Centrifugal Pump

A large CHP (combined heat and power) plant in Romania was enduring frequent bearing failures on centrifugal pumps used for water recirculation. The situation was causing repeat downtime, which in combination with maintenance time to replace failed bearings, was amounting to costs of 29,450€.

Why has water recirculation stopped?

Bearing failures on the centrifugal pumps left the CHP plant without any means to recirculate water, a vital process in energy production.

NSK and its local distributor analysed the bearing failures.

The issue was attributed to poor lubrication of the centrifugal pump bearings, which in turn would lead to loss of water recirculation capability.

More reliable water recirculation going forward

NSK proposed changing the bearing type to a sealed-for-life deep grove ball bearing (DGBB) featuring DDU seals and high-temperature grease. The move reduced downtime, maintenance, oil replenishment and bearing replacement costs by 28,970€ per annum.