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Submersible pumps trending worldwide

7th February 2014

By: Carina Borralho

  

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While alternative pump designs are registering a decrease in sales worldwide, submersible pump sales are registering a global increase, owing to the advan- tages they offer, says Japanese pumps manufacturer EIM Electric, which supplies its pumps in South Africa through sole supplier Mather + Platt.

Advantages of submersible pumps include space and cost savings, ease of installation – with no pump house required – and no need to prime pumps.

EIM Electric highlights space saving as crucial in the mining environment, adding that this is something submersible pumps can offer, compared with alternative pumps, such as centrifugal pumps, which require the additional construction of a pump house.

“Further, the EIM submersible pump is self-priming, which means that, when it is switched on, it fills itself with the med-ium being transferred and starts working automatically. Many alternative pump types have to be primed before they start working, which makes them prone to breakdown if the procedure is not carried out correctly. All of these advantages lead to cost savings,” explains EIM Electric.

Among the submersible pump options available to mines is the company’s horizontally mounted SV model – a submersible vortex pump, with the advantages of high efficiency, heavy construction for long service life, low maintenance and an impeller that resists clogging.

The model is suitable for transferring fines, coal-chip slurries and similar media; the efficiency of its design makes its operatio-nal duty equivalent to a standard centrifugal machine.

A nonclogging vortex impeller in the EIM SV pump ensures that solids travel through the vortex passage rather than through the impeller, increasing the impeller’s wear life. Further, double mechanical seals protect the motor from the slurry being pumped.

The pumps are explosionproof for mining applications and are suitable for environments of up to 40 °C.

Technical specifications include a power rating of 5.5 kW to 22 kW, a total head from 10 m to 20 m, a discharge of between 0.9 m3/min and 2 m3/min, and a voltage of between 200 V and 1 100 V.

Challenges

EIM Electric says political uncertainty, including strikes in the South African mining sector, can lead to missed opportunities and profit, which poses a challenge for the company.

“Further, there have not been new pump designs for decades anywhere in the world,” says EIM Electric, adding that manufacturers are focusing on improvements to their own models, rather than on new designs, which has resulted in several pumps with specialised features being introduced onto the market.

EIM Electric has been involved in the manufacturing of pumps, motors and related equipment for 60 years.

The company’s range of general-purpose mining submersibles includes general drainage pumps and super high-head pumps, as well as vertical and horizontal pumps.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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