Seriously, what kind of safety are you talking about, pump operational safety, such as including various shut-down switches, or PP as in coupling guards, etc.?
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"Pumping systems account for nearly 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25% to 50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities." - DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99.99% for pipeline companies)
I am interested to know the pump operational safety as well as the personal protection lIke using Non-Sparking coupling guards in a refinery plant , checking for the correct material for the Secondary seals in a Mech seal (which if fails leading to leakage of the hydrocarbon) etc which needs to be specifically looked into by a Rotary equipment designer.
Artisi:Improving the reliability and the operational safety of the pump or any equipment comes from the field experience who actually operate , maintain , modify and incorporate several design features. I posted this only to get those details.
What you need in regards to ensure safety for pumps will depend on the type of pump, type of fluid and installation area, so its a bit difficult to discuss in general, but these tips and references should give you some ideas about how you want to approach this for your systems,
1. Thermal sensing devices can be installed to measure the temperature of the liquid in the pump volute. A lower warning temperature and an automatic pump shut down temperature can be programmed in this type of controller.
2. Motor current sensing devices can be installed in the system which alert and automatically shut down the pump whenever the motor amps drop below the expected operating range for any critical period of time. Pump motor amperage drops when the pump ceases to pump material, indicating a system problem.
3.Flow sensing devices can be installed which automatically shut down the pump if flow stops for any critical period of time. These devices can be simple paddle switches in a clean fluid such as well water or they may be more sophisticated devices which do not come in contact with the fluid such as magnetic flow meters for aggressive fluids such as slurries.
4. Vibration sensors and shutdown switches can be installed at critical locations on the pump.
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"Pumping systems account for nearly 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25% to 50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities." - DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99.99% for pipeline companies)
