Pulsation Free

Hydraulically Driven Piston Pump (Paste Pump)

Charilos Karambalis
Product Manager GEHO pumps
Weir Minerals Netherlands
Hydraulic Piston Pump - Areas of application
Hydraulic Piston Pump - Design concept
Valves operated type

Hydraulic Lubrication Slurry Valves unit

cylinder box cylinder
Hydraulic Piston Pump – Design concept
Transfer tube type

Transfer tube
hopper
Hydraulic Lubrication Slurry Transfer tube
cylinder box cylinder
3D sectional view
Flow characteristic (schematic)

Discharge Discharge
Cyl #1 Cyl #2

Switch over
time
Induced pressure pulsations
Effects of pressure pulsations
• Damage to the pipeline system (water hammer / fatigue failure)
• Burst pipe
• Sheared-off pipeline supports
• Damage to (control) valves and measuring equipment
• Safety risk

• Disturbing noise levels

• Urbanized areas / Legislation

• Unplanned interruptions to mining production

• Downtime of paste transport system
• Costs for repair
• Loss of minerals mining production

• Higher system design pressure

• Higher costs due to sizing of pumps and pipeline system
Demand for drive power for GEHO hydraulic
piston pumps
1400

1200

1000
[kW]

800

600

400

200

0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year
Effects of pressure pulsations - Examples
Magnitude of forces – calculation example

Pipeline: 3 km length, 150 mm diameter

Paste: 1,500 kg/m3 specific gravity, 1.3 m/s flow velocity

π
m= D 2 Lρ
Mass of slurry = 80,000 kg
4

1 2
Ek = mv
Kinetic energy of slurry = 67,000 Joules
2

Equivalent to a mass of 1,000 kg moving at 42 km/h

(26 mph)
Pulsation damper
gas

membrane

slurry

pipeline

Drawbacks:
• Limited pulsation reduction
• Only works in specific operating range
• Additional, heavy piece of equipment
• Requires maintenance
• Additional investment cost
• Not suitable for hardening pastes
Prevention of pulsations

Switch over time

Soft start & stop

VZ - Pulsation Free System

Show
animation
Hydraulic system design

main oil pump

4-way valve
hydraulic cylinders paste cylinders

oil tank

main oil pump #1

main oil pump #2

hydraulic cylinders paste cylinders

oil tank
Measurements results (on test loop)

Flow: 200 m3/h, variation < ±1.5%

Pressure: 9,000 kPa

Benefits of VZ Pulsation Free System
• Constant pump flow
in spite of reciprocating piston motion

• Lower pump design pressure possible

thanks to elimination of pressure pulsations

• Higher flow capacity with the same pump size

thanks to elimination of switch-over time

• No additional pulsation dampers are required

the VZ system prevents pulsations from being generated

• Lower piston speed for same pump duty

increased lifetime of wear parts

• Continuous variable output capacity ranging from 5 to 100%

independent of discharge pressure

• Possibility to run on only 1 cylinder

clean out pipeline in case of hardening slurries

• No additional control valves block and hydraulic hoses required

thanks to hydraulic system design
Pulsation Free
Hydraulically Driven Piston Pump (Paste Pump)

Questions ?