South African Industrial Pump News

The Pumps, Valves & Pipes Africa (PVP) 2019 international trade exhibition and conference is expected to welcome more than 10 500 industry professionals at this year’s event.

The 2019 PVP Africa event, which will take place from June 11 to 13, in Johannesburg, at the Gallagher Convention Centre, is the first event to co-locate with the African Construction Expo and the Totally Concrete Expo.
 

“The expo is set to be boosted by sharing the stage with two chief construction events,” says international exhibitions and publishing company dmg events marketing manager Sean Osterloh.

“The co-located event of the African Construction Expo and the Totally Concrete Expo jointly attracts about 9 500 construction professionals a year. The 2019 edition introduces this event as part of ‘The Big 5’ portfolio of construction events,” he says.
 

Co-locating with these two expos confirms that PVP can expect more than 10 500 industry professionals from more than 45 countries for all three events, compared with 1 200 industry professionals from 16 countries at the 2017 edition of the PVP event, which is biennial.

Osterloh adds that sharing the stage with two chief construction events will enable the PVP expo to connect with a broader audience and will provide a larger platform for the involved industries to engage and do business with other industry professionals and entities.

“We welcome attendees from all over the world to our expo. In 2017, we were pleased to have attendees from Germany, Finland, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey and Spain, with the majority of our attendees coming from South Africa and the Southern African Development Community.”

Besides a renewed focus on new growth opportunities, continuing from the focus of the 2017 event, Osterloh says PVP 2019 will address issues of localisation, and new innovations and technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), among others, to elevate Africa’s pumps, valves and pipes sectors to international standards. Subsequently, this year’s event will showcase some of these technologies.

“Decades of engineers’ knowledge are now being accumulated through IoT and Big Data. “With billions of physical devices around the world now connected to the Internet, collecting and sharing data, these technologies will ensure better visibility, forecasting and maintenanceplanning.”

While Osterloh encourages industry professionals from a broad range of industries to attend the event, he adds that an increased representation from the mining, construction, foodand beverage, water and energy sectors is expected.

People planning to attend the event can expect more productshowcases, including free-to-attend, strategic and technical workshops. These workshops will have an interactive element, as relevant case studies will be studied, and they will also include panel discussions.

“An elite expert advisory panel is being selected and invited to provide their expertise and advice to ensure that a most relevant and current programme is delivered – designed by the industry for the industry,” says Osterloh.

A call for papers was released to the market only recently, he highlights. Industry professionals who are interested in hosting technical workshops or delivering presentations are invited to submit their proposals for the event. “We are seeking thought-provoking, innovative, futuristic and problem-solving abstracts.”

Moreover, Osterloh indicates that, in the current climate and context of Africa’s infrastructural development, the event could play an important role in contributing to the pumps, valves, pipes and related industries, which contribute significantly to service delivery.

“Africa has enormous growth potential in infrastructural development. “Efforts to augment economic growth by creating more jobs through skills development and localisation are necessary for Africa’s economy to evolve to the next level,” he concludes.

Electrical solutions provider Magnet Grouphosted a roadshow with about five of powermanagement company Eaton’s technicians in October to highlight Eaton’s DILM range of contractors, circuit breakers and overload relays to Magnet clients and end-users.

The roadshow, which visited the Durban, Richards Bay and Pietermaritzburg areas, in KwaZulu-Natal, aimed to offer clients an opportunity to interact with Eaton productspecialists and engage with the products prescribed for their facilities’ specific applications. On display was Eaton’s DILM range from its motor control collection, along with comprehensive Eaton solutions for automation, circuit protection and power distribution.
 

“Eaton DILM motor control and protection productsefficiently meet the demands of challenging applications, including motor control centres, field starter panels and heavy-duty pumps, as well as conveyors, fans, pumps and compressors,” says Magnet Group MD Brian Howarth.

