reciprocating mud pump free sample

The 2,200-hp mud pump for offshore applications is a single-acting reciprocating triplex mud pump designed for high fluid flow rates, even at low operating speeds, and with a long stroke design. These features reduce the number of load reversals in critical components and increase the life of fluid end parts.

The pump’s critical components are strategically placed to make maintenance and inspection far easier and safer. The two-piece, quick-release piston rod lets you remove the piston without disturbing the liner, minimizing downtime when you’re replacing fluid parts.

I’ve run into several instances of insufficient suction stabilization on rigs where a “standpipe” is installed off the suction manifold. The thought behind this design was to create a gas-over-fluid column for the reciprocating pump and eliminate cavitation.

When the standpipe is installed on the suction manifold’s deadhead side, there’s little opportunity to get fluid into all the cylinders to prevent cavitation. Also, the reciprocating pump and charge pump are not isolated.

The suction stabilizer’s compressible feature is designed to absorb the negative energies and promote smooth fluid flow. As a result, pump isolation is achieved between the charge pump and the reciprocating pump.

The isolation eliminates pump chatter, and because the reciprocating pump’s negative energies never reach the charge pump, the pump’s expendable life is extended.

Investing in suction stabilizers will ensure your pumps operate consistently and efficiently. They can also prevent most challenges related to pressure surges or pulsations in the most difficult piping environments.

A plunger pump operates using the reciprocating motion of plungers or pistons. Depending on the design of the pump, the use of a single or multiple plungers may be used.

Action 3: After reaching it’s maximum position, it is then pushed back into the cavity. During this process, the piston applies enough pressure to the fluid to overcome the pressure in the outlet of the pump. This pressure differential pushes the fluid from inside the cavity through the outlet of the pump.

All these parts have the basic functionality of moving the liquid inside the cylinder. The piston is a lubricated sliding shaft that moves inside the cylinder and pushes the liquid in a forward and backward motion, creating a cavity and a high volume pressure at the outlet. In a diaphragm pump, the diaphragm is used to avoid leaking of the liquid since it completely seals the liquid to penetrate outside, and hence they are especially useful when the liquids are dangerous or toxic. In a plunger pump, there is a high-pressure seal that is stationary and a smooth cylindrical plunger slides through the seal.

Crank and Connecting rod: Crank is a circular disk attached to the motor and used to transfer the rotary motion of the motor to the piston. Piston, in turn, moves in a reciprocating motion with help of a connecting rod.

Reciprocating pumps are different from Centrifugal pumps on basis of its working, features, applications etc. The main difference is that Impellers are used in Centrifugal pumps whereas in reciprocating pumps piston is used to move the liquid. Centrifugal pumps continuously discharge the liquid, unlike reciprocating pumps. They are used for high viscous fluid and are lighter in weight, less expensive as compared to reciprocating pumps.

The basic Quality standards of reciprocating pumps include ISO13710, API (American Petroleum Institute) standard 674, API standard 675 “Positive Displacement Pumps- Reciprocating”  and Reciprocating Pump Standards, Hydraulic Institute.

High Pressure, Low Flow Applications: Reciprocating pumps are generally designed to pump in low flow, high head applications. One of the most extreme of these applications is water jet cutting, where only a few gallons pass through the pump per minute but exceed pressures of 10,000 PSI.

Proven, Common Technology: Reciprocating pumps are one of the oldest, most proven pump types. Today, a wide variety of reciprocating pumps can be found in many different materials, types, and sizes. Reciprocating pumps range from less than 1 horsepower to over 3,000 horsepower.

Durability: Reciprocating pumps are used in some of the most abrasive and corrosive applications. Fluid ends and fluid end parts can be made of many different materials such as stainless steel, aluminum bronze, tungsten carbide, ceramic, and more. A wide selection of valve types is used in abrasive applications such as pumping cement, sand slurry, mud, etc.

Efficiency: Reciprocating pumps operate at high a higher efficiency compared to other pump designs. In most cases, at any setpoint, reciprocating pumps operate around 90%.

There are several performance indicators of a reciprocating pump which determine how effectively it works. Following are some of the key performance indicators:

High Maintenance / Short Life:The main disadvantage of a reciprocating pump is high maintenance and short life. There are many parts in the pump works, all constantly changing directions. Unless careful maintenance takes place, the lifespan of the pump is greatly reduced. While pumps such as centrifugal pumps can last 15 to 20 years with little maintenance, a reciprocating pump requires higher levels of attention and rebuilding several times within the same time frame. The cost of a reciprocating pump rebuild is usually inexpensive which still makes them cost-competitive compared to longer-lasting, higher-priced pump designs.

Pulsations:A characteristic of reciprocating pumps is the production of pressure pulsations through the pump inlet and outlets. The reciprocating motion of the pump produces these pulsations. Increasing the number of pump chambers can greatly reduce the pulsations produced, but it does not remove them completely. To negate damage to piping and surrounding systems or the pump itself, pulsation dampeners must be installed. Further system design can further decrease pulsations to nearly zero. In all cases, overall system design is important when using reciprocating pumps.

