Access the Global Intranet: http://global.weirintranet.com INNOVATION New pump range at Weir Gabbioneta


Weir Gabbioneta has introduced the RL range – a new line of overhung pumps


specifi cally designed to work with low fl ows. The new pumps enlarge Gabbioneta’s portfolio, offering a product suitable for a range of applications now more commonly demanded by the oil and gas market. The pumps differ from traditional designs (full emission pumps) in the geometry of the impeller and diffuser. Full emission pumps are designed to optimise performance at high specifi c speeds. RL pumps have been designed with Barske type radial impellers and a circular volute


construction suitable for low specifi c speeds. Barske type impellers increase the advantages of using partial emission pumps, as they minimise friction losses. In all RL pumps the circular diffuser and front shroud plate are fully replaceable, allowing changes to operating conditions without replacing the pump casing. The prototype of this new line of pumps was calculated through state of the art computational fl uid dynamics analysis with the results confi rmed during performance testing. The market has already welcomed the new pump, with more than a dozen RL pumps already sold for different projects.


The new RL range of overhung pumps from Gabbioneta


Going for gold with premium pump liner Weir Minerals Africa’s R55™ premium grade


elastomer pump liner is receiving excellent feedback from customers. R55 is a proprietary high-tech rubber


developed to operate in severe wear applications. This high grade premium black natural rubber has a low hardness suitable for pump liners, impellers and cyclone parts and delivers improved shear and tear resistance in hard, sharp particle slurries. Weir Minerals Africa’s product manager – slurry pumps, Rui Gomes, says, “This higher


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resistance to tearing makes R55 ideal for mill discharge applications, particularly in gold mining, where there is a high content of silica sand which is too abrasive for metal liners.”


After Weir Minerals Africa offered the liners to a gold mining company in Ghana on a trial basis, the results were so signifi cant that the company has since made the transition to R55 in about 90% of its pumps.


“The idea of rubber liners in this


application was initially greeted with a great deal of scepticism,” Gomes says. “The mine’s metal liners were lasting a maximum of one-and-a-half months before needing replacement, but when we installed the R55 liners, they lasted eight months. At another gold operation a standard rubber compound was being used and was achieving a life of between four to fi ve months. After introducing the R55 liners, this life was extended to nine months, a huge cost saving for the mine in terms of wear life.”


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