Feasibility study of a bi-directional centrifugal pump for DBT class 45 CST gearbox used in underground coal mining operation

This paper presents a feasibility study of using a bi-directional centrifugal pump into DBT’s Series 45 CST gearbox. The suitability of other pumps for cooling and the design of a new symmetrical centrifugal pump that would be suited to the series 45 CST gearbox have been reviewed with financial versus functionality and usability. The analysis and results of this study indicate that by introducing the newly designed bi-directional pump, DBT may save over $370k in production costs over 10 years. This equates to a savings of $1850 per gearbox which is about a 26% saving on the current set-up, and thus bi-directional pump is reasonably feasible.