Magnet’s portfolio of Eaton space-saving motor control and protection devices – which are on average 10% smaller than other devices used for the same purpose – offer motor starting and protection solutions in diverse industries, including mining, oil and gas, pulp and paper, original-equipment manufacturers and the automotive sector.
 

“The DILM range – which encompasses contactors, circuit breakers and overload relays – has been designed for easy installation and simple setup, increased accuracy, greater visibility into the motor status and a higher degree of protection,” notes Howarth.

The range also includes DILM contactors for utilisation category AC-1/400 V non-motor loads. Its operating characteristics include non-inductive and slightly inductive loads, and electrical characteristics for switch on and switch off are one time the rated operational current. Typical applications for this range are for industrial electric heaters.

DILM contactors within the AC-3/400 V utilisation category are rated for normal switching duty for alternating current induction motors. Operating and electrical characteristics are switch on from stop up to six times the rated motor current and switch off during run up to one time the rated motor current. Typical applications include compressors, lifts, mixers, pumps, escalators, agitators, fan conveyor belts, centrifuges, hinged flaps, bucket-elevators, air-conditioning systems and general drives for manufacturing and processing machines.

Further, the DILM range includes contactors for utilisation category AC-4/400 V, which are rated for the extreme switching duty of squirrel-cage motors. Operating characteristics are inching, plugging and reversing. The electrical characteristics for making and breaking the current are up to six times the rated motor current. The DILM AC-4/400V range is used in applications such as printing presses, wire-drawing machines and centrifuges, as well as for special drives used for manufacturing and processing machines.

Complementing the DILM range are the PKZM and PKE motor protective circuit breakers, which Eaton distributes. The circuit breakers range between 0.63 A and 63 A, offering short circuit and thermal overload protection to prevent downtime. These devices, with screw connection and push button or rotary switch-type controls for manual on and off functionality, are also suitable for use in environments where there is constant or cyclic damp heat.

Magnet also supplies Eaton’s motor control and protection range, which encompasses overload relays, soft starters and variable-speed drives.

“Eaton is gradually penetrating the market and hopes to continue to promote its products throughout South Africathrough its partnership with Magnet,” says Eaton Electricalproduct manager Devan Reddy.

South Africa-based global pumps supplier Sulzer is considering innovative ways to assist its clients to save time, decrease costs and mitigate carbon emissions while complying with national environmental, health and safetyregulations, says Sulzer retrofit segment manager Richard Morris.

“Over time, most industrial plant pumping systems change, which changes the pump duty requirements resulting in poor reliability and inefficient operation. “Together with this challenge, there have been changes to the regulatory healthand safety requirements and standards; we see retrofitting existing equipment as the best solution to solve these challenges.”
 

He notes that Sulzer is currently working with customers in various industries, such as oil and gas, power, mining and bulk water transport, with the aim to transform ‘bad actors into star performers’, to improve reliability and increase mean time between repairs.

“We consider retrofits as an upgrade, or modernisation, of existing pumping equipment and systems. “This can be done through hydraulic re-rating, mechanical design updates, changing of materials of construction, addition of wear-resistant coatings, or upgrading of seals and seal systems to meet the latest standards required by the specific industry regulations.

Additional benefits to retrofitting existing pumping equipment include its cost effectiveness and shorter lead times, compared with purchasing new pumping equipment, with the added benefit of not disturbing the existing pump installation, and this makes it the perfect solution for our customers,” concludes Morris.

Pumps and motor multinational Franklin Electric Southern Africa is conducting a large-scale live test trial of an equipmentmonitoring Internet of Things (IoT) system to analyse the conditions of pumps that are part of a water reticulation system.
 
The company is exploring how it can use its engineers’ knowledge of its pumps, accumulated over decades, to better operate the pumps and provide better visibility, forecasting and maintenance planning for clients, says Franklin Electriccontracts and engineering manager Danie Henning.
 
