Mining is certainly one of the world’s oldest industries, tracing its roots back to these prehistoric days when somebody grabbed a digging instrument and commenced burrowing into the ground. In the various millennia since, mining has grown into one of many world’s most necessary and widespread commercial enterprises, with operations unfold across the globe whereas tasked with recovering an nearly inexhaustible record of valuable commodities.
In reality, based on the World Mining Congress’s World Mining Data 2020 report, 17.7 billion metric tons of mined merchandise had been recovered in 2018, up from eleven.3 billion metric tons in 2000 and nearly double the 9.6 billion metric tons in 1985. Asian international locations accounted for 58 percent of the 2018 production, with North America second at 15.1 p.c, followed by Europe (8 percent), Oceania (6.eight percent), Latin America (6.3 percent), and Africa (5.three percent). Individually, เกจวัดแรงลม (23 percent), the United States (12.1 percent), Russia (9.2 percent), and Australia (7.2 percent) have been essentially the most prolific producers, with their total fifty one.1 p.c of manufacturing greater than the relaxation of the world mixed.
This implies that the mining trade is a robust one, with solid development expected to proceed within the coming years in lots of areas of the world. It also implies that mining operations will continue to depend on pumping applied sciences that provide strong, reliable, and protected service in numerous critical liquid-handling operations. This white paper will illustrate why optimistic displacement air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps can be your best option for many of these purposes.
THE CHALLENGE
While mining may look like nothing greater than a rough-and-tumble operation—holes are dug by heavy equipment or with explosives, opening the hidden ode to access from above—there are, actually, many complicated and generally delicate operations that should be carried out properly if the mining operation is to carry out at its highest degree of efficiency.
From a macro standpoint, this requires a pumping expertise that can function reliably in harsh and distant locations, even when submerged, or when tasked with handling particulate-laden liquids or toxic/corrosive merchandise, and also one that is prepared to be maintained and repaired simply so downtime is lessened. The pumps should even be mild sufficient to be manually moved from location to location inside the mine itself.
For many years, a preferred selection for use in these conditions was centrifugal pumps. While centrifugal pumps are in a position to create the excessive circulate charges which would possibly be required, they have a quantity of operational “pain points” that hamper their use in mining applications: an inability to self-prime or run dry; special seals needed to stop leaks; special linings needed to deal with solids; excessive motor speeds of as a lot as 1,800 rpm; and relatively high maintenance necessities and costs, especially when charged with transferring solid-heavy liquids.
Another in style selection has been the progressive cavity pump, but, like centrifugal pumps, they have a number of operational shortcomings. These embrace an incapability to consistently handle liquids with excessive ranges of abrasives, which leads to elevated maintenance prices, wear on costly stators and rotors that will ultimately must be replaced, and total larger purchase, working, and repair/replacement costs.
Here are a variety of the particular liquid-transfer operations that happen in a mine and the ways in which some pump technologies can fall short in satisfying them:
Mine dewatering: Removing extra produced water from the mine is a important 24/7/365 operation and the water that’s recovered is often stuffed with particulates that might be as large as zero.12 to 0.16 inches in measurement. If used on this application, centrifugal pumps require special supplies of building, which could be value prohibitive, to protect against impeller wear brought on by the abrasive particles. Centrifugal pumps are additionally not dry-run succesful, which adversely impacts their degree of efficiency on this software.
General service: For frequent liquid-handling functions, you want an easy-to-operate pump that reliably can run dry, strip lines, operate at low speeds while still delivering high circulate charges, and be easy to take care of and repair. Centrifugal pumps simply do not possess these capabilities.
Corrosive liquids: Much like solid-laden liquids, corrosive ones can wreak havoc on the wetted components of centrifugal and progressive cavity pumps. This usually calls for a necessity to make use of special mechanical seals, which may result in exorbitant upkeep, restore, and substitute costs.
Press filter: Press filters are used to wash the liquids which are produced in the mines and, once more, centrifugal pumps can fall short on this utility as a result of the solid-laden liquid can injury the pump’s internals until particular, costlier materials of development or linings are used. Also, the character of press-filter operation creates a robust discharge-pressure variation that can drive the centrifugal pump to operate away from its best efficiency level (BEP), resulting in excessive vibration and radial loads that may lead to shortened service life. A solution to that is the incorporation of variable frequency drives (VFDs) and controllers, however these are expensive and may negatively have an effect on the cost-effectiveness of the operation.
Product transfer: This comes in all types in a mining operation, from loading and unloading from transport vehicles with new and used oil for the heavy machinery, contemporary and fouled water, and any chemical compounds which are required. In each occasion, there’s the risk that the pump might be compelled to run dry as the truck or storage vessel is emptied, while discharge-pressure variation can even generate excessive vibration and radial loads. As beforehand illustrated, centrifugal pumps cannot run dry, in order that they want safety from this condition or the addition of special seals. However, all of these upgrades nonetheless cannot completely protect in opposition to a catastrophic failure.
THE SOLUTION
While centrifugal pumps—despite their popularity—have confirmed to not be the simplest solution in plenty of liquid-handling purposes in mining, one pump technology that has confirmed to be an optimum selection is AODD—in terms of maximizing reliability, cost-effectiveness, ease of operation and maintenance, and safety for mining personnel and the surroundings.
AODD pumps are able to carry out effectively in mining applications as a outcome of their methodology of operation permits them to easily handle variable flow rates and pressures, while being dry-run and line-stripping succesful, and nimble sufficient to switch liquids which may be shear-sensitive or high-viscosity, as properly as slurries laden with rocks, pebbles, and other particulates.
