Food Grade Pumps from Kelair Pumps Australia
Case Study
Sales Engineer Rudi Jahrig (QLD)
Sandpiper pump soft on cooked vegetables
Kelair Pumps was contacted by
a major food manufacturer to
supply a food grade pump. The
most important requirements of
the pump were that it would
handle soft solids, such as
cooked vegetables, without
damage to the overall presentation
and that the pump should
be able to run dry.
Visiting the site and listening to
the customer's requirements,
Kelair's sales engineer suggested
a Sandpiper FDA approved
flap-valve pump. The
flap valve fitted pump has the
advantage over a ball valve fitted
pump in that it can handle
much larger solids. The solid shandling
capability of a conventional
ball valve-operated pump
is determined by the following
clearances within the pump:
- The clearance between the
outer diaphragm piston and the
inner wall of the wetted chamber
- The clearance between the
valve ball and the inner wall of
the valve ball chamber.
The customer was advised that
the valve ball would damage the
soft solids when it would seat
itself on the valve seat.
The pictures show the two different
pump designs and in
addition to the different valves,
one sees instantly that the
pumps have opposed product
flows. Where the suction on the
ball valve pump is at the bottom
of the pump, the flap valve
pump has the suction on the
top.
What is the logic behind this?
To understand we have to go
back to when the flap valve
pump was designed. Initially
the inventor had in mind to design
a solids-handling pump for
the mining industry. Ball valve
operated pumps when used on
liquids which have lots of solids
such as rocks etc, in suspension
failed constantly. The reason
was that if the pump was turned
off, the solids would fall out of
suspension and drop into the
bottom of the wetted pump
chamber. Then as soon the
pump was started again, the
solids were compressed by the
outer diaphragm plate and the
diaphragm itself.
This resulted in diaphragm failures,
broken diaphragm plates
and even bent shafts, because
it is very difficult to bring the
heavy solids upwards in the
chamber due to gravity working
against this.
In comparison, when a flap
valve pump is stopped, any solids
left in the liquid chamber
settle out into the discharge
manifold. The Sandpiper flap
valve pumps are designed so
that a 2" pump can pass 2"
solids.
The supplied pump is food
grade which is FDA-approved.
The wetted material is of 316
stainless steel and the diaphragms
are manufactured
from food grade Santoprene.
After trialling the pump for three
months the food manufacturer
is very satisfied. The pump is
used now not only on soft solids
but other applications as well.
Also, since the customer can
control the start/stop of the
pump via the discharge and
because the pump can run dry
indefinitely without damage, this
has resulted in an additional
two pumps being ordered.
For further information contact:
Kelair Pumps Australia Pty Ltd
Address: 215 Walters Road, Arndell Park, NSW, 2148
Phone: 02 9678 9....
Fax: 02 9678 9....
Web: www.kelairpumps.com.au
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