At this year’s Achema, KSB is presenting a new pump monitoring system called KSB Guard. Networked vibration and temperature sensors fitted directly to the pump make availability at plant level transparent. The system ensures that changes in the operating behaviour of the machine are detected at an early stage, and maintenance work can be better planned, without having to be on site with the pump. Unlike previous systems, KSB Guard is ideally suited for retrofitting. The sensor unit is attached to the bearing bracket or the drive lantern of the pump using a magnet and adhesive, and can be mounted during operation, with no need for changes to the machine. A battery unit, which is also supplied, provides self-sufficient power supply.

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PEC-EX is the latest software module the company R. Stahl introduces exclusively for the plant managers working in the explosion-protected plants. The primary objective of this solution is to optimise the planning execution and documentation of the inspections and tests conducted periodically in a plant.

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Few components in plant and equipment engineering are as steeped in tradition as the pump. But how does this fit in with the age of digitalisation? And is it even possible to design a hydraulic element that is fit for Industry 4.0? KSB has been reconciling these two worlds successfully for some time now.

KSB has always focused primarily on the optimisation of pumps – knowing the exact load profile and tuning the pump to the operating point. This is borne out by the sheer number of different pump casings and materials used and the impeller adjustment options available. However, conditions can change during the life of a pump and it often happens that a pump no longer runs at the optimum operating point. This also applies to newly installed pumps. For years now, KSB experts have therefore been investigating how to optimise pumps more easily without using complex analytics or even having to replace the pump.

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Figure 1:
Flowpath geometry of the pump (left) and computational mesh in Star-CCM (right)
along center plane

Mechanical Solutions Inc. (MSI), headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey, specializes in fluid machinery design, fluid dynamic analysis, mechanical design and analysis. In the energy industry, MSI focuses on analysis, testing and troubleshooting of all kinds of rotating, reciprocating and turbomachinery, using sophisticated analysis and testing tools. These specialists are using Star-CCM, an industry-leading simulation package to tackle design challenges in water pumps.

Major design challenges of water pumps include the unsteadiness of the flow, cavitation and rotating machinery. Star-CCM offers features that can successfully tackle these difficult physics while offering a streamlined, robust numerical design process. Geometry generation, meshing, solving, post-processing and optimization can all be done in an efficient workflow.

Features like the unsteady flow solver, unsteady cavitation model, Rigid Body Motion (RBM) for rotating domains, automated unstructured meshing for complex geometry and parallel processing capability offer the ability to explore multiple water pump designs in an economical manner. The system allows designers to easily predict pump performance at design and off-design points and avoid damaging effects of cavitation and erosion.

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Tahoe Design Software’s New PumpBase™3 Catalog Builder version includes many new features of interest to Pump Manufacturers such as complete Catalog Production tools, Graphical Curve Entry and detailed Multi-Stage Analysis.

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