The pumps are typically remotely located, which makes servicing them time-consuming. IoT technologies, such as the company’s remote equipment monitoring trial, can ensure that equipment runs more efficiently, with less disruption, fewer breakdowns and at lower cost.
 
“We are using a range of sensors on the equipment we are monitoring, including vibration and temperature sensors. “The data enable us to build up a baseline of the typical operations of the pumps and then, by comparing the readings with historical data, we can determine how accurately we can predict wear and potentially predict failures.”
 
Owing to the function of the pumps – to provide drinking water – maintenance and repairs must ideally be carried out during appropriate maintenance windows to reduce or eliminate any interruption to supply.
“Sometimes errors are minor – even something as mundane as a loose bolt or nut – and can be repaired easily. Other times, the errors are more serious or technical. “Knowing which errors are the likely causes of changes to readings we receive from the sensors helps us and the client to manage maintenance staff and costs, as well as to easily repair minor faults and plan more effectively to deal with more serious faults.”
Specifically, the company can stop the pump before it breaks down to limit and reduce or even eliminate serious damage to equipment, which reduces operating and maintenance costs and improves the life of the pump.
The system also allows the company to track field staff, recording the time of arrival and the time spent on site. Although the option for video surveillance is available, it is not being tested and will be evaluated in future.
 
“We are considering broadening our IoT pilot to a few other sites to gain more experience and optimise systemperformance.”
However, a significant consideration in IoT projects is data ownership, its use and sharing, as “there must be thorough negotiations between the parties in terms of data use and ownership”, highlights Henning.
 
While IoT is expected to provide significant value for the engineering industry, it also presents an opportunity for equipment manufacturers and engineering companies to boost their revenue streams; however, price is paramount to these considerations.
 
“Industry is still characterising IoT technology and testingwhat the most suitable uses and appropriate pricing structures should be,” he concludes.
 

As part of enhancing its services and solutions offering, submersible slurry pumps supplier Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa has invested in several initiatives, such as a service exchange programme, new offices in Cape Town and the development of a new pumps range, says Goodwin Africa marketing and sales director Rui Gomes.

Goodwin Africa is the sole subsidiary of UK-based pumpssupplier Goodwin International and has been active in the South African market since 2016.
 

“The clients that we have come across really require solutions. . . and assistance,” claims Gomes. As a result, Goodwin Africa is focusing on providing the required solutions and assistance to their clients.

He explains that customers are far more conservative than they used to be, purely as a result of capital constraints, with many of the mining companies under serious financial strain because of the recent slump in commodity prices and a lack of investment in the industry.

While mines may be cost driven, they are also cognisant of short-term cost gains versus total cost of ownership. Gomes adds that suppliers need to be aware of this and engage further with clients, rather than simply selling them a product.

Service Offering

The Goodwin heavy-duty submersible slurry pumps were historically supplied to the African market by technology and services provider Weir Minerals for a number of years before the agency agreement expired in 2016. The agreement was not renewed and Goodwin pumps are now marketed, repaired and sold by the original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) directly into Africa.

The main target of Goodwin Africa in the past 12 months has been the support, assistance and service of around 1 500 units already in use in Africa, as well as enhancing the reputation of Goodwin pumps in the market, highlights Gomes.

At the company’s headquarters in Germiston, Gauteng, there is a full repair centre and warehouse to service clients and the mining industry in the rest of Africa, as it is more strategically located for most modes of transport, he explains.

Goodwin Africa has partnered with various logisticscompanies that service different regions in Africa to transportproducts to clients, either by air, sea or road. The only challenge in supplying clients in Africa is the timeframe, as logistics companies often struggle with cross-border issues, degrading infrastructures and the remote location of sites.

Goodwin also has a service exchange agreement, where the company will evaluate the repair and offer the customer a service exchange pump if the repair is not economically viable. The service exchange pumps are also offered when repair pumps come in with non-OEM or pirated parts. The service exchange pumps are reconditioned and repaired to the OEM’s specifications, which include testing so that all warrantees and guarantees of a new pump can be met.

