Plunger Pumps
- June 27, 2025
Material Selection: Pumping Corrosive & Hazardous Chemicals
- April 17, 2025
Why to Use Ceramic Plunger and Ceramic Cylinder for Petroleum Machinery
A ceramic plunger is commonly used in petroleum machinery. It consists of a plunger body with a connecting end, a metal core body on the inside, and a ceramic material shell on the outside. A sealing layer is present at the contact surface between the core and shell, and a plugging head is attached to the end of the plunger body.
This technical scheme provides superior wear resistance to the plunger due to the ceramic coating on the metal core body. In fact, the wear resistance of a ceramic plunger can exceed that of a metal plunger by 5-10 times. Furthermore, the ceramic material's corrosion resistance addresses the corrosion problem of the plunger, thereby significantly prolonging its service life. As a result, a plunger pump equipped with a ceramic plunger can operate normally in harsh working environments.
The plunger body also features a plugging head, which enhances its strength and creates
- March 21, 2025
The Fundamentals of Positive Displacement Pumps
The world of industrial pumping moves billions of gallons daily, powering industries and delivering solutions for complex challenges. Each application demands precision and reliability, making the choice of pump technology crucial. This article explores the foundational differences between positive displacement (PD) pumps and rotodynamic pumps.
The Basics of Pump Technology
Industrial pumps can be broadly categorized into two main types: PD pumps and rotodynamic pumps. While rotodynamic pumps rely on velocity to move fluid, PD pumps operate by capturing a fixed volume of fluid and moving it from the pump inlet to the pump discharge connection. This fundamental difference shapes their respective performance characteristics and suitability for various applications.
- March 07, 2025
The Pros and Cons of Gear Reducers for Positive Displacement Pumps
High viscosity liquids, shear sensitive liquids, abrasive liquids, or any combination of these often require the pump speed to be reduced from synchronous motor speeds. Thus, positive displacement pumps often require reduced speed operations depending on the application.
One of the simplest solutions to reducing speed in positive displacement pumps is via a gear reducer. These simple machines consist of one or more pairs of gears. The driver (typically an electric motor) turns the smaller gear at high speed. The smaller gear (drive gear) rotates a larger gear (driven gear) with a greater number of teeth. The ratio of driven gear teeth to drive gear teeth determines the ratio of the gear reducer. As an example, a reducer with a 10-tooth drive gear and 30-tooth driven gear has a ratio of 3:1. The speed of the output shaft (and connected pump) would be 1/3 that of the driver shaft (and connected motor).
- February 24, 2025
10 Key Facts About Reciprocating Pumps
Because centrifugal pumps are widely used, pump and rotating equipment engineers are generally familiar with this equipment's operating principles, performance curves and selection criteria.
While centrifugal pumps are the subject of much training, the dwindling population of reciprocating pumps has led to a loss of understanding of this pump type's unique system design requirements. Centrifugal pump specifications are now commonly and incorrectly applied to reciprocating pumps, which can lead to significant reliability problems. End users should consider these 10 key facts about reciprocating pumps that can influence reliability and operation.
1. Pressure Pulsations
Unlike centrifugal pumps, reciprocating pumps have a stronger interaction with the overall system as a result of the pressure pulsations they generate. Because of the linear reciprocating motion of a plunger/piston, the plunger/piston
- December 18, 2024
Hydraulic Drive Systems for Plunger Pumps in Oil & Gas
Understanding the role hydraulic drive systems can play in oil and gas applications
In almost all oil and gas drilling, along with utility line drilling operations, a plunger, triplex or mud pump must be used. These three terms are synonymous with a crankshaft-driven, multiple-piston pump design capable of high volumes and pressures. The pump’s main goal is to provide lubrication and cooling for the drill bit, pressure control of the well and removal of waste drilling material from the hole. The drilling process conditions constantly change during operation, including depth, ground hardness, mud quality, drilling direction, etc. The mud pressure required reflects changes in all these parameters.
With all these variables, it is essential to control the mud pressure and flow quickly and accurately. The most common mud pump power sources are mechanical gearboxes, chain
- November 20, 2024
Modifying Existing Pump Equipment to Maintain Operational Standards
To start, if you're looking to retrofit or reverse-engineer and upgrade existing pumps, IEQ can help.
Many aging manufacturing facilities have witnessed changes in market demand that have altered their product slate and capacity. These changing system demands often cause equipment that was previously well-sized for the application to run significantly away from the operating range where peak efficiency and reliability are achieved. Running in this mode drives up the life cycle cost of equipment due to short maintenance cycles and wasted energy. In cases where reliability is severely compromised, equipment operating costs can also be accompanied by risk to production due to mid-cycle failures and unavailability of equipment.
To maintain safe, reliable and cost-effective operation, it is important to ensure pump systems are optimized. When approached
- September 25, 2024
Glossary of Plunger Pump Parts
At IEQ, oftentimes we are asked by new or inexperienced engineers and end-users about specific parts for plunger pumps.
In order to help our customers, we wanted to provide this glossary of commonly-used terms for plunger pumps.
POWER END SPECIFICATIONS:
Power Frame - One-piece, close grain, cast iron casting with heavy wall sections, well ribbed to insure rigid construction and designed to fully enclose all working parts.
Gears - Herringbone construction. Typically, main gear is heat treated high grade ductile iron. Pinion gear is cut from forged alloy steel and hardened.
Crankshaft - Heavy center section for mounting main gear. Large diameter crank pins for optimum load capacity.
Pinion Shaft - Machined and precision ground from heat treated alloy carbon steel.
Bearings - Heavy duty tapered roller bearings do crankshaft.
- August 28, 2024
Pump Cavitation: The Symptoms, Cause, Diagnosis, and Cure
“Hey, come listen to this pump.”
If it's a quiet pump, no one ever asks for a second opinion. This is symptom #1 of a cavitating pump. The pump is loud. Descriptors like “growly”, “rumbling”, or “gravelly” are used to describe the atypically loud sound coming from the pump.
The question you need to answer is: “Does it always sound like this?”
If it was much quiter and all of a sudden made noise, alarm bells should be raised.
Symptom #2. The noise is intermittent. It’s loudest when the liquid is more viscous, the supply tank is near empty, when the pump is runs faster, or the strainer hasn’t been cleaned, etc. The noise is loudest when the inlet conditions are worst.
So ask yourself, “How’s flow?”
If it's slow and takes longer to empty the tanks, that should be concerning.
Enter symptom #3. The flow rate
- July 19, 2024
This article is meant to provide an overview of basic maintenance in high pressure plunger pump applications for industrial use. This article will only touch the tip of the maintenance structure and should be used only as a baseline for maintenance.
Basic Maintenance for High Pressure Plunger Pumps
Proper training before attempting a repair is imperative. Most pump OEM manufacturers offer technical training programs to authorized distributors or dealers. These programs range from one to five days in length. These are sometimes free of charge. It is strongly recommended that you take advantage of programs like these if attempting to repair or refurbish pumps.
The two most common failures seen are:
- Lack of normal maintenance: No oil changes, running with water in the oil, valve seat o-ring damaged (resulting in loss of pressure and pulsation's), running with leaking or worn packings and or broken plungers.