Troubleshooting
A customer had an application where an electric motor was running a centrifugal pump. The customer was using a urethane element coupling which was not suited for the application and was therefore causing excessive vibration. This resulting vibration, which was entirely coupling related, was harmful to the pump and the proper coupling needed to be installed to avoid costly damage to the pump and ultimately having it fail catastrophically. The customer contacted the Bearing & Transmission coupling specialist who was given 48 hours to try and resolve the problem before the pump had to be shut down, resulting in enormous down time costs.
Our coupling specialist visited the site, recognized that the existing coupling was not suitable for this high horsepower, high speed pump and immediately recommended a disc pack coupling, based on his field application experience. The suggested coupling was better suited for this high vibration application.
Lead time for a typical and suitable replacement was 2-4 weeks, due to a non-standard distance between shafts. This long lead time would result in excessive down time and lost production income for the customer. However, through the use of Bearing & Transmission’s emergency disc coupling breakdown service, our coupling specialist was able to have the spacer assembly built and delivered in less than 24 hours. This solution kept the customer’s operation running, with vibration reduced to acceptable levels, and prevented severe damage and eventual replacement of a very expensive pump.
Suitable replacement cost: $2500 with 2-4 week delivery
Built spacer cost: $3000 with 24 hours delivery
The DVA realized by the customer in this situation was equal to the amount of down time dollars saved through the use of our disc coupling breakdown service less the increased cost of the custom built spacer.
For more information on Bearing & Transmission’s technical coupling capabilities or on our disc coupling breakdown
service, please visit the Coupling Specialists page.