“One of the major benefits of the service exchange offer is the efficient turnaround time, as we have an allocated fleet of pumps in stock,” Gomes illustrates. He adds that opting for a service exchange pump is often more cost effective for clients, as the cost of a major repair and replacing non-OEM parts far outweighs the cost of a service exchange pump. The cost of a service exchange pump is also less than that of a new pump.

In the past six weeks, Goodwin has also opened a satellite operation – similar to the Germiston facilities – in Cape Town, in the Western Cape, which has a regional sales technician and a qualified technical assistant.

Further,

Goodwin Africa’s technicians have received extensive training, which is driven by Goodwin International. This training enables them to not only evaluate applications, that suit the pump, but also consider the client’s needs and offer them the best solution for their application, concludes Gomes. 

Australian pumps specialist Aussie Pump Industries, also known as Aussie Pumps, has noted a significant increase in the use of hydraulic drive trash pumps, which eliminates the use of internal combustion engines, says chief engineer John Hales.

“Our trash pumps can be adapted for hydraulic drive, making them suitable for handling solids. In some applications, in metalliferous mines in Western Australia, for example, our trash pumps are working underground, powered by Yanmardiesel engines.”

 

Aussie Pumps’ range of diesel trash pumps are fitted with spark arrestors and often work in ambient temperatures higher than 40 ºC, with the pumps having been designed to handle a wide range of abrasive slurry.

“The pumps are built in heavy-duty, galvanised roll frames, so they can be moved around underground without effort by fuels-handling equipment.”

 

Hales says the pumps are also equipped with battery isolation E Stop and a fire extinguisher as an added safety precaution.

“The heavy-duty 38 mm frame comes with a balanced liftingbar, which allows for its being moved on site by whatever plant is available without damaging the pump or engine. The pump and engine are the expensive parts of the kit and to put it in a lightweight frame, is asking for trouble.”

Site Boss Pump

Hales says a refinement of the Site Boss pumps range, which forms part of the company’s trash pumps offering, was developed in 2015 specifically for the mining industry, where occupational health and safety rules are tight.

He notes that large mining companies and equipment rentalbusinesses like Coates Hire are major users of the products.

“The pumps in the range offer flows of between 600 ℓ/m and 1 600 ℓ/m, and heads as high as 28 m. Part of the Aussie Pumps quick prime range of trash pumps are super heavy-duty and come with a capability of self-priming from vertical depths of as much as 7.6 m.”

Hales says the company has four trash pumps working on the gasfields of oil and gas exploration company Tullow Oil, in northern Kenya. Tullow also uses Aussie Pumps’ heavy- duty 500 bar pressure cleaners for mine equipment wash down. Several trash pumps have also been sold in Ghana.

Innovation

Hales says the company has worked hard to develop pumpsthat prime better than those of competitors and can lift waterfrom even lower depths.

“Our designs for the pumps were driven by our experiences with the Australian mining industry and we have seen what happens to standard commercial pumps of this type operating in those conditions.”

Refining the design of our volute and impellers to reduce clearance spaces without losing the ability to handle solids in suspension was a big design challenge, he adds.

Further, the company’s recently developed 316 stainless steel configuration self-priming pumps have had great success in underground copper and gold mines in Australia, where the mine water and leachates are exceptionally corrosive.

The new pumps were developed using corrosive resistant material. They will self-prime from over 6 m and provide versatile pumping of corrosive mine liquids containing silt or light slurries.

“We are quite confident that the hydraulic drive versions of our pumps will receive significant attention in mining, but the pumps are already available in a 415 V, 50 Hz and 60 Hz configurations.”

He says if Aussie Pumps’ pumps can change the efficiencyand cost control of underground mining by providing those services where electric drive pumps are inappropriate, “then we have achieved our goals”.