Read how SAM4 alerted this tank storage customer to suboptimal pump operation, enabling process adjustments to avoid the potential for chronic, long-term damage.
Failure mode
A 200 kW VFD-controlled centrifugal pump was initially ramped up to high speed in a nearly empty tank, causing severe cavitation.
How SAM4 helped
SAM4 flagged a sudden and significant rise in the noise floor around this product pump’s supply frequency, which is indicative of cavitation. We alerted the customer, who inspected the pump and their records of that pumping session. They discovered that the pump’s speed had been rapidly ramped up at startup, even though the fluid level in the tank had been very low (but not yet low enough at that time for the smaller positive displacement stripping pump to take over and finish draining the tank). This mismatch between NPSH available and pump rpm had induced heavy cavitation, which they concluded could be avoided in the future by matching the product pump’s speed at startup to the tank’s current condition.
Outcome
Thanks to SAM4’s alert, the customer was able to identify and change a suboptimal operating procedure, eliminating a recurring source of long-term impeller, bearing and seal damage in this and other centrifugal product pumps.
English 
Español 
Português 
Italiano 