PROBABLE CAUSE

BEARING HOUSING CONDITION Bearing Housing condition

ANALYSIS

ACTION TAKEN

As per SPF, shots used during blasting impregnate with casting. This loosen shots contribute to high iron content. Ruled out by SPF considering std & proven design. No vibration problem Aligned many times & witnessed by Aramco. No misalignment issue During pump opening installation was found OK Checked by JGC/SA. Perfectly OK. Everytime pump returned to factory new bearings are installed even when not worn out When checked by opening breather, good oil circulation can be seen. ISO VG 46 is standard & proven oil.

SPF is now using high pressure steam wash for all pumps returned to factory. High iron content was seen only in first report. Subsequent report show Fe content well within Aramco limit. There is no problem of bearing over/underloading because : a Once bearing housing properly washed high iron problem disappeared. b Only once scoring mark observed. After that whenever pump opned no scoring marks were observed. c No vibrations showing bearing loading Considering this no corrective action is required to be taken on this issue

PRESENCE OF IRON BEARING OVERLOADING / UNDERLOADING

Wrong bearing selection Misalignment wrong installation at factory Improper tolerance Defective bearings

OIL DISCOLORATION

IMPENDING BEARING FAILURE

Improper lubrication Oil flinger design LOCAL OVERHEATING Wrong lubricant selected

SPF maintained that oil flinger design & oil selected have no problem considering long experience. As such bearing temp was always found within limit. No corrective action required.

PRESENCE OF SILICON

RUBBING OF LIP SEAL

Improper maching of shaft Insufficient clearance bet lip seal/shaft Inferior quality of lip seal material

Machine cut was visible on lip seal when pump was opened for insp Clearance is much less. During run, lip seal touch shaft due to thermal expansion. Visible from visual inspection

Different ways suggested to SPF to change the design of shaft & lip seal assembly. But finally offered superior solution by removing rubber lip seal & using diaphragm type seal (brand name : InproSeal) normally used in API pumps Subsequent running & report shows that this solution worked.

By : Mr. Ako Amegah (SA-HNRP), Mr. Husain Abdulla (SA-HNRP), Mr. Rajesh Manjarekar (JGC)