Plunger pumps come in a variety of styles, shapes, and sizes. The specific type of pump chosen for an application takes into account the pressures encountered, the flow rates needed, measurement and control systems, fluid viscosity and corrosivity, pipe material, etc. Careful attention should be given to the application before selecting a pump. Selecting the wrong pump for a job can result in damage to equipment, piping, systems, and possibly endanger personnel.

Simplex, Duplex, Triplex, Quintuplex Pumps: Many reciprocating type pumps are simplex(one), duplex (two), or triplex (three) cylinder. Duplex pumps are usually used where the two pumps can be used alternatively. Such pumps are commonly used in oil-line pumping, mine de-watering, and chemical and petroleum products transfer, but has many more applications. A triplex pump consists of three plungers, with the aim of reducing the pulsation of a single reciprocating pump. Quintuplex pumps are designed with a gear case that assists in a high-pressure task. Common applications of which are in cement slurries, sand-laden fluids, crude oil, acids, mud, and other oil well-servicing fluids. Well known manufacturers for these types of pumps are National, Gardner Denver, FMC, SPM, Oilwell, Kerr, Union, Gaso, Emsco, Aplex, and Wheatley.

Metering Pumps: A metering pump is usually used where the rate of flow of the liquid needs to be adjusted in a specific time period. Most of the metering pumps are piston-driven and are called Piston pumps. Piston pumps can pump at a constant flow rate against any kind of discharge pressure. Both Piston pumps and Plunger pumps are reciprocating positive displacement pumps that use a plunger or piston to move fluid/substance through a cylindrical chamber. Manufacturers such as

Reciprocating Pumps can also be classified according to the number of cylinders: Single cylinder and double cylinder pump. They are also sometimes classified according to their operation, known as simple hand-operated reciprocating pump & power-operated deep well reciprocating pump.

Reciprocating positive displacement pumps are highly effective, where a high degree of accuracy and reliability under different ranges of conditions that are required. Reciprocating pumps with very high efficiency are often available in a wide range of hydraulic, mechanical, and material options. They are widely used across industries such as chemical, petrochemical, refinery, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and water treatment. Typically, these types of pumps are used for applications such as Salt Water Disposal, Well Services, Descaling, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Oil & Gas Pipelines. All types of reciprocating pumps are easily available in the market to meet the diverse demands, as per different processes and applications. Piston pumps are widely used in applications such as Energy Recovery, Steam Recovery and hazardous area pumping and are available with manufacturers such as

Diaphragm Pumps are commonly used for Sludge Transfer, Acid Pumping, and Chemical Fluid Transfer and are easily available with manufacturers such as Wilden, Sandpiper, ARO, Roughneck, and Graco.

All the mentioned manufacturers in this article, offering various kinds of pumps hold a good reputation with respect to quality, price, revenue (value), and market share and are preferred by many consumers. However, a thorough check of all its features, specific to your process application, should be ideally done to buy the most suitable reciprocating pump, which can be used for a longer period of time requiring low maintenance, ease of operation, and easy availability of its spare parts.

Reciprocating pump terms are based on how the fluid is pumped (action) and the number of plungers or pistons (arrangement). For example, a Union TX-200 is a “single-acting triplex plunger pump”, a Gaso 1849 is a “double-acting duplex plunger pump”, and an Oilwell B-558 is a “single-acting quintuplex plunger pump”.

When choosing a size and type of mud pump for your drilling project, there are several factors to consider. These would include not only cost and size of pump that best fits your drilling rig, but also the diameter, depth and hole conditions you are drilling through. I know that this sounds like a lot to consider, but if you are set up the right way before the job starts, you will thank me later.

Recommended practice is to maintain a minimum of 100 to 150 feet per minute of uphole velocity for drill cuttings. Larger diameter wells for irrigation, agriculture or municipalities may violate this rule, because it may not be economically feasible to pump this much mud for the job. Uphole velocity is determined by the flow rate of the mud system, diameter of the borehole and the diameter of the drill pipe. There are many tools, including handbooks, rule of thumb, slide rule calculators and now apps on your handheld device, to calculate velocity. It is always good to remember the time it takes to get the cuttings off the bottom of the well. If you are drilling at 200 feet, then a 100-foot-per-minute velocity means that it would take two minutes to get the cuttings out of the hole. This is always a good reminder of what you are drilling through and how long ago it was that you drilled it. Ground conditions and rock formations are ever changing as you go deeper. Wouldn’t it be nice if they all remained the same?

Centrifugal-style mud pumps are very popular in our industry due to their size and weight, as well as flow rate capacity for an affordable price. There are many models and brands out there, and most of them are very good value. How does a centrifugal mud pump work? The rotation of the impeller accelerates the fluid into the volute or diffuser chamber. The added energy from the acceleration increases the velocity and pressure of the fluid. These pumps are known to be very inefficient. This means that it takes more energy to increase the flow and pressure of the fluid when compared to a piston-style pump. However, you have a significant advantage in flow rates from a centrifugal pump versus a piston pump. If you are drilling deeper wells with heavier cuttings, you will be forced at some point to use a piston-style mud pump. They have much higher efficiencies in transferring the input energy into flow and pressure, therefore resulting in much higher pressure capabilities.

