Though the prime function of a mine or quarry is to extract and process minerals, they’re not the only things that need to be handled. There are also huge amounts of process water involved, which has to be extracted even when the mine is not in production. So these applications need a pump which can handle products entrained with solids with varying viscosities – everything from mine waste water (dewatering), to tailings, calcium carbonate slurries and aluminium sulphates. Fortunately, seepex has now made a pump precisely for this job, which is smarter and more efficient than ever.
Progressive cavity pumps have a characteristic feature; the conveying elements are formed by the intersecting geometries of a helical rotor and a double internal helical stator. With each pump designed according to the unique requirements of the industry sector, the application, and the product being pumped, this means that whether you need to transport extremely viscous media, precisely meter the smallest quantities, maintain the highest levels of hygiene, or resist the erosion caused by abrasive solids, seepex has the solution.
For mined or quarried material with a high proportion of solids, for sludges, grout, non-flowable products and products requiring handling with minimum shear (such as flocculants and oily water) a progressive cavity pump provides efficient, cost-effective handling – even for aggressive media or over long distances (see the Thames Water case study right). The versatility of the progressive cavity pump can be further extended by fitting various options of open hoppers and feeding arrangements, to assist non- flowable products into the rotor/stator pumping elements.
The latest development in progressive cavity pumps introduced by seepex is Smart Stator Technology (SST). The greatest innovation in pumps for many years, and unique to seepex, SST is a major advance which simplifies maintenance, reduces downtime, and can extend a pump’s service life by 200%. Whereas other progressive cavity pumps require the stator to be withdrawn across the rotor for maintenance, the SST progressive cavity pump has a stator in two halves which can be lifted out vertically, eliminating the need to dismantle the pipe. Visual access to the stator in the event of a drop in performance (due to a jammed stone, for example) is achieved simply by removing four nuts and lifting off the top section. Whereas it can take up to seven hours to strip and repair a standard pump, with a seepex SST pump this is reduced to as little as 10-20 minutes.
Because the stator can be removed in two halves, it not only dramatically reduces the downtime required for maintenance or repair, but also offers handling and associated health and safety advantages, as only half the stator – and therefore half the weight – has to be lifted and manoeuvred.
When the performance of an SST pump drops, a simple adjustment of a nut by 1/8th of a turn will immediately restore the pump’s original performance. Further adjustment when wear has occurred will help to extend the service life of the pump by as much as 200%.
Smart Stator Technology is now available across the majority of the seepex range of industrial and open hopper progressive cavity pumps from ERIKS. However, this doesn’t limit you to an off the-shelf solution. ERIKS’ application know-how and seepex’s engineering capabilities can provide you with an engineered solution specifically created for your application, and designed to increase your efficiency. You can also call on ERIKS’ comprehensive support, advice and practical help for the entire installation, including associated pipework and control panels.
Of course the purchase cost of any pumping system is only a small proportion of the total investment.
Installation and commissioning costs, energy consumption, maintenance and repair costs, the expense of idle equipment and production downtimes must be kept as low as possible in the interests of efficiency, productivity and reducing overall life cycle costs. Consultation, development, project management and support throughout the whole pump life cycle form the basis of seepex’s application expertise. The seepex modular pump system enables a pump to be designed precisely for each application, ensuring lower energy consumption, reduced maintenance costs, increased operational safety, better utilisation of capacity and higher productivity and profits for the customer.
So if you need to choose, install and run a pump for something ‘lumpy’, ERIKS and seepex can help to ensure the whole process runs smoothly.
Thinking big
World’s largest tunnel boring machine
The construction of Madrid’s inner ring road involved the world’s largest earth pressure balanced tunnel boring machine at the time, weighing 4,000 tonnes. seepex pumps were used to handle bentonite slurry, employed as a spoil conditioning agent in the tunnelling machines.
seepex UK were involved in the process from the initial specification of the correct type of pump for the application, to the design, manufacture and shipping.
World’s largest progressive cavity pumps
11m long and almost 7 tonnes in weight, the seepex n300-36 surface transfer pumps installed at Thames Water’s Mogden Lane sewage treatment plant are probably the world’s largest. Pumping 180m3/hr of 8% thickened sludge to another treatment plant 16km distant, each pump is powered by a 250kw electric motor, to deliver a world-leading combination of flow and pressure.
A milestone in progressive cavity pump development, the pumps were delivered in a record-breaking 16 weeks from the start of design work. The rotor – manufactured from a single piece of steel and measuring almost 6m in length – is engineered to within accuracies of 0.2mm.