What are the harms caused by cavitation in slurry pumps
Cavitation in slurry pumps causes various damages to the pump's performance and lifespan, mainly including the following aspects:
It's not working as good as it used to.
It's not pumping as much, and the pressure's down too: When cavitation happens, the bubbles take up some space in the pump's flow channels. This blocks the normal flow of the slurry, making the effective flow area smaller. As a result, the flow and head of the pump go down. So, the pump can't transport as much slurry as it should, and it can't meet the normal operation needs of the system.
The efficiency has gone down: The formation and collapse of bubbles in cavitation use up energy. At the same time, they disrupt the normal flow field in the pump, increasing flow losses. This makes the pump's efficiency drop a lot, which wastes energy and increases operating costs.
It's not running steady: The presence of cavitation makes the performance parameters of the pump, such as flow and head, fluctuate. This makes the pump's operation unstable. It's hard to keep a constant working condition, which brings difficulties to the stable operation of the whole system.
Component Damage
Impeller Damage: When the bubbles collapse on the impeller surface, they produce highfrequency impact forces. Over time, this will cause pits and honeycomblike erosion marks on the impeller surface. In severe cases, the impeller blades may break or get perforated. This seriously shortens the impeller's service life and requires frequent impeller replacements, increasing maintenance costs and downtime.
Pump Casing Wear: The bubbles formed by cavitation also collapse inside the pump casing, causing impact and wear on the inner wall of the pump casing. This thins the wall thickness of the pump casing and reduces its strength. Cracks and leaks may occur in the pump casing, affecting the overall sealing and reliability of the pump.
Shaft and Bearing Damage: The vibration and impact force caused by cavitation are transmitted to the pump shaft and bearings. This causes uneven stress on the bearings, accelerating their wear and damage. As a result, the shaft's movement and swing increase, affecting the normal operation of the pump and may even cause the shaft to break.
System Operation Hazards
Increased Noise and Vibration: During the cavitation process, the formation, growth and collapse of bubbles generate strong noise and vibration. This not only affects the working environment of the operators, but also the longterm vibration may cause the pump's foundation and connection parts to become loose. This will affect the stability of the whole system and may lead to malfunctions of other equipment.
Higher Risk of System Failure: Due to the performance degradation and component damage of the slurry pump, the entire conveying system may malfunction, such as insufficient feeding and unstable pressure. This affects the normal progress of the production process and may even cause production to stop, resulting in economic losses to the enterprise.
Increased Maintenance Costs: To repair the damage caused by cavitation, it is necessary to regularly inspect, maintain and replace damaged parts of the pump. This increases the workload and cost of equipment maintenance. Meanwhile, production efficiency will be affected by downtime for maintenance, which indirectly increases the operating costs of the enterprise.
Candy