What is believed to be the most sophisticated pump testing facility in South Africa has been commissioned in Isando,Gauteng for local manufacturer of centrifugal maultistage ,end suction and horizontal split casing pumps KSB Pumps.
Incorporating variable speed drives controlled by an Adroit supervisory control and data acquisition (scada) system, up to 300 kW pumps can be tested automatically on various aspects such as speed, torque, temperature, suction and discharge pressure. Performance testing up to 3000 m3 of water an hour is also achievable.
"Our international holding group is impressed with the locally designed solution and might implement the Adroit system in KSB plants worldwide," says KSB Pumps SA Technical Manager Dave Jones.
While pumps larger than 300 kW have to be tested at the SABS, 95% of the units manufactured by KSB can now be tested in-house. The automated wonder was 'fine-tuned' by Adroit SI Craigcor Engineering of Edenvale.
"I believe this is the first known instance of an Allen-Bradley programmable logic controller (PLC) communicating with a Siemens Masterdrive using Profibus protocol," Craigcor MD Matthew Lingenfelder reports. An antenna lodged in the torque transducer attached to the variable speed test drive is part of the radio link to communicate with the PLC and ultimately the Adroit control room via an amplifier. Three individual test loops incorporated into the plant allow for different test parameters to be applied.
It is also possible, by simply clicking on a specific recipe button, to test to different specifications (ISO, ASI or DIN) without having to reconfigure or manually enter any parameters of the facility. Sophisticated Visual Basic-scripted mathematical functions, seamlessly integrated into the Adroit system, these rapidly execute a large number of scientific calculations and comparisons. "What is perhaps most significant about the scada system used here, apart from the fact that 99% of operator input is performed by Adroit, is the remarkable degree of interaction between Adroit and third party software, such as Microsoft Access, Excel, Word and others," comments Lingenfelder.
"This allows for continuous data logging, analysis and reporting to take place, thus significantly enhancing to the functionality of the facility." Built-in safety features prevent the pumps, as well as the drives, from being overloaded. "Full automation in our test facility means added customer confidence, because they receive accurately measured data regarding the specifications of the pumps they buy from us," says Dave Jones, Technical Manager for KSB Pumps. "In fact, should a customer or contractor approach us with a new or unique application we can quickly perform the necessary tests simulating near site conditions to see whether our products would be best suited to the application." Regular testing also means that production and quality levels are closely monitored and continuously corrected, if required.
Realtime direct data logging allows every pump that is manufactured to have a complete, detailed history. This will be very useful when the pump is returned for refurbishment several years down the line. Another advantage would be the extensive database that this would lead to, enabling the identification of trends, which would in turn aid the development of design improvements.
As a continuous developer of new products, the testing facility also plays an important role in KSB's future success. "Our competitors, even some of the overseas companies, are still running manual test facilities, which are less accurate, much slower, less cost effective and simply not comparable to what we have here," says Dave Jones. "In fact, some of the tests that we perform automatically cannot be done manually, they are simply too advanced."
KSB is balancing the stretched economic demand for pumps from the mining industry with large projects in the petrochemical and water treatment industries. The company's pumps are manufactured from raw materials produced and machined in its own local foundries and workshops.
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