Giving Customers What They Want

It's a simple philosophy: Ask a customer what they want; then deliver.

That is precisely the approach Kelair Pumps Australia has taken to the Australian mining market.

As Regional Sales Manager for Kelair Pumps Anthony Sidawi said, the company basically went to the mines and asked them what was on their wish list.

It was an effective way of doing business. And it yielded a level of insight which led to the development of some of the most innovative pumps in the market.

With centrifugal pumps still occupying between 60% and 70% of the market, the remaining 30% are positive displacement pumps – and within that 30% is a diverse range of internal and external geared pumps, diaphragm pumps, and mono helical rotor pumps.

Kelair Pumps supplies across the entire spectrum, but like everything, there are leaders and newcomers.

Solids handling with air efficiencies

In an underground mining environment, pumps need to be portable and relocatable, easy to maintain, with air consumption kept to a minimum.

It's here that the technology around the Sandpiper HD20F double diaphragm has been developed to tick this off the mining industry wish list.

Used for de-watering, sump and chemical transfer, as well as effective handling of solids and corrosive materials, this non-metallic flap-valve pump is air-operated and lightweight. At 24kg it can be hand-held, carried and in use it can be hooked up and mounted to the mine roof or rib.

This, along with the easy accessibility to the pump's internals mean maintenance and repairs could be undertaken on the pump with minimal loss to time and operation.

"Operators told us they wanted a pump to be easy to access the guts of the pump, to be able to change some parts and flush it, when needed, and be light weight," Anthony said.

"Engineers also wanted air consumption to be very efficient."

This pump entered the market six years ago as a non-metallic, all polypropylene machine.

The pump has removable ports which allows easy access to the flap check valves for cleaning or maintenance whilst the pump is still in situ underground or on the surface, depending on where it’s installed.

"This means if some mud or clay goes through and clogs it up, operators can just open that section and get the hose in and clean it up. And you can do this on either side," Anthony said.

In addressing the other main need for underground mine operation, he said the air consumption of the Sandpiper HD20 is extremely low in comparison to its main competitor and it will happily run-on snore without damage.

Typically, all Sandpiper pumps do not require additional lubrication to the air motor.

"Think about it this way: most mines don't just have one or two diaphragm pumps in service. Many mines operate up to one hundred diaphragm pumps, other mines several hundred and in the case of larger operations, that number could be closer to 1000 in service at any given time.” Anthony said.

"So, especially in an underground mine setting, savings in air consumption – especially at this scale – will lead to considerable cost savings as well.

Built in the US, the Sandpiper HD20 has a maximum capacity of 568 liters a minute. And we feel that the optimum operational flow rate for the pump would fall between 250 to 300 LPM. The solids handling capacity of the pump is up to 45mm."

It has a maximum operating pressure of 100psi (7 bar) and it has an air consumption rate of less than 65scfm (standard cubic feet per minute) at maximum capacity.

"At optimum, if we are running at 80psi you will get approximately 250 LPM and consume 50scfm of air,” Anthony said.

"Each pump can be regulated to either slow it down or crank it up depending on how much water there is.”

Reliably Capacity - Containerised Fire Protection Pumpsets

Kelair developed and built, containerised fire protection pumpsets are mobile, built-to-specification, turnkey units which can be picked up and moved for effective deployment to any location on a mine site.

Built to a 20ft and 40ft option, and with three of them currently under construction, the pumps can be dual diesel or combination of diesel and electric – to ensure access to a high flow of water in the event of fire.

Anthony said that once in location, the unit need only be connected to services, a generator and a water supply and it was ready for operation.

“This can all be done externally to the unit so there was no need for the pump set to be opened or its internal operations to be accessed to connect power and water.”

He said the diesel engine was housed within the unit as a back-up, in the event of a fire where power was cut. This assured a supply of water to be maintained with pumping being switched to the diesel engine.

And the flow rate? Anthony's technical answer: Big.

"We can build these to whatever is required” he said.

Anthony said there were alternative non-containerised fire pumps which came in the form of the Kelair Diesel and Electric Hydrant Booster, which was not for stand-alone use but employed similar technology as the containerised versions, only to boost the capacity and reliability of existing firefighting and water pumping infrastructure already in place.

Effluent Management – Blivet Sewage Treatment

The Kelair-Blivet Packaged Sewage Treatment Plant has found application across the full gamut of in situ sewage recycling – from golf courses and camping grounds to watering roads, to use on mining camps and mine sites.

In simplest terms, Anthony explains the sewage is essentially pumped into the plant and comes out as recycled water, filtered to the specifications and requirements of the customer.

"Depending on how 'clean' we want the water, then that determines the level of filtration we apply," he said.

