In the latest of its Expert Q&A series, Weir Global Product Manager – Pumps Asad Mohammed talks about trends in centrifugal slurry pump selection: “We’re increasingly seeing rubber-lined pumps outperform metal-lined pumps across a range of applications, but particularly when the slurry contains a lot of fine particles.”
He adds: “The rubber liners are not only highly wear-resistant, they’re also light, which makes them safer to handle when conducting maintenance, as well as quicker to replace, resulting in less downtime. They’re also more cost competitive and versatile than heavy metal liners because, if for some reason the application requirements change, the rubber lining can simply be swapped for metal.”
Mohammed says Weir is also constantly refining the design of its WARMAN® pumps, looking to innovate and make changes whenever possible. “For instance, we have recently developed a new grooved throatbush design for our WARMAN® – pumps that lowers wear. It’s particularly effective in high-wear applications and speaks to Weir’s commitment to continuous improvement and product development.”
In the last few years, Weir has also installed a number of WARMAN® MCR® 760 slurry pumps, which are one of the largest mill circuit slurry pumps ever installed. There are several more planned installations of the equivalent-sized pumps. “These pumps were developed to meet the demand for mill circuit pumps that can handle unprecedentedly high flow rates. Larger pumps help with higher flow rates and lower wear rates because of the slower top speeds generate the same head compared to smaller pumps. Crucially, they help address the global trend of declining ore grades that requires increased throughput for economical mineral recovery.”
Looking at innovation and R&D, he says Weir is always innovating with its materials technology and hydraulic designs. “In terms of new materials, we analyse the type of wear and then select a material from our range of elastomers and metals that’s best suited to minimising wear, whether it’s impact wear, fine particle wear or coarse particle wear, just to give a few examples.”
In terms of the hydraulics, Mohammed adds that one of the reasons Weir has focused on developing the new, grooved throatbush is because it’s one of the most worn components in a slurry pump. “WARMAN® pumps have long been trusted in high-wear applications and our on-going product development means that, over time, even incremental improvements can deliver substantially longer wear life.”
Moving to digital monitoring and system-level optimisation, Wimpie Olivier, Weir Digital Technical Product Manager – Slurry states: “Weir’s NEXT intelligent solutions provide conditional monitoring for WARMAN® pumps, which means that insights help operators avoid unplanned downtime and facilitate better maintenance and inventory planning. By linking this data to other business systems, we’re able to flag if the inventory won’t meet the demands based on the condition of the equipment, which ultimately increases reliability.”
He adds: “Weir is also introducing NEXT wear detection technology for high-wear parts, like the throatbush and liners. This provides information on the exact wear state and the wear rate of these components, which, in turn, allows us to make remaining useful life predictions and plan when the component will need to be replaced and whether it will deliver the campaign.”
NEXT intelligent solutions can also carry out performance monitoring; “for instance, plotting key hydraulic metrics against flow rate on the pump curve so that we know whether we have the right-sized pump for the application. This real-time data provides invaluable insights and helps prevent excessive wear related to sizing issues. We can also look for bottlenecks and possible areas of optimisation in the process. This data can then be fed into more advanced AI and machine learning (ML) models, which enables operators to make more informed decision and helps train business systems to streamline pump performance, maintenance and inventory and spare parts management.”
Weir has also developed automated solutions to make the throatbush adjustment as easy and safe as possible for the end user. Mohammed: “Adjusting the gap between the throatbush and the impeller front shroud reduces hydraulic recirculation in the pump. This prevents localised wear on the throatbush, improves hydraulic efficiency and lowers the total ownership cost for the operator. To avoid impacting the plant’s production, these adjustments are often performed while the pump is operating. However, this can have safety implications for individuals working at the front of the pump unit.”
He says manually adjusting an alloy throatbush on a large pump requires several people and is labour intensive. It requires mechanical tools to adjust the four to eight pusher bolts, one at a time, in order to reduce the gap between the throatbush and impeller. By mechanising the adjustment procedure, personnel are removed from the line of fire, and the accuracy of axial movement is increased. Weir’s automated adjustment system speeds up the process, allowing for more frequent adjustments with minimal effort, which ultimately improves the wear life of the throatbush. The goal is not to adjust to a minimum clearance but to maintain a standard gap to ensure that there is no contact between the impeller and throatbush, while periodically rotating the throatbush face to avoid acceleration of localised wear.
Finally, a note on the next generation of centrifugal slurry pumps in mining applications. Olivier: “There are advances in sensor technology that enable us to measure and monitor things that we haven’t previously been able to. But, more significantly, we can now use AI models to accelerate the process of understanding and interpreting the data. We can then turn these into actionable insights.” He says Weir is also focused on improving advanced process optimisation whereby we look at the whole mill circuit, rather than just the pump in isolation, and assess how different pieces of equipment work together and how what happens upstream impacts what’s happening downstream and vice versa.
Mohammed adds: “Weir is always developing new materials technology; for example, we now have an elastomer that can outlast our Hyperchrome® alloy in many applications. Our R801 mill discharge natural rubber contains a unique reinforcement technology that has been proven to significantly boost tear strength, tensile strength and wear resistance compared to traditional compounds prepared with equivalent hardness and resilience properties. Field testing has confirmed the 30% improved performance of elastomer R801, particularly in aggressive mill discharge pumping duties against Hyperchrome® alloy trails.”
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