Centrifugal Pumps for Student Training at Engineering College

Water Recirculation System for an Engineering College

With fluid mechanics being so relevant in engineering and pumps being used across so many different industries, most universities and colleges have live pumping stations in their engineering labs, thus it is quite common for apprentice engineers to have at least basic pump training.

We were contacted by one of the main engineering colleges in the UK as they required two centrifugal pumps for one of their facilities in the north west of England. The idea was to have a real-life water recirculation system installed with a standby arrangement where the students can actually see the units in operation, making it easier for them to understand liquid behaviour and flow velocity at different pressures and operating speeds. They also wanted the engineering students to have the ability to dismantle and reassemble the pumps so that they get familiar with all the mechanical components within. Due to the nature of the application, the units needed to be long coupled so that the students could appreciate how the pump and motor shaft are joined together by the coupling as well as being able to disassemble the pumps quicker.

Operating the pumps at different speeds, flow rates and pressures meant it was likely for them to be working at their limits, so although the pumps are only being used for educational purposes they have to be quite robust to avoid failure or premature wear.

Supply of 2 Easy to Maintain Horizontal Long Coupled Centrifugal Pumps and Wearing Parts

We supplied two of our XHLE horizontal long coupled centrifugal pumps with 2.2 kW ABB motors, the supplied units are capable of delivering 11 m³/h at 22 metres of head, we also provided the customer with a couple of spare mechanical seals, gaskets and bearings should they require to replace any of the components due to wear. These were the ideal solution for our customer due to their long coupled design, the operator can access the components within the pump head without having to remove the motor, furthermore the back pull out design means the operator can remove the motor while the wet end remains connected to the pipework.

Our North Ridge XHLE end suction, long coupled, single stage centrifugal pump range is designed to handle clean or moderately dirty low viscosity fluids, they comply with DIN 24255 standards which means they are dimensionally interchangeable with many of the most common models, allowing our customers to replace their existing old pumps without having to make any pipework modifications. This range is available in a wide variety of sizes and configurations, the largest model can produce a maximum flow rate of 600 m³/h, ATEX (explosion proof) versions are also available upon request.

Specific details of the pumps supplied are as follows: