Reliability is a fundamental requirement for between-bearing, high-energy pumps that operate in oil and gas applications. To optimize pumping systems, design improvements and material upgrades can be implemented during planned maintenance intervals, extending mean time between failures (MTBF) with minimal effort. In older pumps, the bearing assembly is key to modernize the pump to current American Petroleum Institute (API) standards and reduce operating cost.
Pump failures and the resulting unplanned downtime can lead to elevated maintenance costs and lost revenue from reduced production. In many cases, the root cause of this issue is hiding in the design of the bearing housing. To resolve this, bearing assembly retrofits have become increasingly common in the hydrocarbon processing industry. These retrofits remove known failure modes of outdated designs and can meet current API standards to drastically improve MTBF.
