Could pump equipment be dangerous?
Thread Content
When transporting flammable and explosive media, the sliding bearings and straight-back bearings of magnetic pumps, as well as the shaft sleeves, are all made of cemented carbide. Could instant dry friction due to the lack of material supply lead to excessively high temperatures or even sparks, posing a danger?
Magnetic pumps are shielded pumps, so there are no sparks
If standards aren’t followed, danger is always present!
The damage starts with the isolation sleeve; the lack of liquid leads to continuous heating with no cooling, resulting in high temperatures in the isolation sleeve and the magnetic rotor. Next, the sliding bearings and thrust plates are affected. As long as they are submerged in liquid, there are no problems for a short period of time. However, without any liquid for lubrication and cooling, dry friction can cause overheating, cracking, and destruction. In both of these scenarios, local high temperatures can occur within the pump, but since it is not in contact with external air, there is no risk of fire or explosion in the short term. Such pumps generally have comprehensive monitoring systems; protections against issues such as high temperatures in the isolation sleeve, wear of sliding bearings, operation of the pump without liquid, and light load on the motor will activate, leading to shutdown or an alarm, before serious damage occurs. If none of the above protections are in place, and the upstream and downstream processes are poorly monitored with slow responses, coupled with negligence in human oversight, the likelihood of serious accidents remains high.
Shielded pumps are used for media that pose a general hazard, as the materials inside them do not produce sparks
Idling pumps tend to break easily, but they won’t wear out immediately due to dry operation
No sparks will be generated, as spark-free materials are used. The second is an anaerobic environment. However, feeding material suddenly after dry grinding, along with rapid heating and cooling, can cause the silicon carbide material or graphite bearings to crack, leading to equipment damage! Damaged equipment can pose safety risks!