Requirements for Concentricity Detection of Centrifugal Pumps

The concentricity of a centrifugal pump refers to the alignment of the pump's shaft center with the shaft center of the pump casing or pump core, meaning whether the axes of the assembled cylindrical surfaces coincide. Concentricity is an important quality indicator in the production of centrifugal pumps, and good concentricity significantly affects the performance and service life of the centrifugal pump.

In this case, the client is a leading enterprise in the manufacturing of large vacuum pumps and centrifugal pumps. As the company's production scale further expands, the quality requirements for the production of pump bodies and pump cores are becoming increasingly stringent, and there are high demands for the precision and accuracy of measurement equipment in the measurement of large pump bodies and pump cores.

Laser Tracker Detection Scheme for Centrifugal Pumps

The laser tracker, as a representative instrument for large-scale precision measurement, has been increasingly applied in various manufacturing fields. It has the capability to perform 3D/6D precise measurements on the target under test with micron-level measurement accuracy over a large scale, which has been fully validated in the measurement and detection processes of various manufacturing fields.

Figure 1: API Series Laser Trackers (Models from left to right: Radian Plus / Radian Pro / Radian Core / iLT / iLTx)

The laser tracker quickly and efficiently detects the concentricity, flatness, positional accuracy, and dimensions of the pump body. It only needs to be set up in a suitable position around the component to be measured, and the operator holds the laser tracker SMR target ball. The tracker will emit a laser to lock onto the center of the target ball and track its position in real-time. By touching the measurement location with the target ball and pausing briefly, the tracker will rapidly collect the spatial position coordinate data of that point and feed it back to the measurement software for analysis.

We will combine the application example of using the API brand Radian laser tracker to detect the pump core of the centrifugal pump in this case with detailed analysis.

Figure 2: Using the Radian laser tracker to detect the centrifugal pump at the work site

Figure 3: Using SMR high-precision target ball with laser tracker to detect the flatness of the centrifugal pump impeller.

Application example of Radian laser tracker in centrifugal pump detection.

Items to be measured: Concentricity and flatness of the centrifugal pump.

Operating steps:

Set up the Radian laser tracker in a suitable position and start it;

Set the features to be measured, such as planes, circles, and cylinders, in the measurement software;

③The operator collects data at the pre-planned measurement positions on the plane and cylindrical surface by briefly touching the target ball with the tracker;

④The Radian laser tracker rapidly collects three-dimensional spatial coordinate data at a collection rate of 1000Hz (1000 points/second) while the target ball remains stable;

⑤The Radian tracker quickly sends the data to the measurement software on the laptop, displaying the measured values in real-time on the interface;

⑥Set the reference axis for evaluating concentricity and evaluate the concentricity of each measured circle one by one.

Figure 4: Schematic of Measurement Location and Inspection Report

Conclusion

The Radian laser tracker comes with wireless data transmission and is powered by batteries, allowing for measurements without a power connection, making it extremely portable and ideal for precise measurements of large workpieces in workshop environments. Its accurate and efficient features, along with a wide measurement range, can fully meet the geometric measurement needs of centrifugal pump components.

More Expansion

In addition to the Radian laser tracker used in this case, the API brand also offers the iLT series laser trackers. The iLT laser tracker further reduces the overall size and weight by nearly 50% based on the powerful features of the Radian series, with a main unit weight of only 4.9 kilograms, making it very suitable for integration into automated production lines and portable measurement tasks, providing you with an excellent new measurement experience. (See Figure 1 for illustration)

Figure 5: API Headquarters Building

About API

The API brand was founded by Dr. Kam Lau in 1987 in Rockville, Maryland, USA, and is the inventor of the laser tracker, holding multiple patents for globally leading measurement technologies, making it a leader in the field of precision measurement technology. Since its establishment, API has been dedicated to the research and production of precision measurement instruments and high-performance sensors in the mechanical manufacturing field, with products widely used in advanced manufacturing sectors around the world, and is at the forefront of high-precision standards in coordinate measurement and machine tool performance testing.