The trend towards electronic pumps continues unabated
Operators and manufacturers discuss trends in pump engineering

A combination of variable-speed drives, sensors and integrated control features provides a better basis for adapting pumps to operating conditions. The result is reduced cost and higher availability, and these two factors together are likely to make operators of chemical plants receptive to this technology. However, engineering considerations are not enough. Attractive system solutions (units) will probably be more convincing.

In the chemical industry, there appears to be a mysterious correlation between the number of employees and the number of pumps used. BASF is not the only company that is on the way to “one pump per employee”. At any rate, the proliferation of pumps is a clear indication of their immense importance at any chemical plant. However, “workplace conditions” for pumps at chemical production plants can often be very demanding, as Dr. Udo Setzer from BASF knows very well. You have to expect variations in media properties and pumping conditions. It is often necessary to give consideration to special hazards posed by the media. All of this means that pumps have to meet stringent quality and safety requirements. “Despite the best intentions by everyone involved, it is difficult to achieve pump standardization because of varied and sometimes different individual requirements,” explained Setzer. Nevertheless, pumps should integrate well into the overall system, providing high availability and minimal life cycle cost (LCC). There are a number of approaches which help achieve low LCC:
-increase efficiency (electrical, mechanical and hydraulic) and use new drive and control designs (to reduce partial load losses in particular) to make better use of energy
-increase service life (MTBF) by introducing technical improvements (e.g. shaft seals), more durable materials and by using early warning and status diagnostic strategies
-use innovative maintenance strategies to increase cost effectiveness
-reduce investment and acquisition costs through streamlining and standardization of suppliers, products, models and versions. This last point is a big issue at BASF, as Setzer made clear. This will be good news for the big players in the industry, but it will be difficult for smaller companies to achieve.

Meaningful information,not just data
Moving mechanical parts will always be subject to wear no matter how good and durable the individual components are. How can we get a better handle on wear and unpredictable failure caused by isolated faults?
Traditional sensors each capture a measurement value and then signal something that no operator wants to see, namely a fault message. Ideally, early fault detection kicks in prior to this stage, signaling a problem before the pump fails or damage occurs. Gerhard Berge from KSB recently gave a talk about this topic at a
Dechema pump seminar in Frankfurt, Germany. Operators have raised concerns about problems caused by the use of sensors which send a flood of unanalyzed data. Mr. Berge was able to respond to these concerns. The KSB PumpExert system has been designed as an intelligent diagnostic system which warns operators in time that damage is likely to occur. KSB also promises to deliver an „understandable status description and a clear recommendation of what action to take”. PumpExpert features a modular design. The operator can decide which of the available modules he prefers to use, and he can install upgrades and extensions at any time. These modules turn a pump into an intelligent system which can help minimize life cycle costs. Accurate, detailed information about the condition of the pumps in use increases process reliability and system availability, and there is also potential to reduce maintenance and operating costs.
Mechatronic solutions for vacuum pumps
Sterling SIHI has introduced new advances in dry vacuum pump technology. Vacuum is used in the chemical process industry for basic thermal operations such as concentration, distillation and drying which are performed at low temperatures to avoid damage to the product. A suitable vacuum pump must be capable of reliably pumping highly flammable vapor without sustaining damage from corrosive media.
The mechatronic vacuum system is based on a dry-running, gearless screw pump (each of the two shafts has its own electronically coupled drive unit). It was developed for applications such as pumping explosive media. Special heat dissipation features and electronic synchronization of the shafts eliminate potential ignition sources during normal operation and under any fault conditions that are likely to occur. The vacuum system is a category 2 device and can be safely operated without flame arrestors. Electronic synchronization is used to individually monitor the torque on each shaft on an ongoing basis. If torque demand on both or only one of the shafts rises above the allowable limit, pump speed is automatically reduced, or in extreme cases the pump is stopped.
The electronics must not increase the failure risk
Despite the euphoria surrounding potential improvements that can be achieved through the use of electronic components (speed adaptation, early fault recognition, etc.), experts warn that it must not come at the expense of additional risk. Events in the automotive industry have shown that greater use of electronics can easily introduce new problems. Whereas mechanical parts usually fail due to wear (which can be measured or predicted based on experience), the failure rates for electronic components can normally only be described in statistical terms