Centrifugal pump OEMs declare they supply better parts, service, response and value than aftermarket service companies, however that isn’t all the time the case.
Until the early 1990s, OEM restore facilities labored exclusively on their merchandise, espousing the mantra, “We know our products best.” During the ‘90s, a decrease in new product gross sales triggered OEMs to change their story and boast that their retailers might work on any model of centrifugal pump. Suddenly, their particular product knowledge applied to all centrifugal pumps.
According to the web journal, World Pumps, six of the main U.S. centrifugal pump producers of the 1980s have been consolidated into one, Flowserve. Roadmap are nonetheless manufactured by Flowserve. During the various mergers and acquisitions, the us Department of Justice forced the sale of some brands to different producers. Products had been disassociated from their designers.
Before the good consolidation, each OEM had a chief engineer and a quantity of other product designers who employed a holistic design course of, which thought of the whole product, the interplay of its various parts, the user’s software and trade specs. When a consumer had a significant problem, the chief engineer was referred to as to sort it out. The classes discovered had been included into future designs and centrifugal pumps advanced over a few years.
Industry requirements, API 610 specifically, were developed by customers to simplify procurement of quality gear and to improve pump reliability. It is a compendium of users’ experiences, which are normally costly experiences. API 610 captures solutions to common centrifugal pump design points and best-in-class design options.
Computers loaded with superb software program have democratized engineering. When I was a design engineering manager at Pacific Pumps, I had physicists, mathematicians, metallurgists, engineers, drafters, document managers and a big team of individuals to create and distribute microfilm. In the early Eighties, we added a Fortran programmer to our workers. Today, that talent and a lot of ability sets are on my desktop. Integral calculus is completed with a click in MathCAD. Finite factor analysis of structures, stress vessels and even shaft keyways are built-in into our strong modelers. Hydraulic element design software program feeds computational fluid dynamics analysis packages, lowering hydraulic design risk. Rotordynamic analysis software program coupled with structural analysis tools solves — and hopefully prevents — vibration issues.
3D optical scanners and laser trackers present correct fashions of advanced shapes. Conhagen can duplicate any pump case in one afternoon and enhance it by the following week. It can produce a new case or impeller casting in 5 – 6 weeks. The improvement of patternless molds — 3D printed sand molds — was the sport changer for Conhagen, yielding high constancy, reasonable cost and quick delivery in most any steel.
Conhagen has developed from a restore store to a manufacturer that designs new centrifugal pumps or modifies existing pumps for specific functions. Unique designs present the required hydraulic performance and mechanical robustness to reduce the total value of possession. Two examples of case replacements are included in this editorial — a four stage, axial cut up, boiler feed pump’s carbon metal case was changed with a CA6NM casting. The second instance is a single stage between a bearings pump that suffered rotor dynamics points. Conhagen designed and manufactured a new case, shortening the distance between bearings from 37 3/4 inches to 30 5/8 inches.
Conhagen has been in business for 80 years. Its products embrace detailed engineering calculations, manufacturing drawings, set up, operation and upkeep manuals, a one-year operation guarantee and assist for management of change reports. It is sufficiently big to be responsible, yet small enough to be responsive.
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