Blockages and failures occur more often with some pump types, but for many of today’s water operators, there is a solution. Here, we take a look at how progressive cavity (PC) pumps are solving some of the water industry’s key pumping challenges.

Pumps are integral to the successful operation of wastewater treatment works (WwTW). Whether moving untreated water, transferring dewatered sludge or metering chemicals, the pumps in use at WwTW need to be easy to monitor, robust, reliable and able to handle a variety of materials. But not all pumps are the same.

Blockages and failures occur more often with some pump types, and with water companies delivering efficiency savings that have resulted in more unmanned sites, the discovery of process problems can be delayed, sometimes resulting in pump downtime. For many of today’s water operators, there is a solution. Here, we take a look at how progressive cavity (PC) pumps are solving some of the water industry’s key pumping challenges.

Monitoring and maintenance

Many of today’s WwTW were originally designed to be manually supervised by on-site operatives who checked for blockages, process or equipment problems and corrected them in a timely manner. Due to partial process automation, many sites are now unmanned, with maintenance planned at specific intervals.

When unforeseen problems occur, such as pump blockages due to ragging, or lack of suction lift due to grit contamination causing excessive pump wear, a maintenance team has to be despatched to rectify the issue. However, some PC pumps, such as SEEPEX’s Smart Conveying Technology (SCT) range, can be remotely monitored, making it easier for problems to be anticipated and enabling predictive maintenance.

For example, the use of variable frequency drives (VFD) and the ability to monitor speed means operators can foresee when maintenance will be required. As the pump stator wears, the pump speed increases; once this is identified, the SCT pump can be very quickly adjusted to match its original capacity, keeping efficiency high and providing more time to plan for maintenance.

Read full article from World Pumps: Solving wastewater problems the PC way