With the new quintuplex pump, KAMAT offers users the option of generating large volumetric flow (up to almost 4000 l/min) and high pressure (up to 3500 bar) with a single, easy-to-control pump. This provides cost and efficiency advantages for the operating company (photo: KAMAT)

The new quintuplex plunger pump with the designation K120000-5G was developed upon requests from customers, primarily from the process and steel industries, for high pressure and ultra-high-pressure pumps with the largest possible volumetric flow. Currently, 10 to 15 identical pumps are sometimes used in these applications, e.g. for descaling rolled steel products. That is not ideal with regard to investment, energy and maintenance costs. KAMAT consequently now expands the existing range of quintuplex pumps (with five plungers) with a model which is 50 % more powerful than the previously strongest pump with 800 kW engine power.

The drive concept constitutes a crucial design difference of the new 1200 kW pump compared to the previously known KAMAT plunger pumps. Instead of the integrated gear unit with double helical gearing manufactured in-house, an industrial gear unit with a separate housing is now used. This lowers production costs and allows easy adaptation of the gear reduction to the individual requirements, even afterwards. Additional differences to the 800 kW pump are the number of crankshaft bearings (six instead of four) and the forced feed oil lubrication for the large crossheads.

The K120000-5G is manufactured with two different head types. In the ultra-high pressure version, for example, it provides a maximum flow of 158 l/min at a pressure of 3500 bar, or 407 l/min at 1530 bar. If the application focuses on maximum delivery rate, the pump (with a different head type) achieves a maximum of 3939 l/min at 115 bar (with 900 kW) or 155 bar (with 1200 kW).

Although the design with the separate industrial gear unit requires a larger packaging space than for the smaller quintuplex pumps with integrated gear unit, the 1200 kW plunger pump is still very compact. And it runs with a high level of energy efficiency, as this is one of the advantages offered by plunger pumps by design. In addition, they run quietly and with little vibration and can easily be adapted to the volumetric flow required in each case – in a speed range from 0 to 100 % depending on rod force and oil pressure. This creates the basis for very economically efficient running of the pump in partial load operation. The flow here is not controlled with circulation valves in a “black-and-white” principle, but with an electronically controlled speed change of the pump. This significantly reduces wear because pump, pipes and valves are under much less strain.

Following the economy of scales, the operating company can use the K120000-5G to cover a constellation of three ultra-high-pressure pumps (master, slave and standby) – which is common in the oil and gas industry, water hydraulics and for descaling – with only three pumps even if very high volumetric flows are required. This reduces energy consumption and maintenance work. In principle, it is even possible to use only two pumps instead of three for these applications. As KAMAT plunger pumps reliably achieve an availability of 98.9 % (based on six-monthly servicing with replacement of wear parts such as oil seals and high-pressure seals), operating companies can omit the standby pump if they can work with just one pump for only 20 hours per year.

Tags: KAMAT