Spares Solution
Your original equipment supplier might not always have the answers for your situation.
Don't wait for a crisis, investigate the alternatives today, when:
- The OEM spares are not tough enough for your operating environment
- Your equipment is obsolete and you can't source spares from the OEM
- Your current provider is quoting longer lead times and delivery is often unreliable
- The price of spares from the OEM has increased dramatically
Adopting Pinnacle RE-TEC as your alternative spare part and service provider means you can avoid plant downtime as well as production and profit losses through delayed spares and rising component costs.
Pinnacle RE-TEC can manufacture, repair or reclaim for you:
- Turned and machined parts: shafts, sleeves, rings and bushing
- Cast parts: impellers, diffusers, covers and casings
- Fabricated parts: for example, spider bearings, column pipes and compressor wheels
Talk to us to discuss an alternative source of high quality spares and service for your rotating equipment requirements. Please call today
Case Studies
Shock-proof
One of our customers has a multi-stage unit that operates under extreme thermal variations (101 bar/450oC) as a feed pump for a hydro cracker. After many years in service, the barrel had given up under thermal shock and cracked. Time for a material upgrade and re-design. The customer is innovative and asked Pinnacle RE-Tec to provide an alternative to the OEM. So we followed up with a re-design, taking the customers new challenging material choice of CA6NM B into account. A full FMEA stress analysis proved the viability of the new design (2.6t) and we got the green light. The casting and heat treatment requirements to achieve the CA6NM B spec certainly took us to the limit, but in the end we delivered a barrel casing that will cope with its operating environment with a large safety margin, giving the customer peace of mind and us a very useful extension of our experience list.
Critical BFP
It is an indication of Pinnacle-RE-Tec`s growing reputation for the manufacture of highly engineered components that were recently asked to manufacture the shaft for an advanced class Main Boiler Feed Pump, one of the most critical pieces of plant in a Power Station, especially if it operates in a tough market such as the UK. It was in everybody’s interest that an independent expert would assess all our procedures and our engineering and manufacturing capability. Pinnacle RE-Tec passed without a problem and got the green light to proceed with the project. We proceeded to manufacture this 10ft shaft to its` exacting requirements and are proud of our team’s performance and dedication to quality. The customer is rewarded for his trust with a great service, swift delivery and in depth Quality Documentation Package.
Large Centrifuge Basket
This is an example of the wide variety that we consider “rotating equipment”. This centrifuge basked for an overseas customer in the salt industry was 350kg before machining and over 1m diameter. By scanning this and making a 3D model we were able to reduce the programming time for the CNC machine considerably. The machining was so extensive that it took more than 50% of the material off. Amazingly, when we balanced it to the running speed there was hardly any correction necessary.
Engineering consultancy and reclamation of components
For some time, a large reciprocating hydrogen compressor had caused problems by seizing up after short times in service, damaging the con-rod bearings in the process and causing expensive plant downtimes. Pinnacle RE-Tec was able to analyse the root cause, a substantial distortion of the con-rod, and provide a practical solution. By scanning the con-rod, the exact distortion was recorded and a detailed plan designed for re-machining the con-rod and eliminating the problem. The problem was solved very fast and low cost in comparison to making a new part and the compressor has now been running without problem for the last 12 months.
Engineered component up-grades
The original casings for this self priming pump lasted only 6-12 month. They were made of cast iron which was not standing up to the duty as dewatering pumps in a salt mine. A complete scan allowed Pinnacle RE-Tec to reproduce the casing and recommend a more suitable material before the new pattern was made. In cast steel (alloy 255) these pump casings are now guaranteed to outlast the original by a factor of 3-4.
Obsolete equipment support
After many years in service in the dry dock the pump's variable pitch impellers had reached the end of their life. They were beyond repair, and the OEM had gone out of business, so replacement parts were not available. Even though all samples were badly worn, Pinnacle RE-Tec managed to reverse engineer the blades and the hub by using several sample parts and mating parts and piecing the data together to form a whole 3D model. From this it was possible to generate the necessary manufacturing drawings and pattern and produce identical parts, avoiding a costly replacement of the whole pumping units.
