Slurry pump – components
5. Slurry pump components
In this section, we shall look closer into the design of the various components of the
slurry pump.
Impeller/casing
Pump impeller and casing – the key components of all slurry pumps
The performance of all slurry pumps is governed by the impeller and casing design. Other mechanical components
serve to seal, support, and protect this hydraulic system of impeller and casing.
For all slurry pumps, the design principles for the hydraulic system (impeller and casing) are more or less the same;
however, the design of the rest of the pump is not. The same hydraulic components can be used in vertical and
horizontal designs.
The slurry pump impeller
Without understanding the function of a slurry pump impeller, we will never understand why and how a pump is
designed and functions.
• The impeller is an energy converter.
• The function of the rotating impeller is to impart kinetic energy to the slurry mass and accelerate it.
• A part of this kinetic energy is subsequently converted to pressure energy before leaving the casing.
• The impeller vanes are the heart of the impeller. The rest of the impeller design is there to carry, protect,
and balance the impeller vanes during operation.
Vane designs
Slurry pump impellers have external and internal vanes.
External Vanes
These vanes also known as pump out or expelling vanes are shallow and located on the outside of the impeller
shrouds. They aid efficiency by providing axial thrust balance, minimizing recirculation, and improving pump sealing.
Internal vanes
Commonly known as the main vanes, these actually pump the slurry. Typically, two types of main vane designs are
used in slurry pumps.
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Slurry pump – components
When to use Francis or Plain?
Francis vanes are more energy efficient and typically have superior wear life compared to plain vanes. However, the
design of the Francis vanes makes them more complex to manufacture, which is why they are primarily utilized for
cast metallic impellers only.
Plain vanes are easier to manufacture and are less sensitive to large particles frequently seen in dredge pumping
applications.
Number of impeller vanes
More vanes give higher efficiency. This means that the maximum number of vanes is always used whenever practical.
Vane thickness is necessary for good wear life. The number of vanes and thickness is determined by the need to
pass a required particle size.
In practice, 5 or 6 is the maximum number of vanes, in metal impellers with diameters exceeding 300 mm (12”) and
in elastomer lined impellers exceeding 500 mm (20”).
Below these diameters, the vane flow passage area relative
to the impeller eye area becomes critical, efficiency starts to
drop (reduced flow area results in high friction losses), and
blockages in flow passages can also occur. Therefore, fewer
than five vanes are often used.
Vortex and fully recessed induced flow impeller designs may
have as many as 9 vanes.
For impellers larger than 2,000 mm (80”) in diameter, a 6 vane design is used as an optimal balance between
efficiency and coarse size capability.
Semi-open or closed impeller?
The design of the slurry pump impeller is not related to a closed or open configuration. This is determined by
production aspects and what type of applications the impeller will be used on.
Closed impellers
Closed impellers are by nature more efficient than open impellers, due to
the reduction of short circuiting leakage over the vanes. The efficiency is less
affected by wear. If efficiency is the primary design concern, use a closed
impeller whenever possible.
Limitations
The closed impeller with its confined design is naturally more prone to clogging
when coarse particles are encountered. This phenomenon is more of a concern
with smaller impellers.
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Slurry pump – components
Semi-open impellers
Semi-open impellers have a single back shroud which, compared to
closed impellers of equivalent diameter, increases the passageways
and, particularly on smaller sizes, simplifies the manufacturing process.
As an example, this design could be used to pump fluids with
entrained air, higher viscosities, and elongated fibrous material.
The efficiency is slightly lower than for closed impellers.
Induced flow impellers
Induced flow (vortex) impellers are used if impeller blockage is
critical; when particles are fragile; or for non-clog pumping of
stringy, fibrous, or coarse solids.
The impeller is pulled back in the casing. Only a limited volume
of the flow is in contact with the impeller giving gentle handling
of the slurry and large solids capability.
Fully recessed impellers
The impeller is pulled completely back into the casing and
provides the ultimate in large particle passing. This type of wet-
end is used where material contact with the impeller needs to be
minimized.
Limitations
Induced flow impellers have efficiencies significantly lower than
that for closed or even semi-open impellers.
Basic rules
Closed impellers are used for slurries with coarse particles for highest efficiency and best wear life – check
maximum solids size.
Open impellers are used for slurries with high viscosity, entrained air, and when blockage problems can be foreseen.
Induced flow impellers are used for large, soft solids, stringy materials or for “gentle” handling, or fragile particles,
high viscosity, and entrained air.
Impeller diameter
The impeller diameter governs the amount of head
produced at a given speed.
A large diameter impeller running at slow speed would
produce the same head as a smaller impeller running
much faster (key aspect when it comes to wear, see
Chapter 6 – Wear Protection).
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Slurry pump – components
What will be the correct diameter?
The factors that have guided Metso Outotec in this respect are:
• For highly abrasive duties, we want a long wear life and reasonable efficiency.
• For abrasive and mildly abrasive duties we want reasonable wear life and high efficiency.
To make it simple:
For highly abrasive duties, we use large impellers giving long life and reasonable e
fficiencies. So even if larger
impellers are more expensive and have slightly lower efficiency, they give a better pay off in highly abrasive duties.
For abrasive duties where wear is not the primary concern, smaller impellers are more economical and offer better
efficiency.
