Component Breakdown of Sealless High Pressure Pump Skids

This article describes the components of a Wanner Hydra-Cell Pro^® pump factory designed pump skid.

To select the appropriate pump and motor combination we require the design criteria as prompted via our inquiry form:

Shaft Speed and Positive Displacement Pumps

A Hydra-Cell Pro^®, like other PD pumps, moves a fixed volume per turn. Discharge pressure barely changes that volume. Internal check valves set flow direction within the pump. Flow rate results in a certain velocity across disc and seat. Abrasive solids wear those faces faster at higher velocity, thus sometimes it is  recommended to oversize the pump to operated at a lower RPM.  Liquid viscosity and temperature also may require using a larger size pump.

Discharge pressure will determine both the pump model and motor size required. The Hydra-Cell Pro line covers about 50 PSI to 5,000 PSI. While customers have installed Hydra-Cell Pro pumps driven by engines, hydraulic motors and air motors, the factor only provides pump skids for electric motors. 

Each pump model has an HPr formula. If you need a flow range, the motor still has to maintain shaft torque at the low flow end. Once we determine the motor size required we also have to account for other characteristics such as explosion-proof or other special motor features; for low HP applications there is an option for single- or three-phase motors.

With a pump model and motor size determined, the appropriate shaft coupling can be selected when designing a direct-driven pump skid.

Most pump skids use a three-piece shaft coupling: two geared stainless hubs on the shafts and a sleeve that ties them together. A few models have a hollow shaft that takes the motor shaft directly — no coupler or coupling guard required.  Some customers use belts and pulleys and set pump RPM with pulley ratio.

Alignment matters. Couplings are damaged if not axially aligned, thus Wanner^® designed adapters to ensure perfect alignment of the pump and motor shafts. Alignment and tension is also important for belt-driven systems.

Pump models for flow rates up to 20 GPM can bolt to the motor with an adapter. That adapter is an epoxy-coated cast-aluminum spool. One face matches the pump cap-screw pattern; the other matches the NEMA C-face cap screw pattern. The motors NEMA frame therefore determines the half the coupling, the adapter and the baseplate.

If there is no adapter for that pump/motor pair, the baseplate does the aligning. Each base is drilled for a given pump and motor. Nuts are welded on the underside so all fasteners go in from the top.

If pump and motor shaft heights differ, the base has a raised pad so the shafts line up in both planes.

With an adapter the pump can hang off the motor — no separate pump foot on the base. The motor can hang off the adapter too on some oversized, low-pressure systems.

You can skip the Wanner^® base and bolt the adapter package to whatever pump pad you have. The Wanner base lets that same package sit on the floor and has holes if you want it lagged down.

Flex-coupled systems (no adapter) use the same style of base with the elevations already worked out, plus a coupling guard.

Belt-drive bases are a little more involved. The motor or pump has to slide for belt tension. You skip the adapter and coupling, but the guard is larger and the base costs more, so there is rarely a net savings.

Quotes are itemized so you can drop a base or buy the motor locally if desired. The same quote usually itemizes the optional accessories such as sealless pressure regulating valve, VFD, gauges, pipeline strainer and isolation valves.

 

Related Articles

• Assembling a Hydra-Cell Pro^® to a motor with an adapter
• Calculating horsepower required
• Motor sizing for high-temperature liquid
• Sealless pressure regulating valves
• Sizing a high-pressure CNC coolant pump
• Hydra-Cell Pro^® design overview