Circulating water pumps deliver cooling water to equipment that condenses the steam coming from a turbine. This is an extremely important component for a fossil power plant that operates a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The internal workings of a circulating water pump needs to be operating at peak efficiency. It is possible for internal supports or baffles to break off and damage the impeller or reduce the efficiency of the pump. Remote visual inspection tools can be used to locate these problems.
These massive pumps can be remotely inspected with a videoscope to check for internal condition. A videoscope can be inserted through borescope plugs on the sides of the pump and snaked to remote internal locations to view the condition of internal components and check for broken or loose parts, bad welds and other deficiencies. An 8.0 mm diameter videoscope that is 3 to 5 meters in length works best for this inspection. A guide tube such as Dekoron is helpful to assist the flexible videoscope working length to the areas that need inspection. With proper videoscope equipment and a trained inspector this inspection procedure can be quickly accomplished. The Videoscope inspection results can be recorded and help engineers determine if there are any internal problems with the circulating water pump so they can ensure maximum efficiency.