Westinghouse Service Water
Application: Service Water
Pump Details: Westinghouse 54" Mixed Flow
Pump Type: Vertical
In danger of being derated during the high demand summer season, a major power plant called Hydro when their 54" mixed flow circulating water pump failed. Instead of waiting 8 months for a new suction bell and impeller, the plant employed Hydro to come up with an alternate solution.Hydro’s engineers designed two separate cones that would be welded together from a durable stainless steel to form the new suction bell. Because the impeller's existing blades had been destroyed when the suction bell broke into two pieces, the hydraulic profile was not available. Hydro’s engineers analyzed the performance requirements of the original impeller design using CFD (computational fluid design) as well as data that was available from the existing impeller to recreate the impeller’s hydraulic profile.
Once a metallurgical analysis was performed and work with a smelter was completed, newly designed blades were cast from the same bronze material as the original base metal and then welded to the original impeller hub. The project was completed within the emergency time frame, the plant's delivery requirements were met and the pump was in service for the critical summer season.