Quick turnaround of a complex job
A customer in Sweden had a problem with a SUNDS pulp pump. The pair of counter-rotating shafts at the heart of the machine had cracked. This meant the whole plant was working on a back-up unit and time was of the essence. Pinnacle RE-Tec managed to scan the parts including the complex ellipsoid grooves, source the right material and get them machined within the available timeframe of only 5 weeks. Preventing another failure was also high on the agenda and the most stressed geometries of the shafts were stress relieved to ensure a maximum lifespan. The parts made it back just in time for the end of the outage, customer happy, job done.
BFP refurbishment
One of our customers in the power sector operates the power-plant with Multistage boiler feed pumps (Double Suction, Barrel Pump). Like all pumps, these suffer wear and tear and the customer wanted to explore the feasibility of using an alternative service supplier for the revamp. Pinnacle RE-Tec got the chance to repair the split casing as well as supply the whole rotating element for 2 pumps. Reverse engineering, castings, manufacturing, balancing and assembly took just under 26 weeks. We have just been informed that the pumps have now run their trial period of 3 month as smooth as can be and the customer has given us the next 2 pumps.
Large Cooling Water Pump
cooling water duty is critical for any power-station, but even more so in hot regions such as Africa. Our customer had been frustrated in his search for an alternative supplier for such large stainless steel parts. The impellers are more than 1.2m in diameter and the shafts more than 5m long. Its definitely one of the bigger pumps we made at Pinnacle RE-Tec, but size was not a problem for us. We applied the same process as for any other parts, except that we measured the parts on site and used a 6 axis milling machine to finish the impeller. The whole job took 20 weeks to complete, and the parts were on the way to the customer well in time.
Pump Cartridge, root cause analysis
This pump cartridge had been severely damaged by cavitation. After making new diffusers and impellers we re-built the cartridge. It was then that we discovered the likely cause for the cavitation damage. The inter-stage pieces were made facing the wrong way presenting a serious obstacle to the flow. This was confirmed when checking the cartridge against other pumps of the same kind. Pinnacle RE-Tec suggested to redress this by swapping the position of the 2 inter-stages. For this we had to reduce the OD or one and put a ring on the other, thus avoiding the cost for new castings and a lengthy delay.
Complete Condensate Extraction Pump
This 9 stage condensate extraction pump was reverse engineered for a customer from the power industry. We only bought the bolts, all other parts for two of these units were made by Pinnacle RE-Tec, including shafts, wear rings, bushes, impellers and pump bowls. This is another example of our capability to reverse engineer and manufacture complex rotating equipment and control the quality throughout to ensure that all parts fit together to make a functioning unit. And the same care is applied to any other part we make, big and small, high or low value. The job took 22 weeks to complete and send to the customer.
Blower Shaft, special materials
Normally, a 2 metre shaft is business-as-usual for us at Pinnacle RE-Tec. We get a lot of customers for shafts, from small 300mm gear and pump shafts to 3000mm multi stage pump shafts. But this blower shaft was special as it was made from very corrosion resistant Inconell 600 material to operate in an aggressive environment within a large refinery. The material is not only difficult to machine, but also very expensive, so there was no room for error. The job was manufactured in just over 3 weeks and delivered back to the customers site.
New investment
One of the more important aspects of a maximum MTBF (mean time between failure) is a well balanced rotating element. Besides working to tight standard, taking account of part stability and possible hydraulic effects when choosing where and how to take the excess weight off, makes the difference between a good try and a good job. We have invested in a new balancing machine to insure fast turnaround and competitive prices of this critical service. With a capacity for 3m length, 2 ton in weight and an OD of 1650mm, there are not many pump parts we can’t service. Another building block in our strategy to keep as much as possible of the critical processes in-house.