This relationship is known as:
IMPELLER ASPECT RATIO (IAR) = Impeller diameter/Inlet diameter;
and corresponds, as shown below, to the Wear Service Class given in Hydraulic Institute Standard ANSI/HI 12.1-12.6:
Metso Outotec’s
Wear IAR
Slurry class equivalent
service class Impeller Ø/Inlet Ø
duty class
1 Light Mildly abrasive ≤ 2:1
2 Medium Abrasive 2:1
3 Heavy Highly abrasive 2.5:1
4 Very Heavy Extremely abrasive ≥ 2.5:1
The above parameters have been considered in the design of Metso Outotec slurry pumps to minimize operating
costs in a wide variety of applications.
Impeller width
The width of the impeller governs the flow of the pump
at any speed.
A wide impeller running slowly could produce the same
flow rate as a narrower impeller running faster. But most
important - the velocity relative to vane and shroud would
be considerably higher (a key aspect when it comes to
wear, see Chapter 6 – Wear Protection).
Remember:
Compared to water pumps and depending on the wear
profile, slurry pumps normally have impellers that are not
only larger, but much wider.
Limitations in geometry and why?
Naturally there are various practical limits for the geometry of slurry pump impellers. In a comprehensive product
range these limits are set by:
• The optimal hydraulic performance of each pump size
• The need for product standardization
• The production cost for the impeller and casing/liner
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Slurry pump – components
The slurry pump casing
One function of the casing is to collect the flow discharging
from the impeller, converting it into a desirable flow pattern, and
directing it to the pump outlet. Another important function is to
reduce the flow velocity and convert its kinetic energy to pressure
energy at the discharge connection.
What about the shape of the casing?
The casing and the impeller are matched together to give the best flow pattern (and energy conversion) possible.
Volute casing
The volute form gives more efficient energy conversion compared
to the concentric form and around the ideal flow/head duty point it
causes very low radial loads on the impeller.
Split or solid casings?
Solid casing
For most hard metal pumps, the volute is normally in one solid piece.
This design is the most cost effective in manufacturing and there are no
practical requirements for splitting the volute into two halves.
Some elastomer lined pumps also use a solid volute, especially for the
smaller sizes, where it is more practical and economic to use a solid volute.
Split casing
Splitting a casing adds expense to a pump and is only done when
necessary. This eases replacement of parts particularly for larger
elastomer lined pumps.
Slurry pump basic handbook 17
Wear protection
6. Wear protection
In a slurry pump, the wet end wear parts are always exposed to the slurry and have to be
protected against wear.
Material selection for impeller and casing is just as important as the pump selection itself.
There are three different conditions that
create wear in a slurry pump:
1. Abrasion
2. Erosion
3. Corrosion
Abrasion
There are three major types of abrasion:
Abrasion only occurs in two areas in a
slurry pump
1. B etween impeller and the stationary
inlet
2. Between shaft sleeve and the
stationary packing
In slurry pumps, we have mainly grinding and low stress abrasion. Abrasion rate is dependent on particle size and
hardness.
Erosion
This is the dominant wear in slurry pumps. The reason is that particles in the slurry hit the material surface
at different angles.
Erosion wear is heavily influenced by how the pump is operated. Erosion wear is, in general, at a minimum at the
BEP flow rate, and increases with lower as well as higher flows. See Chapter 12 - Best Efficiency Point (BEP) section.
For reasons that are not well understood, erosion wear can also increase dramatically if the pump is allowed
to operate on “snore”; that is, taking air into the inlet pipe. See page 51 for sump design.
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Wear protection
There are three major types of erosion:
Effect of erosion on pump components
Impeller
The impeller is subject to impact wear (high and low) mainly in the eye, on
the gland side shroud (A), when the flow turns 90°. On the leading edge
A of the vane (B).
B
Sliding bed and low angular impact occur along the vanes between the
impeller shrouds (C).
C
Side liners (inlet and back liners)
Side liners are subject to sliding bed and crushing and grinding abrasion.
Volute
The volute is subject to impact wear on the cut water. Sliding bed and low
angular impact wear occurs in the rest of the volute.
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Wear protection
Corrosion
The corrosion (and chemical attacks) of the wet parts in a slurry pump is a complex phenomenon both for metal
and elastomer material. Corrosion and erosion can operate together to multiply the overall effect.
For guidance, chemical resistance tables for metals and elastomer material are given on pages 22 and 23.
Wear protection – what options?
Major options available in selecting wear protection materials:
• Impeller and casing in hard metal in various white iron
and steel alloys
• Elastomer lined impeller and casing protected with elastomer liners.
Elastomers normally available in various grades of rubber or Polyurethane
• A combination of hard metal impeller with elastomer lined casing
Selection of wear materials
The selection of wear protection materials is a balance between resistance to wear and ability to manufacture
parts cost effectively.
There are two strategies for resisting wear:
1. The wear material has to be hard to resist cutting action of impinging solids.
2. The wear material has to be elastic to be able to absorb the shocks and rebound of particles.
Parameters for selection
The dominant wear materials in slurry pumps are hard metal and soft elastomers. Metso Outotec supplies a wide
range of optional materials for both.
The selection of wear parts is normally based on the following parameters:
• Solid size (solid S.G., shape, and hardness)
• Slurry temperature
• pH and type of chemicals
• Impeller speed: which is typically limited according to the Wear Service
Class as recommended in HI Standard ANSI/HI 12.1-12.6
See the table on next page for general guidance.
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