Multistage pump assembly having removable cartridge

A multistage pump assembly comprising:

• a manifold having an inlet port configured to be coupled to a supply pipe and a outlet port configured to be coupled to a discharge pipe;
• a cartridge having a sleeve and plurality of pumping stages defining a pump stack received within the sleeve, an outer chamber being defined between the pump stack and the sleeve, each pumping stage including an impeller mounted along a pump shaft rotating along a rotation axis, the pump stack extending between a first end and a second end, the first end having an end wall with an opening therethrough providing a flow path to a first pumping stage, the cartridge being aligned horizontally such that the rotation axis is substantially horizontal;
• and
• an end plate positioned between the manifold and the cartridge, the end plate including an outer cartridge engagement surface supporting the sleeve and an inner cartridge engagement surface supporting the end wall of the first end of the pump stack.

A method of servicing a horizontal multistage pump assembly that includes a manifold and a pump unit at least partially received in the manifold, the method comprising:

• removing the pump unit from the manifold by decoupling the pump unit from the manifold;
• servicing the pump unit at a remote location from the manifold by repairing or replacing all or a subset of the components of the pump unit;
• and
• loading the pump unit into the manifold, wherein the pump unit loaded into the manifold includes a cartridge and an end plate positioned at the end of the cartridge between the cartridge and the manifold, the cartridge having a pump stack that includes a horizontally extending pump shaft supported at a distal end by either the end plate or the manifold, wherein the pump unit is loaded into the manifold with the end plate supporting the pump stack during loading into the manifold.

A pump family of multistage pump assemblies comprising:

• a manifold having an inlet port configured to be coupled to a supply pipe and a outlet port configured to be coupled to a discharge pipe, the inlet and outlet ports defining an end suction, radial outlet port configuration, the manifold having a mating interface;
• a first pump unit including a cartridge and an end plate positioned at a mating end of the cartridge, the cartridge having a sleeve and a pump stack received within the sleeve, the pump stack having pumping stages configured to produce a relative low pressure and the pump stack having a horizontally extending pump shaft that rotates about a rotation axis;
• and
• a second pump unit including a cartridge and an end plate positioned at a mating end of the cartridge, the cartridge having a sleeve and a pump stack received within the sleeve, the pump stack having pumping stages configured to produce a relative high pressure and the pump stack having a horizontally extending pump shaft that rotates about a rotation axis;
• wherein the first and second pump units are configured to be separately coupled to the manifold, the first pump unit coupled to the manifold to provide the relative low pressure and the second pump unit coupled to the manifold to provide the relative high pressure.