In the industrial areas, there are some important operational costs – whether in the chemical processing, food & beverage, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, or mining industries – are the ones incurred for the purchase, operation & maintenance of pumps used during different production & transfer. One hidden component from the operating-cost perspective is the electricity used by double diaphragm pump, as per a study done by the Hydraulic Institute, account for nearly 20 percent of the world’s electricity demand. Assuming 7 cents per kilowatt/hour that equates to approximately $294 billion to operate diaphragm pump. Therefore, energy consumption can make up close to 90 percent of the total life-cycle costs of owning & operating a pump.
Approximately 30 to 50 % of the energy consumed by pump systems can be saved by using air operated double diaphragm pump. Considering all the usage estimates, simple calculation reveals that up to $147 billion of electricity costs will be charged to the industrial areas or the energy providing areas. Since pump systems are ever-present in industrial manufacturing facilities & are important to the operation of many production applications, they are also used for operational improvements that can decrease energy consumption, resulting in lower operating costs for the facility manager & a more environmentally friendly carbon footprint.
The challenge
Two main challenges faced in industrial manufacturers with fluid-transfer operations. First is the fact that all pumping systems, no matter the technology deployed, can be operationally improved in some way so that they are more efficient & cost-effective to operate. Second, speaking specifically of AODD pump, there are hidden electricity costs related to air consumption are not easy to check because those costs can be included in the expenses needed to operate other machines in the plant.
Upon its invention more than six decades ago, AODD pump technology became sought after in the industrial & manufacturing sectors. AODD pumps are ideal solutions for different industrial applications because of their great design, which allows the displacement of a regulated amount of fluid from one of its two different liquid chambers upon the completion of each pumping stroke process. AODD pumps also feature only a few wetted parts that are dynamic: two diaphragms, which are connected by a common shaft, two inlet valve balls & two outlet valve balls.
Driving the diaphragm pump with compressed air instead of the shaft balances the load on the diaphragm, which will remove the mechanical stress from the operation & increases diaphragm life. This also allows the valve balls to open & close on the valve seats that direct liquid flow. This is not a complicated design & operation allows the operator to find the correct pressures & flows to minimize the AODD pump’s operation, making AODD pumps ideal for use with different liquid types, from crude oil & paints to cooking sauces & shampoos.
An air operated double diaphragm pump design, though, could leave its operation susceptible to higher rates (& corresponding costs) of compressed air usage. Namely, the earliest air distribution systems (ADSs), which comprise the AODD pump’s motor, would, at the completion of each stroke, produce a moment in which a small but still some amount of compressed air would “overfill” the air chamber without any corresponding displacement of fluid. Think of this overfilling as similar to hitting the gas pedal in an automobile while driving over a big piece of ice: the wheels may spin, but the vehicle does not move forward, ultimately wasting gas and energy.
Knowing this, the search began to develop ADS that will help in reducing the rate of air consumption related to the product flow rate while minimizing the overall amount of wasted air that does not enhance the productivity during the pumping cycle. If realized, this ADS type would positively impact an operation’s bottom line with improved production rates & reduced compressed-air consumption. While some notable enhancements to ADS performance had occurred, the troubling problem of wasted air continued at the end of each pumping cycle. Click here to know more about diaphragm pump Africa.
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