MATERIALS HANDLING
Jan Sprakel explains how plunger pumps with new drive technology enable high pressures to be produced efficiently
TAKING THE PLUNGE The inner workings of the K50000
P
umps are one area of process technology that is ripe for technical development. Responding to the need for progress,
one pump expert has fundamentally revised the mechanical powertrain of its triplex plunger pumps for pressures up to 3,500 bar. In combination with an appropriate variable speed control, in particular, these new pumps allow considerable gains in effi ciency and energy savings to be achieved. The ‘classical’ design of Kamat
plunger pumps, with their undivided pump housing, has stood the test of time in many diff erent high-pressure technology applications (up to 3,500 bar). They have also been adapted in various ways to meet the diff erent requirements of users.
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As positive displacement machines,
these pumps also off er a very high degree of effi ciency. For this reason, they open up new areas of application beyond the usual target branches of industry, such as mining, water jet and surface technology. In chemical and process engineering, for example, plunger pumps are increasingly substituting centrifugal pumps and make it possible to achieve some considerable energy savings, starting already in the 80 to 100 bar pressure range. Plunger pumps are also increasingly being used in areas that were previously occupied by expensive diaphragm pumps. Users in these areas are placing
higher demands on the quiet operation of high-pressure pumps. This requirement was diffi cult to achieve with the existing drive concept used in Kamat pumps, because the
crankshaft - which moves the plunger via crossheads - had to be asymmetrical, to fi t it into the undivided housing. As a consequence of this asymmetry, a lot of vibration and a high noise level were produced, making it diffi cult to decouple the damping elements. This explains why Kamat decided to
re-design the transmission. The objective was to achieve a reduction in noise and – at the same time – values at least as good as for all other characteristics of the previously tried and tested concept in the past, such as the ease of servicing, durability and energy effi ciency.
NEW TRANSMISSION FROM ITS OWN PRODUCTION This goal was achieved using a bisected housing, where a symmetrically balanced crankshaft is responsible for
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