The simple design of the AODD pump features few shifting parts and comparably decrease speeds than different pump applied sciences, which improves reliability and simplifies maintenance, whereas the pump’s seal-less development ends in fewer leaks, which is a crucial consideration when handling the numerous hard-to-seal, corrosive, or hazardous liquids which are prevalent in a mining operation. AODD pumps are available in each metallic (most commonly aluminum, ductile iron and solid iron) and plastic (polypropylene and PVDF) housing constructions, while a massive selection of elastomers can be utilized in the diaphragms, which eliminates many chemical-compatibility considerations.
A broad variety of AODD pump configurations present operational flexibility that can additionally end in optimized performance at many levels. The capacity to function AODD pumps in a wide range of applications, from fundamental basic use to delicate chemical-handling processes, permits operators to extra cost-effectively outfit their mines. AODD pumps can also be less expensive to operate, particularly these models which are outfitted with a next-generation mechanically actuated air distribution system (ADS). At their most elementary, AODD pumps excel within the typical rugged and harsh working conditions discovered within the world’s mines, which reduces breakdown incidents together with corresponding downtime and repair costs.
Specifically, Wilden, whose founder, Jim Wilden, conceived the AODD pumping precept sixty-five years in the past, has been devoted to creating applied sciences that meet the wants of mining operations. Today, Wilden offers three AODD pump fashions which might be constructed to excel in mining purposes, obtainable in ductile iron, forged iron, aluminum, polypropylene and Kynar supplies of building:
Brahma® Series: The Brahma pumps, which function a bolted configuration, have been built for use in purposes that require the dealing with of liquids that includes giant solids. The Brahma pumps have a singular top-inlet/bottom-discharge move orientation and flap valves that enable the passage of large solids with no danger that injury will happen as a end result of product entrapment or the settling of solids inside the pump’s inner move paths. Brahma pumps can be found in two models—PS810 (2-inch) and PS1510 (3-inch)—that are outfitted with the revolutionary Pro-Flo® SHIFT ADS, which has been designed to reduce back air consumption by up to 60 p.c. The T810 and T1510 fashions are powered by the Turbo-Flo™ ADS, the industry’s first air motor for AODD pumps. The flow-rate vary for the 4 Brahma pumps is 166 to 258 gallons per minute at pressures as much as 125 psi with solids-handling functionality ranging from 2 to three inches.
Stallion® Series: The Stallion pumps function a clamped design with carrying handles for light-weight portability. Their design options giant internal clearances and flow-through paths for simple passage of huge solids with no probability for clogging. An altered ball/seat check-valve assembly additional allows solids passage, whereas a polyurethane screen base on the inlet will increase the pump’s durability. The PS4, PS8, and PS15 (1.5-, 2-, and 3-inch) models are powered by a Pro-Flo SHIFT ADS, with the T4, T8, and T15 (1.5-, 2-, and 3-inch) pumps that includes the Turbo-Flo ADS, Wilden’s most robust ADS design for the hardest environments. Flow rates amongst the six models range from 57 gallons per minute to 232 gallons per minute at working pressures up to a hundred twenty five psi. Solids sizes that might be dealt with range from half to 1 inch.
Pro-Flo SHIFT Series: Pro-Flo SHIFT pumps characteristic clamped or bolted configuration. Their design options totally different chamber materials, together with steel and plastics, even Kynar, which is capable of dealing with high ranges of abrasive materials. The Pro-Flo SHIFT is also the most environment friendly AODD pump out there, able to lowering as a lot as 60 p.c air consumption. This makes it the best suited choice for dealing with corrosive and abrasive products in mining processes. The pumps have a product vary that goes from 1.5 to 3 inches and flows from 2 to 271 gallons per minute.
All of the Brahma, Stallion, and Pro-Flo SHIFT pumps are able to be outfitted with a massive selection of diaphragm styles—including the newer Chem-Fuse, EZ-Install, and Reduced-Stroke models—in a varying array of supplies, corresponding to Wil-Flex™ (Santoprene®), Geolast®, Polyurethane, Buna-N®, EPDM, Neoprene, FKM, and PTFE. This diaphragm range gives users the widest choice of diaphragms on the market, all of which are capable of offering prolonged imply time between failure (MTBF) for optimized uptime with decreased maintenance, restore, and alternative costs.
All of these capabilities make AODD pumps the ideal alternative for the aforementioned frequent liquid-handling functions in mining: dewatering, basic service, corrosive-handling, filter press, and day by day product switch.
CONCLUSION
In summary, Wilden AODD pumps are the finest option for mining applications because they provide appreciable operational benefits, like comparable low-speed operation, dry-run, line-stripping, self-priming, and deadhead functionality, along with elevated operational security and a discount in maintenance/repair costs that can be incurred by pumps that are not designed to deal with abrasive/corrosive or solid-laden liquids.
Wilden AODD pumps additionally outperform different AODD technologies in other significant ways: simple design with the lowest number of elements for faster, simpler, and safer repairs and the lowest number of spare parts to stock; latest improvements in supplies of construction that increase the pump’s MTBF; and improved efficiency through the utilization of the Pro-Flo SHIFT ADS, which ultimately leads to faster product switch with decrease air consumption. Wilden additionally continues to innovate by way of the development of the next-generation Chem-Fuse and EZ-Install diaphragms, each of which improve service life and safety while not compromising the handling of difficult liquids.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Fernando Meneses is the regional supervisor North Latin America for Wilden, a leading manufacturer of air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps. He can be reached at fernando.meneses@psgdover.com. Wilden is a product model of PSG®, a Dover firm. PSG is comprised of a quantity of leading pump companies, together with Abaque®, All-Flo™, Almatec®, Blackmer®, Ebsray, em-tec®, Griswold®, Hydro™, Mouvex®, Neptune®, Quantex™, Quattroflow®, RedScrew™, and Wilden®. For extra information, go to www.wildenpump.com or www.psgdover.com.
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