In operation, raw sewage enters the tank and then bacteria effectively digest the sewage and the remaining clear liquid remains at the top of the tank with solid matter sinking to the bottom.

While there are the obvious environmental gains, there are also operating and maintenance benefits with a unit up to 11 metres in length able to process sewerage with 0.75kw drive unit with operates an electric motor to power a small pump which operates 24 hours a day, and a second, submersible, pump which will operate for two to three minutes every hour.

This keeps the cost of operating the plant to a minimum and its compact, modular nature means it can be easily transported, needs very little site or preparation work and is easily maintained – with the primary maintenance needed being use of a vacuum pump to remove solid waste from the bottom of the unit every three months.

The 11m unit, described above, is the largest available to date. It has an average flow rate of 92m3 a day can is capable of processing sewage from about 400 people. The filtered water is released from the unit and generally stored for future use.

Pump Condition Monitoring – i-Alert Sensor with Goulds Pumps

Made in the USA, this is a heavy-duty process centrifugal pump with a capacity of almost 1600 cubic metres an hour. That is about 223 m3 a minute.

The pumps are designed and built to the stringent US ANSI B73.1 standard.

One of the biggest advantages that Goulds has – and this is on all their pumps – is technology which enables in situ, real time monitoring of the pump.

“Called i-Alert, it is enabled by a small box attached to each pump which measures the vibrations, temperature of bearings and run-time hours 24-7-365.”

“In continuous operation, there is a high level of vibration, which can affect the operation of the pump and the state of the bearings” said Anthony.

The i-Alert enables operators to read data from the pump via an app on their mobile phone.

Undertaken as often as required, the phone connects via Bluetooth and is sent data from the pump. This data is generated – and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and stored onboard the pump for capture via the phone.

Anthony said while condition monitoring was mostly routinely completed on a pump on a monthly basis, this technology now enabled the detection of an issue sooner and more easily.

"Condition monitoring is moment-in-time, so it will not detect a vibration or issue when it is occurring. With the i-Alert, it is continuous, you can capture and analyse, effectively monitoring your pump health from the data sent directly to your phone, at anytime” he said.

"These also enable the monitoring of vibration in pipes – some of which could be 20 metres up in the air – and then condition monitoring is as simple as just walking around instead of having to get cranes to operate."

Anthony said the data could also be analysed to detect trends, and link with any anomalies in the system or detect deterioration in the bearings.

The data is all cloud-based and can also be calibrated and integrated into the mine's software – and only the client can see their own data, and that client also has ownership over the data so they do not lose it if they discontinue use.

"It helps the customer understand the pump and its operations.”

"It's a great device, and it comes standard with the Goulds 3196 pump," Anthony said.

Easy Pump Maintenance - Albin Hose Pumps

Made in France, the single biggest advantage of this pump is that it has one wear item: the hose.

This makes for simple maintenance; simple enough that one fitter can replace the hose with relative ease.

"The machine will actually push the old hose out," Anthony said.

Hose pumps typically have a suction lift of up to the theoretical maximum of 9.8m. It can handle a viscosity of up to 100,000 cps (water is 1cps).

That is almost like pumping clay.

Compared to a centrifugal pump, which would be using about a 50W motor, the positive displacement pump uses about a fifth of the power, operating at about 11W.

The Albin pump will happily run without product without damage as the pump housing is essentially a lubricant bath.

“It’s a very robust pump, suitable for aggressive or viscous fluids with very easy maintenance.”

Versatility with thicker liquids - Viking Gear Pumps

Viking Pumps has 110 years of operational history behind it, developing its first pump in 1911.

In gear pumps, they're the world leaders.

There are two gears, one inside the other, the bigger of the two on the outside and it is the motion and position of the smaller inside gear which created the pressure and compression to pump the fluid through it.

Internal gear pumps can handle higher viscosity (up to 440,000 cst), so they are well suited to applications where the likes of dirtier oil or bitumen are a factor.

They're even used for pumping chocolate – although, not in a mining situation – with up to 14 bar of pressure.

On the other hand, external gears are used for cleaner fluids and can handle up to 17 bar of pressure, with a maximum viscosity of 250,000.

Typically, Viking gear pumps are used for pumping clean and waste oils, polymers and resins, bitumen, just to name a few.

Always something new – Pump Knowledge Matters

Anthony has been in the pumps game for more than 17 years and the thing he loves is that there is always something new – and a new innovation to offer clients.

"There is always something new being done and that is why we can go to our customers – go to the mines – and ask them to give us their wish list," he said.

The solutions-based approach, along with their extensive knowledge of pumps, has stood Kelair Pumps in good stead and enabled the delivery of a product tailored to the needs of a specific pumping requirement.