Pivotal Pumps is proud to provide quality and timely pump repairs, field installation services and parts solutions to one of America’s most important industries; steel. Pivotal’s expert team of engineers, machinists and mechanics understand the demands that are placed on steel industry professionals. Allow us to partner with your mill for all of your centrifugal pump repair needs. Our quality pump repairs will ensure optimal safety and up-time for your mill.
Across all industries there are challenges that present themselves on a regular basis. Here are some examples of a challenge that you might face in the
Steel industry, and how Pivotal Pumps will work to find a solution that works for you.
Multi-stage centrifugal pumps are utilized at hot strip rolling mills to blast impurities off of glowing hot ingots as they come out of the continuous casters. A new ingot is produced approximately every 15 minutes, requiring the Descaling Pumps to cycle between full flow and minimum flow on a recirculation line four times per hour. Cycling the pumps between full and minimum flow causes hydraulic instability within the pump, leading to increased wear and a reduction in effective pump life. A particular mill located in the Midwest US was achieving only 2 years between pump failures.
Pivotal Pumps team of experienced engineers was able to repair each of their descaling pumps to include the use of specially manufactured wear rings that dramatically improved the useful life of the pumps. The new wear rings utilized Lomakin grooves for increased efficiency and Laser Deposition Welded (LDW) wear surfaces with an effective hardness that exceeded 65 HRC. As a result of these engineered upgrades, the mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) for the descaling pumps increased from 2 to 8 years.
Operators at steel mills are well aware of the harsh service conditions that their scale pit pumps are subjected to. These pumps are required to operate in a highly caustic environment, transporting a slurry of abrasive scale containing a high percentage of suspended solids. These pumps are critical to mill operations. Frequently they are constructed from cast steel or ductile iron, making them susceptible to premature failure either the result of excessive wear or corrosion. Repairing pumps after this service can be expensive and time consuming due to the often catastrophic failure of cast parts.
Pivotal Pumps can offer material upgrades that will increase wear resistance to the abrasive slurry, as well as corrosion resistance. Yielding a significantly longer service life, and reduced cost of ownership to the mill. Pivotal’s engineering team can provide material upgrades to 28% high-chrome iron for the volutes, impellers and wear plates, drastically improving abrasion resistance. Stainless steel shafting, sleeves and fasteners are then employed to combat premature failures due to excessive corrosion.
