Research Proposal for PhD (Research)

Topic:

Effects on pump efficiency and its life cycle by different ways of removing
unbalanced material from the pump impeller during dynamic balancing of
rotating parts.

Introduction:

All the rotating parts of centrifugal pumps are dynamically balanced for long life
of pumps mostly mechanical seals and bearings which leads to pump failure.
There are also some cases even like shafts made of SS316 and other high alloys
bend due to these unbalance force present in the rotating components of pumps
which adds cost to repair and replace the defect parts. It’s said that 70% of
pumps today go to the repairs shop because of mechanical seal failure or the
bearing failure, there are many other causes for these components to fail but
main reason is unbalanced force acting on these rotating components. These
unbalanced forces are produced mainly from the impellers which are not
balanced properly as per the various standards which could be referred like API,
ISO, DIN ANSI etc

Research:

All the pump impellers are dynamically balanced as per ISO 1940 Grade 6.3 to
minimise the pump failure. There are some pump manufacturing companies who
do static balancing instead of dynamic balancing which is not recommended.
There are lots of documents and journals available on why should pump
impellers should be dynamically balanced instead of static and also, there are
standards available on how to do dynamic balancing of impellers but, there is no
any documents available which says how to remove the unbalance material from
the impellers during dynamic balancing which is also one of the main cause of
mechanical seal & bearing failure which affects the life of pump.

Some pump experts, designers and consultants recommend to remove

unbalanced material from the impeller only by grinding techniques and this not
practised by many pump manufacturers. There are also many pump
manufacturers who remove material by milling or drilling for balancing the
impeller. It is said that unbalanced material should not be removed by drilling or
milling because during the pump operation there is internal circulation force
generated by the pumping liquid at the place it is drilled or milled which adds up
to the axial or radial force which is already there inside the pump and cause
pump failure. There is no any document which tells regarding the methods, ways
and force generation due to drilling or milling methods of material removal
which reduces the pump efficiency and also the pump life.
Requirements to conduct this research:

I want to investigate this and prepare a document which would also be as a

reference document for the pump designers, manufacturers and consultants. The
result of my research would tell the pump industry to whether to use the drilling
or milling technique to remove the unbalanced material with proof. Or in other
words, which is the best way and method to remove the unbalanced material. If
drilling or milling method is considered, it would give quantitative figures on
how much material; depth of cut etc is allowed so that the internal circulation
force is minimum and avoids pump failure.

To undertake this research following things are required:

1) Standard ISO 1940 for reference: It is available in our factory library.

2) Detail drawings and documents of pump impeller which would be used as
sample for the experiment: All the technical details regarding pumps and
its components will be arranged from our factory.
3) CFD software to analyse and study the force generated: It would be
advantage if the University is equipped with any of the CFD software.
Our factory has CAD and planning to install CFD; I can use this if and
when necessary.
4) Reference books & documents for calculation of pump efficiency, bearing
failure and mechanical seal failure: Available with our factory library,
would be advantage if some reference books are available in the
university library.

Place of research / experiment:

Research will be done in my factory (Regent Pumps). I may utilize the university
library if any special assistance is required like referring any books and journals
related to my research. I shall update the supervisors on weekly basis on my
research activities and send them report through email / fax/ mail regularly. I
shall also be in touch with them regularly by phone and internet.

Expected time to complete:

Time to complete this research would be around 1.5 to 2.5 years. This will take a
lot of time as I need to study for different methods of material removal and test
the same conditions with actual pump were ever necessary.

Achievement:

I am sure the research document would be very useful to the pump designers or
manufacturers who still are not clear which would be the best method to remove
the unbalanced material from the impeller so that the pump’s efficiency and life
is increased.

Nithun Deenadayalan, B.E (Mech), MIE (Aust)

Factory Manager
Regent Pumps (Australia)