Centrifugal pump OEMs claim they provide better parts, service, response and worth than aftermarket service companies, however that isn’t all the time the case.
Until the early 1990s, OEM repair facilities labored solely on their products, espousing the mantra, “We know our merchandise finest.” During the ‘90s, a lower in new product sales triggered OEMs to change their story and boast that their outlets may work on any model of centrifugal pump. Suddenly, their specific product knowledge utilized to all centrifugal pumps.
According to the online journal, World Pumps, six of the main U.S. centrifugal pump producers of the Nineteen Eighties have been consolidated into one, Flowserve. Many U.S. legacy brands are still manufactured by Flowserve. During the various mergers and acquisitions, the us Department of Justice compelled the sale of some manufacturers to other producers. Products were disassociated from their designers.
Before the great consolidation, every OEM had a chief engineer and several product designers who employed a holistic design course of, which considered the entire product, the interaction of its varied components, the user’s utility and industry specs. When a consumer had a major downside, the chief engineer was referred to as to sort it out. The classes learned had been included into future designs and centrifugal pumps evolved over a few years.
Industry standards, API 610 particularly, had been developed by users to simplify procurement of high quality equipment and to improve pump reliability. It is a compendium of users’ experiences, that are often expensive experiences. API 610 captures options to common centrifugal pump design points and best-in-class design options.
Computers loaded with wonderful software program have democratized engineering. When I was a design engineering manager at Pacific Pumps, I had physicists, mathematicians, metallurgists, engineers, drafters, doc managers and a big staff of individuals to create and distribute microfilm. In the early 1980s, we added a Fortran programmer to our staff. Today, that expertise and a lot of skill sets are on my desktop. Integral calculus is completed with a click on in MathCAD. Finite element analysis of buildings, pressure vessels and even shaft keyways are integrated into our stable modelers. Hydraulic part design software program feeds computational fluid dynamics analysis packages, reducing hydraulic design danger. Rotordynamic evaluation software program coupled with structural evaluation instruments solves — and hopefully prevents — vibration points.
3D optical scanners and laser trackers present accurate models of complicated shapes. Conhagen can duplicate any pump case in a single afternoon and improve it by the next week. It can produce a new case or impeller casting in five or six weeks. The growth of patternless molds — 3D printed sand molds — was the sport changer for Conhagen, yielding high fidelity, reasonable price and quick delivery in most any metal.
Conhagen has developed from a repair shop to a producer that designs new centrifugal pumps or modifies existing pumps for particular functions. Unique designs provide the mandatory hydraulic efficiency and mechanical robustness to minimize the whole price of possession. ไดอะแฟรม ซีล of case replacements are included in this editorial — a four stage, axial split, 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 eighty years. Its merchandise include detailed engineering calculations, manufacturing drawings, installation, operation and upkeep manuals, a one-year operation warranty and assist for management of change reviews. It is large enough to be accountable, yet sufficiently small to be responsive.
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