How Does Pipeline Pump Work?

Pipeline Pumps are buildings used to increase Pipeline pressure (= apply head lift), allowing fluids to rise higher. They are directional, which is denoted with two arrows in their blueprints and also on the structures themselves.

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Gases lack head lift requirements and, therefore, it is unnecessary to place Pumps on them.

Construction[]

Pipeline Pumps can be built on:

• existing Pipelines, similar to how Splitters snap to Conveyor Belts
• Foundations for precise placement, it can be rotated in 90-degree intervals horizontally
• Walls for precise placement, it can be rotated in 45-degree intervals vertically

Once snapped to a pipeline, the mouse scroll wheel allows adjustment of the flow direction.

While building, between the first and second click, scrolling with the scroll wheel adjusts the axial rotation of the Pump along the pipeline, keeping the same flow direction.

When placing a new Pump after another Pump, head lift guide rings will appear. These rings will move along the Pipeline until they stop at a larger ring. The new Pump can be snapped to this larger ring, which is at the maximum head lift of the previous Pump. Under some conditions, these rings will disappear. See below for details.

Operation[]

Head lift[]

Mk.1 Pipeline Pumps apply a recommended head lift of 20 meters, but actually provide a head lift of 22 meters (as indicated by the orange area in the UI). The flow rate will quickly drop after these 22 meters, it is, therefore, un-advisable to space the Pumps out in 22-meter intervals.

Mk.2 Pipeline Pumps are 2.5 times as capable, applying a recommended head lift of 50 meters and an actual head lift of 55 meters, while only consuming twice as much power. Thus, it is more power-efficient to use Mk.2 Pumps.

The head lift is measured somewhere near the center point of the pipe inlet (2/2.5 meters towards the rear, from the center point of the Pump).

• If the Pipeline Pump is built horizontally, its head lift is measured at 2 meters above the Foundation level it is built on.
• If the Pipeline Pump is built vertically and upwards, its head lift is measured at 2/2.5 meters below its center point.

Flow direction[]

As mentioned, Pipeline Pumps have a direction, as indicated by the arrows on their building hologram. Fluids can only pass through in this direction.

• While the Pumps are powered, head lift is applied as explained above. Fluids are output at the same rate as they're being received.
• While the Pumps are unpowered, head lift is reset to 0. The Pump acts as an one-way valve, as it still prevents fluids from flowing backward. Valves can be used for this purpose as well.

Pipeline Pumps can also be utilized to push fluid forward in certain manifold setups. They will not limit the flow rate (e.g. Mk.1 Pumps on a Pipeline Mk.2 will not cap the flow rate at 300 m3/min).

Current issues[]

• Under some circumstances, the head lift guide rings will disappear before reaching max head lift and no larger ring to snap to will appear. This appears to sometimes happen when there is a horizontal or diagonal section.
  • A workaround is to only have the pipe go straight up when vertical transport of fluids is needed.
  • A QA Site post about the issue can be found here.

Trivia[]

• The Pipeline Pump Mk.2 was first showcased in a teaser trailer.
• Before the addition of Valves, unpowered Pipeline Pumps were used to restrict flow from going in the wrong direction.

Gallery[]

• A short guide on Pump behaviour and usage.

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• A collection of sample Pipeline builds, including Overflow, Input Manifold, and Line Balancer.

• Place pipeline Pump on the painted wall. This arrangement spaces the Pumps 20 meters vertically apart.

History[]

A pipeline pump serves to overcome height differences (see Geodetic altitude) and pipe friction losses when transporting crude oil through piping (pipelines) from the area of production or tank farms to refineries and when supplying consumer areas with refined products such as petrol, jet fuel, fuel oil and diesel oil (through product pipelines).

They can also be used for pumping alkaline solution in gas scrubbers or as cavern pumps for flushing and filling salt domes. The above pump applications require pumps without a balancing device. See Fig. 1 Pipeline pump

Requirements for pipeline pumps 

• Reliable operation: As a simple but robust construction is required, the number of stages is limited. The axial forces are balanced by impellers in back-to-back arrangement or by double-entry impellers (see Back-to-back impeller pump and Double-suction pump). See Figs. 1 and 2 Pipeline pump

• Straightforward assembly and dismantling: Easy access for replacing wear parts is given by the casing being split at shaft level (see Axially split design) and by the nozzles being arranged in the lower casing section. See Fig. 11 Pump casing
• High efficiency across as large an operating range as possible: This condition can be met by selecting multistage back-to-back impeller pumps or, especially for large flow rates single-stage pumps with a double-entry impeller. The pumps are also suitable for parallel operation or series operation). The viscosity of the fluid handled must be considered at the time of selection.
• Adaptability to pump output requirements of future development stages by means of various internal parts: The pump can be adapted by changing the width or diameter of the impeller.

The crossover channels of pump casings of multistage pumps are hydraulically optimised. Replaceable bushes protect all running surfaces prone to wear. See Fig. 2 Pipeline pump

The shaft seals used are almost exclusivelymechanical seals. Gland packings are also an option. The bearings can berolling element bearings or plain bearings, or pivoted segmental thrust bearings for absorbing the axial thrust.

A flexible spacer-type shaft coupling is used so that the drive-end mechanical seal or the bearings can be replaced without removing the pump rotor. This does away with the need to shift or remove the drive from the baseplate (see Back pull-out design).

In virtually all cases a booster pump is installed, so that generally there is no requirement for an extremely low NPSH value. Pipeline pumps are usually operated fully automatically from a process control station.

Key values of a pipeline pump which require monitoring: 

• Inlet pressure
• Bearing temperature
• Shaft seal pressure, leakage
• Fluid temperature
• Oil pressure upstream of the pivoted segmental thrust bearing
• Vibration amplitude for monitoring the bearings and the suction characteristics (with regard to cavitation) 

When starting up the pump the sequence and timing of actions must be controlled: opening the suction-side gate valve, the discharge-side gate valve and the main gate valves of the pumping station as well as starting up the lubricating oil pump and the booster pump.