data related to seal health is expected to become more critical for improving unit up-time, and as government and industry requirements become more stringent on seal leakage control. This will require that available technology be applied more regularly in order to provide accurate and reliable trends to prevent unplanned outages and product releases.
PRCI Members can view the draft Final Report on PRIME.