Piston-style mud pumps utilize a piston or plunger that travels back and forth in a chamber known as a cylinder. These pumps are also called “positive displacement” pumps because they literally push the fluid forward. This fluid builds up pressure and forces a spring-loaded valve to open and allow the fluid to escape into the discharge piping of the pump and then down the borehole. Since the expansion process is much smaller (almost insignificant) compared to a centrifugal pump, there is much lower energy loss. Plunger-style pumps can develop upwards of 15,000 psi for well treatments and hydraulic fracturing. Centrifugal pumps, in comparison, usually operate below 300 psi. If you are comparing most drilling pumps, centrifugal pumps operate from 60 to 125 psi and piston pumps operate around 150 to 300 psi. There are many exceptions and special applications for drilling, but these numbers should cover 80 percent of all equipment operating out there.

The restriction of putting a piston-style mud pump onto drilling rigs has always been the physical size and weight to provide adequate flow and pressure to your drilling fluid. Because of this, the industry needed a new solution to this age-old issue.

As the senior design engineer for Ingersoll-Rand’s Deephole Drilling Business Unit, I had the distinct pleasure of working with him and incorporating his Centerline Mud Pump into our drilling rig platforms.

In the late ’90s — and perhaps even earlier —  Ingersoll-Rand had tried several times to develop a hydraulic-driven mud pump that would last an acceptable life- and duty-cycle for a well drilling contractor. With all of our resources and design wisdom, we were unable to solve this problem. Not only did Miller provide a solution, thus saving the size and weight of a typical gear-driven mud pump, he also provided a new offering — a mono-cylinder mud pump. This double-acting piston pump provided as much mud flow and pressure as a standard 5 X 6 duplex pump with incredible size and weight savings.

The true innovation was providing the well driller a solution for their mud pump requirements that was the right size and weight to integrate into both existing and new drilling rigs. Regardless of drill rig manufacturer and hydraulic system design, Centerline has provided a mud pump integration on hundreds of customer’s drilling rigs. Both mono-cylinder and duplex-cylinder pumps can fit nicely on the deck, across the frame or even be configured for under-deck mounting. This would not be possible with conventional mud pump designs.

The second generation design for the Centerline Mud Pump is expected later this year, and I believe it will be a true game changer for this industry. It also will open up the application to many other industries that require a heavier-duty cycle for a piston pump application.

A mud pump (sometimes referred to as a mud drilling pump or drilling mud pump), is a reciprocating piston/plunger pump designed to circulate drilling fluid under high pressure (up to 7,500 psi or 52,000 kPa) down the drill string and back up the annulus. A mud pump is an important part of the equipment used for oil well drilling.

Mud pumps can be divided into single-acting pump and double-acting pump according to the completion times of the suction and drainage acting in one cycle of the piston"s reciprocating motion.

Mud pumps come in a variety of sizes and configurations but for the typical petroleum drilling rig, the triplex (three piston/plunger) mud pump is used. Duplex mud pumps (two piston/plungers) have generally been replaced by the triplex pump, but are still common in developing countries. Two later developments are the hex pump with six vertical pistons/plungers, and various quintuplexes with five horizontal piston/plungers. The advantages that these new pumps have over convention triplex pumps is a lower mud noise which assists with better measurement while drilling (MWD) and logging while drilling (LWD) decoding.

The fluid end produces the pumping process with valves, pistons, and liners. Because these components are high-wear items, modern pumps are designed to allow quick replacement of these parts.

To reduce severe vibration caused by the pumping process, these pumps incorporate both a suction and discharge pulsation dampener. These are connected to the inlet and outlet of the fluid end.

The power end converts the rotation of the drive shaft to the reciprocating motion of the pistons. In most cases a crosshead crank gear is used for this.

The pressure of the pump depends on the depth of the drilling hole, the resistance of flushing fluid (drilling fluid) through the channel, as well as the nature of the conveying drilling fluid. The deeper the drilling hole and the greater the pipeline resistance, the higher the pressure needed.

With the changes of drilling hole diameter and depth, the displacement of the pump can be adjusted accordingly. In the mud pump mechanism, the gearbox or hydraulic motor is equipped to adjust its speed and displacement. In order to accurately measure the changes in pressure and displacement, a flow meter and pressure gauge are installed in the mud pump.

The construction department should have a special maintenance worker that is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the machine. Mud pumps and other mechanical equipment should be inspected and maintained on a scheduled and timely basis to find and address problems ahead of time, in order to avoid unscheduled shutdown. The worker should attend to the size of the sediment particles; if large particles are found, the mud pump parts should be checked frequently for wear, to see if they need to be repaired or replaced. The wearing parts for mud pumps include pump casing, bearings, impeller, piston, liner, etc. Advanced anti-wear measures should be adopted to increase the service life of the wearing parts, which can reduce the investment cost of the project, and improve production efficiency. At the same time, wearing parts and other mud pump parts should be repaired rather than replaced when possible.