20 Jan Centrifugal Pumps for Sale

Understanding the History, Operations and Materials of Today’s Centrifugal Pumps for Sale

While it bore little resemblance to the sophisticated centrifugal pumps for sale today, pumping equipment has been around, albeit in rather a simple form at first, for about four thousand years. The earliest recorded use of such equipment was in Ancient Egypt, where it was used to transfer water from the river into suitable containers. Today, the modern descendants of those primitive devices are both more complex and more powerful, not to mention more diverse, in their design and the principles underlying their operation.

History

Among the most widely-used members of this new breed of pump are the centrifugal pumps – a type often destined for sale to the chemical industry. It was a French inventor named Denis Papin who first developed this type of pump towards the end of the 17th century. In the wake of his achievement, his prototype has undergone several modifications to its original design.

Collectively, the various upgrades have led to a marked improvement in performance, which, undoubtedly, accounts for this type of product’s widespread popularity today. As the pressure on industries to boost production has increased, the manufacturers of centrifugal pumps have, in turn, produced more units for sale. Let’s take a closer look at how these remarkably useful machines work.

Operation

Despite their reliability and high performance, the principle underlying the operation of a centrifugal pump is actually relatively straightforward. An electric motor drives a shaft on which one or more impellers are mounted. As the shaft rotates, the motor provides the kinetic energy to the impellers needed to move a liquid. The action is similar to that of an old-fashioned riverboat in which a rotating paddle acts as an impeller. If, like the pump, the steamer is tethered in position, it will be the water that moves and not the vessel. To fulfil its function, any centrifugal pump offered for sale must also have an intake through which the liquid can be drawn and an outlet through which it can subsequently be discharged.

Materials

Following advances in materials science, manufacturers can now produce pumping equipment that is far more versatile than it was when it first became available commercially. For many years, cast iron and bronze were the materials of choice for this purpose, and it was only when the nature of the fluids that required pumping began to change that new, more robust alternatives to these became necessary.

In practice, the centrifugal pumps for sale at the time were required mainly to transfer water and had not been designed to withstand the potentially corrosive or abrasive effects of other materials. However, rapid industrial growth, especially within sectors such as mining, oil and gas, chemicals and petrochemicals triggered a growing need for new and more robust materials from which to manufacture the pumps, pipelines, and related equipment essential to cope with the more stringent demands of these key industries.

Stainless steel has proved to be a highly effective alternative and is still used to manufacture centrifugal pumps for sale to industries. However, there are still many instances in which even this widely used alloy is not resistant enough. As mentioned earlier, the two main threats to pumping equipment are corrosion and abrasion. Strongly basic or acidic solutions will take their toll over time, as will many of the other highly corrosive substances commonly used or produced by chemical companies. Likewise, particulate suspensions such as coal slurries can cause physical wear and tear.

To meet these more extreme challenges, metallurgists developed unique materials known as superalloys. These exceptionally tough new products are now being used to manufacture centrifugal pumps for sale with markedly improved resistance to these highly corrosive chemicals. Apart from their high resistance to corrosion and mechanical damage, superalloys such as Hastelloy have high melting points and resist deformation due to thermal creep. The only real downside to these superalloys is that they are more expensive than stainless steel.

More recently, however, a non-metallic material has gained favour among the manufacturers of this tougher breed of centrifugal pumps intended for sale to the chemical and similar industries. Vulnerable metal parts are made, instead, from synthetic thermosetting resins. The result is a product that is resistant to a far more comprehensive range of aggressive liquids than those made from any other material currently available. Furthermore, these lightweight units are easier to handle and, in use, they are quiet and vibration-free.

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As industry experts with a wealth of experience, we’re always happy to help guide clients to the best possible solutions to each unique pumping requirement. To learn more about our products and offering, please get in touch and start a friendly conversation today.