plant-engineer
Home Advertise Magazine Events Contact Us Login
Search     


Sinusoidal pumps solve sticky problems for Halewood drinks
22/06/2010 Email to a friend   Comment on this article
Three Maso-Sine SPS4 pumps, from Watson-Marlow Pumps, have survived and successfully solved problems of cavitation and noise at beverage giant Halewood International.

Sinusoidal pumps solve sticky problems for Halewood drinksHalewood production trainer Harry Anderson reports that the plant needed an alternative to its existing centrifugal pumps, used for decanting sugars and fruit juice concentrates from tankers arriving at its UK headquarters.

"Due to the high throughput of the Merseyside plant, decanting high volumes of liquid from tankers into holding vessels becomes a strategically critical operation," says Anderson.

"Until recently, the incoming sugars and syrups were unloaded using high pressure hoses and centrifugal pumps. However, the pumps were cavitating and causing loud, knocking noises that could irritate local residents. The pumps were also ageing and becoming too slow for our requirements," he adds.

Anderson explains that one of his colleagues had used MasoSine pumps in a previous life, pointing to their exclusive sinusoidial rotor, which ensures gentle, low shear product handling, but also their heavy duty construction.

"Some of the cold syrups can be extremely viscous so the pump would need to be fairly robust in its operation," says Anderson, "but most importantly the issues of speed, cavitation and noise would need to be overcome."

Anderson went for an initial sale-or-return trial of an SPS4 high pressure model, supplied by Watson-Marlow. Duly installed, the MasoSine SPS4 performed well, not only eliminating cavitation and noise, but also massively reducing the unloading time for sugars and syrups.

"Using our old centrifugal pumps, it would take around 60 minutes to unload a tanker full of sugars. This has been reduced to 35 minutes," states Anderson. "Most impressive, though, is that the time taken to decant a tanker of fruit juice syrup has been cut from four hours to just 45 minutes."

A total of three MasoSine SPS4 pumps are now in operation at Halewood's Merseyside plant where they have been used for 12 months three or four times every day.
 
Author
Brian Tinham
 
 
This material is protected by SOE copyright 2012.
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.
 
Bookmark this article using:
 
Del.icio.us digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
 
 
Related Companies
Watson Marlow Pumps
 
 
Related News
Speedy launches first plant rental iPhone app
 
Watson-Marlow peristaltic pump shifts thinking at Severn Trent
 
Michelin Dundee slashes energy with variable-speed drives
 
Alton Towers sees reliability soar on CT drives
 
Really Useful Products’ makes really useful savings
 
 
Related Technology
MasoSine pump provides rapid drum unloading at Britvic
 
Severn Trent Water improves sewage pumping efficiency
 
Vane engineering
 
Ultrasonics solve level problems at Ayr Pumping Station
 
Peristaltics take on the nasties
 
 
Related Products
Energy-saving calculator
 
Maintenance pack speeds pump work
 
Metering pumps adapted for ATEX areas
 
Self-priming magnetic drive pump range extended
 
Slurry pumps re-engineered for reduced costs