ATLANTA (Aug. 27, 2013) – Siemens announced its 2013 Customer Excellence Award recipients, recognizing the achievements of the company’s customers and partners who are using Siemens technology to generate superior business results.

NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. (Aug. 27, 2013) – The ExOne Company announced that it has appointed John Burn & Co. as its sales representative in the United Kingdom.
 
John Burn & Co. specializes in materials for the tooling and composite industry, as well as the rapid prototyping market and foundry industry. It has significant experience in partnering with foundries to provide sound technical advice, intensive support, flexibility and rapid response to serve the needs of its customers.
 

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (Aug. 28, 2013) – The Hydraulic Institute (HI) recently published the one-of-a-kind guide exclusively for the application and operation of pumps in combined-cycle power plant service. Power Plant Pumps: Guidelines for Application & Operation to Maximize Uptime, Availability, & Reliability is the first installment of the new Pump Application Guideline series and offers comprehensive insights into the application and operation of pumps used in combined-cycle power plants.

In 2012, I wrote a six-part series on centrifugal pump efficiency. In Part Five, I touched on the importance of the breadth of efficiency and how it can be more useful than the peak best efficiency point (BEP). During the past year, I have received a number of requests to revisit this topic and show some examples. I hope that this column will answer your questions.

In the August 2013 issue of Pumps & Systems, I presented a summer pump quizabout cavitation. This column includes the solutions to the cavitation quiz.

The Questions & Solutions

What is a tank water level above the suction connection?

The tank water level height (H0) can be found from the definition of the net positive suction head available (NPSHA):

A reciprocating power pump, as depicted in Figure 1, is a displacement machine. It has characteristics that are different than a centrifugal pump. Therefore, the system required for a displacement pump is different than that required for a centrifugal pump, and the operating procedures are also different. For instance, it is common practice to start a centrifugal pump against a closed discharge valve. Starting a displacement pump against a closed discharge valve can damage it.

WINCHESTER, Maryland (Aug. 28, 2013) – Gefran Inc. announced that Ruben R. Salinas has been named North America Sales Manager, Drives and Motion Control Products. Ruben will be responsible for all strategic planning, marketing and sales for Gefran’s Drives and Motion Control Products division in North America.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Aug. 29, 2013) – To help promote environmental stewardship and raise awareness of the value of water among Chicago’s youth, the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC) has organized the sixth annual WEF Community Service Project, “Reading, Writing & Rain Gardens”. Organized as a part of WEFTEC 2013—WEF’s 86th Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference—the event is scheduled for Saturday, October 5 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. in Chicago, Ill.

API 610 is a set of standards written and regulated by the American Petroleum Institute to ensure that reliability and safety standards are upheld in what can be a dangerous industry. This regulation focuses on the minimum requirements for centrifugal pumps in the chemical, petroleum and gas industries regarding safety, maintainability and reliability.

A thrust bearing can run hot for many reasons—such as excessive load and/or speed, inadequate oil supply or an axial clearance that is too tight. Typically, the reason a thrust bearing runs hot is because, for whatever reason, the load has increased. Time could be spent trying to address the root cause of the problem (the increased load, and indeed that task should be undertaken in parallel) or a redesigned bearing could be installed to address the symptom (a hot running bearing).